STEALING THE STOLEN GENERATION

'Australia' brings these 'stolen' children to the big screen

The new Baz Luhrman extravaganza 'Australia' is now up on our screens after an unprecedented wait and extraordinary media blitz. I'm not a movie critic but I know what I like and I liked 'Australia'. It would even be a good name for a country. At three hours my bum was getting a bit sore.... maybe the movie could have a bit of a 'haircut' in the editing room.

Every Australian character actor was summoned to appear. Just about everyone but Paul Hogan! The story was a little predictable but the core theme of the 'stolen generation' was palpable, if not central to the story. And it was ever-present loading the latest Luhrman epic with a large dose of political correctness - certainly a film for its time. In the film it is presented as fact yet it the real world it still is a subject of enormous debate. It's also very unfashionable to discuss the issue, yet alone question the central tenets at the base of the stolen generation story.

Of course, 'Australia' isn't the first film to tackle the issue. Whilst it didn't have the hype, fancy CGI or Nicole, the Phillip Noyce film 'Rabit Proof Fence' tackled the film head on.

The stolen generation naysayers believe that the topic is largely a 'myth'. And certainly it is hard to separate the facts from a lot of the rhetoric and historical re-writing.

Clearly there are some appalling stories of separation and removal of aboriginal children from their birth parents. So how can people deny this happened? How can there be stolen generation deniers? Who knows the tuth?

On this week's Spin we hope to bring together both sides of the stolen generation debate and look at the 'spin' and hype developed in the film 'Australia' and its effect on the issue.

We recognise that the issue causes a lot of heated emotion and seek to look at the media's treatment of this story and in the film 'Australia' with compassion and care. Of course, your views are also important. The Spin goes to air on Tuesday nights at 7pm.