Sorry

Today is an historic day in Australia, and a day that I am proud to say I am Australian.

Today our government finally apologised to the first inhabitants of this island, the indigenous people of Australia, for the way they were treated by European settlers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

For any non-Australian readers out there, there is a long history of oppression, violence and prejudice against Aboriginal people in Australia. Much like the Native Americans and tribal people in many colonised nations, the indigenous people were badly mistreated when the British settled in Australia.

From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century at least 100,000 Aboriginal and mixed race children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in church missions, orphanages and internment camps on the premise that Aboriginal families were unable to provide proper care and that these children should be assimilated into white society without the cultural history and influence of their own communities. In many cases there was no justification for the removal, no parental permission was given and the children were violently taken from their families, sometimes from hospital straight after birth. In Western Australia, the Aborigines Act 1905 removed the legal guardianship of Aboriginal parents and made their children all legal wards of the state, so no parental permission was required. This was basically institutionalised racism. This group of children has become known as the Stolen Generation.

The problems encountered by the Aboriginal people are a complex issue, but in my opinion a major reason for those problems has been the attitude of white Australia and a reluctance by the former government to take responsibility for the circumstances that Aboriginals find themselves in today. As individuals and as a group, they bear responsibility too for their own situation, but reconciliation and mutual respect are such an important part of the process of resolution.

For their entire period of power the Liberals prevaricated and ducked the question of how to acknowledge the acts of previous governments. They were reluctant to apologise, primarily, it seems for fear of opening the door to compensation claims. I’ve yet to hear an argument for why the government shouldn’t pay compensation to the genuine victims. Just because there may be an enormous amount claims is no reason not to accept responsibility.

It is such a relief to finally have a leader and a party in power who are prepared to make the hard decisions and do what’s right. When Parliament opened yesterday for the first time since the Labor Party took power there was a traditional “Welcome to Country”, which allows the Traditional Owners of the region to give their blessing for an event to take place.

And most importantly, today our government said the word that was so long overdue.

SORRY

Here is the full text of the apology:

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

I cried watching the session of parliament. That’s not something I’ve ever done before! I feel sick at some of the comments the leader of the opposition, Brendan Nelson, made. Today was not a day for political posturing, yet he could not resist referring to compensation and why was it necessary to talk about Australians fighting overseas today? That is a debate for another day and not relevant to the Stolen Generation.

There is still a long way to go and a symbolic acceptance of responsibility is only the first step, but hopefully this is an indication of a shift in the collective attitude of Australians and the beginning of a real attempt to work and live together.