One of the hot topics during the recent election in Australia was reconciliation and the on going request for a formal apology to the Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations and the atrocities they suffered. The previous government, under the rule of John Howard for the past 11 years, refused to say ‘sorry’, and instead side stepped the issues with half apologies and denials that it was the current generations responsibility to take the first steps to right the wrongs of the past.
This morning Kevin Rudd said the simple — but very powerful — word ‘sorry’. No one believes that todays admission will magically fix the problems that are suffered by the Aboriginal people, but it is at least a public action to let Australia, and perhaps the world, know that Australians made mistakes and they understand that. Sorry is the start, not the end, of the process to unite Australia. Only with a base of understanding can the current conditions suffered in Australia have a hope of being improved.
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