------------------------------------------------------- Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/9903/25/pageone/pageone6.html
- MARGO KINGSTON
Thursday, March 25, 1999
Blacks as cannibals? It's a joke, says Herron
The Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Senator Herron, has defended a Liberal backbencher for alleging during a parliamentary committee hearing that Aborigines were once cannibals, saying his comments were "a joke".
After opening an exhibition of Aboriginal carpets in Parliament House, Senator Herron said he saw nothing wrong with the remarks of the member for Kalgoorlie, Mr Barry Haase.
Mr Haase attended the Bathurst Island hearings of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Committee on March 3. He asked: "What is the process when somebody comes ashore today or lands without a permit? I have never inquired [about] that. I don't suggest you have big pots these days ..."
Senator Herron claimed the remark "was a joke at the time, as an aside to the chairman of the committee". "We're a free country," he said.
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