Sorry

Yesterday Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a profound, historic and incredibly moving speech in Parliament.

The above clip is just a snapshot of his 28-minute apology to the Stolen Generation, those indigenous Australians taken away from their families as a result of Government policy. I've just watched the whole speech via The Age website and I've now got one of those sore, constricted throats you get when you try not to sob. It certainly made for powerful and rousing viewing.

I can only imagine what it must have been like to watch this speech live. I swear I can feel the optimistic upbeat mood of the nation all the way from the other side of the world. How refreshing to have a gutsy, honourable and genuinely human prime minister in charge of my homeland. It's almost enough to make me want to return to her shores.

• Full text of Kevin Rudd's speech

And from the blogs:

• Sarsaparilla
• Biglittlesister
• Pomgirl
• Between Bourke and Elizabeth
• Trevor Cook
  

Comments

[Melody]

Kimbofo, it was wonderful to watch it live on television. I felt so proud of Kevin Rudd (I do like the man). He spoke soooo well on such an emotional topic, I'm sure you'd agree.

Yesterday just 'felt' different. You could 'feel it' in the air, you really could.

[Julie]

It certainly did feel different. Urban Aborigines live on the street - they certainly do in Redfern. And as I walked home on Tuesday and to work on Wednesday this one would yell to that one, "See ya down there later". They were so energised.

This "something in the air" reminds me of the two months after 2nd December 1972. That was such a momentous period - the first Whitlam ministry. It was like the world had gone from B & W to colour.

I agree with Melody - I like the man. I like his humanity. I like his sincerity. I like his geekiness. You just know that he will do everything in his power to keep what he promised.

But the next step will be extremely difficult. To make a difference in the lives on the ground. And the crux of the issue is education - get the kids to go to school on a regular basis and to realise that it is worthwhile. And yet at the same time to stop the abuse, to stop the alcholism, to stop the sniffing, to stop the welfare-mentality to stop the sheer bloody-minded vandalism of property.

I truly believe that the word "sorry" will be the start of the turn-around.

[Mr D]

Doesn't this now make Howard look like a very small man?

Congratulations to Australia, by the way. You've managed to do something certain other countries, ahem, have never managed to do to the peoples they've trampled on...

[Kinuk]

I will definitely have to watch this. It does sound like a huge moment in Australian history. We recently watched A Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was very moving, very sad. It made me think of all the Native Canadian children forced to attend "white" boarding schools.

Come to think of it, I don't think the Canadian government apologised for that yet.

[Julie]

I think the Canadian government has apologised for this - in 1998.

[Colin]

I'm trying think of who Mr D might be referring to, but for the life of me I can't imagine who it might be... ; )

I read the text and watched a little of the highlights - good for him. As Julie suggested, despite the resistance, saying "sorry" will probably turn out to be the easiest part of the process, over the next five or ten years.

Also, if I had a full head of hair, you would be forgiven for thinking that I was related to Kevin Rudd. He should be more upset about that than me.

[Mr D]

@ Colin: Gosh, I wonder! I seem to remember learning at school about how during the Highland Clearances the English physically pushed all the inhabitants of some villages over the cliffs of the north coast of Scotland. One of countless atrocities. But to be honest, I have no idea where we'd start apologising or how long the speech would end up being.

[Julie]

"Highland Clearances" - what a quaint term! Nearly as good as "ethnic cleansing.

[Colin]

@ Mr D: ha! I hadn't even been thinking about the Highland Clearances. I was thinking more along the lines of my current abode in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The irony of course is that if the English had to apologize, so too would the Lowland Scots, and then all the Scots would have to turn around and apologize to all the various "natives" upon whom they exercised their mayhem after taking the King's shilling and so on.

[Julie]

It does help if the invasion/colonisation is clear-cut and one-off. I read somewhere last week about an academic who wrote a book about apologies around the world by this government and that. There have been quite a few - 80 odd. Cannot find the flamin' reference now.

[Red Ink]

Kimbo - yes, sorry is so random at the moment. (Sorry). I actually voted the other bastard out, and got KRudd in return. It is woirth it.

On the very next day after the election, the promised "laptop for every child" had become "access to a school computer terminal for every pupil". Close, but no cigar Kev.

Now the long awaited early report on Climate Change from Ross Garaut, is to be "taken into account along with other input" .... this is Politspeak for "ignored except for the bits we like".

Nevertheless, it is refreshing to get the new team in - but even more exilarating to see the back of john hWARard.