Morrison sorry for ‘no slavery’ comment

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has apologised after being criticised for claiming “there was no slavery” in Australia.

“My comments were not intended to give offence and if they did I deeply regret that and apologise for that,” Morrison said yesterday.

In recent days, some monuments, due to their role in the history of the slave trade, have been pulled down in some countries as part of the growing global Black Lives Matter movement.

Morrison broached the topic when he was asked about the possible removal of statues in Britain of explorers such as Captain James Cook, who claimed Australia for the British regime in 1770.

“It was a pretty brutal place. But, there was no slavery in Australia,” Morrison told Sydney’s 2GB radio on Thursday.

But his critics pointed out there was slave trade in Australia, including South Pacific Islanders kidnapped and forced into labouring as indentured workers in sugar cane fields between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, when more than 62500 people were brought.

Also, Aboriginal Australians were captured and forced to work without any wages for many decades.

“It’s pretty obvious that when you chain people up by the neck and force them to march 300 kilometres and then work on cattle stations for non-indigenous barons, then that is slavery,” indigenous historian Bruce Pascoe told Australia radio ABC yesterday.

In recent weeks, Australians have joined the global Black Lives Matter protest, with rallies in all major cities against Aboriginal incarceration rates and deaths in custody. | dpa