On her visit to Australia last year, President McAleese compared the position of Aborigines to that of Travellers in Irish society. It was a telling analogy: both Traveller and Aborigine have struggled to find acceptance and tolerance from their respective communities. Both represent a very real challenge to two states who like to style themselves as egalitarian, charitable and open-hearted.
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, who yesterday expressed his country's regret for past mistreatment of its Aboriginal minority, said he now wanted to restore the process of reconciliation between black and white Australians. In seeking support for a government motion of reconciliation, he declared: "The mistreatment of many indigenous Australians over a significant period represents the most blemished chapter in our history."
Australia's indigenous people - numbering about 380,000 among a population of 19 million - continue to be the most disadvantaged group in a rich and prosperous country. The statistical evidence in support of this is startling. The life expectancy of the average Aborigine is 20 years shorter than that of other Australians. The rate of infant mortality is twice that of other Australians. The Aboriginal community is also beset with higher than average rates of illiteracy, unemployment and drug/alcohol abuse.
Not all Aborigines will be convinced of Mr Howard's bona fides. Two years ago, he caused great offence to many when he refused to offer an apology on behalf of the nation to the so-called "stolen generations", the Aboriginal children who in previous decades were taken forcibly from their families to be raised among white families. Two years ago, an Australian human rights commission report called the past assimilation policy a form of genocide and exhorted the government to apologise and to pay compensation.
Progress has been slow on both fronts. Yesterday, Mr Howard chose his words carefully - for fear, perhaps, that an apology would unleash a flood of compensation claims. Many in the Aboriginal community have been critical of his decision to express "deep and sincere regret" rather than offer a full apology. The motion of reconciliation has, however, drawn support from Senator Alan Ridgeway, Australia's sole Aboriginal parliamentarian. It is expected to be endorsed by parliament - in which Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition holds a majority - and by the Senate, where Mr Ridgeway's Australian Democrats hold the balance of power.
Mr Howard's statement of regret came as Aborigines suffered a further setback in their battle for compensation for the former policy of forced assimilation. A court in New South Wales rejected a test case, saying that it could not impose 1990s morality on the Australia of the 1940s. The court found that - irrespective of modern thinking on such matters - the assimilation of Aborigines into the community was thought at that time to be in their best interests. For all that, substantial progress has been made towards genuine Australian multi-culturalism. The abject failure of Mrs Pauline Hanson's racist One Nation party in last year's election was encouraging. Mr Howard's motion may not be ideal, but it is, assuredly, a step in the right direction.