You need a pretty thick skin to be a public servant dealing with Aborigines these days, as the rape case of the 10 year old Queensland girl illustrates so terribly.

Be a social worker and take a child away from the parents and there is the risk of being accused, perhaps years later, of being party to stealing a generation. Keep children in their own community and you can be accused of condoning child abuse.

Be a member of the criminal justice system that sends aboriginal youth to jail and you will perhaps have to answer for heartlessly condemning them to death in custody. Let them walk free and attempt another form of correction and someone else will level an accusation of following a policy of misguided political correctness.

The public servants truly are on a hiding to nothing and they receive very little guidance from their political masters be they white or black.

Nothing illustrates this better than the current planning by the new Federal Labor Government to make an apology to the stolen generation identified years ago by a Royal Commission. Finding a form of words that says sorry to Aborigines taken from their parents in the past for no good reason while acknowledging that many children were taken — and should continue to be taken — for their own good will be no easy task.

The chosen words should give practical guidance to those with the unenviable task of administering Aboriginal policy.

Perhaps Crikey readers would like to put their minds to the task and post their thoughts on our comments section.