To a standing ovation Kevin Rudd has said “sorry” to the stolen generations and for the treatment of Aboriginal people since white settlement. He did this as a person, as Prime Minister on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the Parliament.
His speech was sensitive to the past and present, but looking forward with hope.
Brendan Nelson started well, but as one Aboriginal representative said, fell in a hole when he said he felt no guilt for the past. On the radio I heard hand clapping and apparently many turned their backs, saying “Get him off”.
That is a matter for later analysis. I think it better at this time that ignore the critics and gainsayers while we listen to the Aboriginal people. This is a time for healing and for hope.
Update: [by MB] If you missed the PM’s speech, or would like to see it again, it can be found in full on this YouTube channel. Many news outlets only carry portions of the speech.
Further update: [by MB] The transcript of Kevin Rudd’s speech has been posted by Peter Martin at his blog.
“This is a time for healing and for hope.”
Well said.
Hmmm…
I presume this is the passage in Nelson’s speech which is being referred to:
Kevin Rudd’s speech brought me to tears. It was meaningful, empathetic, statesmanlike and heartfelt. The spontaneous standing ovation he received said it all. What a shame Nelson elected to inject a divisive political element into his response. It demeaned himself, his party and the tennor of the occasion. John Howard would have been proud.
It was a magnificent moment in our history. Parliament has never looked so good. Rudd’s speech was simply superb. I don’t know if we have seen a better one from a Prime Minister.
There is a very large opportunity here to be grasped now.
Ditto, Donna. I was very moved by the occasion. It was an unqualified apology, refusing to accept the ‘best intentions’ argument.
Nelson did indeed start very well, and he has at least joined Rudd in a bipartison approach. It is a pity he felt it necessary to add the qualifiers like the diggers sacrifices, ‘good intentions/outcomes’ and the no need to feel guilt. It detracted from an otherwise fine effort.
But it was good to see the happiness of so many indigenous Australians over this historic moment.
I think that this stunning piece of statesmanship from our new PM should be embraced by all Australians. This man is no “Howard Lite”, he has opened the way for our nation to move forward, I hope that we do so in the spirit of today’s event.
If anyone had any doubts about Rudd’s ability as an orator, a leader and a man with a big heart it would have been dispelled today. It was a moving speech that also brought me to tears, especially when he offered the personal apology.
On the other hand, as someone else I was with said “Nelson’s speech felt more like a lecture. Even before I heard that there had been a negative reaction to it my skin was crawling as he spoke. What on earth was he thinking?
A good and powerful note for parliament to start on. I felt that Rudd did a very good thing in a thoughtful and meaningful manner and I feel very positive about the bipartisan approach.
Wilson Tuckey was his usual charming, graceful self this morning on RN.
I was very moved too.
Although I had to smile at Kev mentioning “post-Reformation theological debate” — the wonk will out!
And what rubbish was Old Iron Bar spouting? Will the newly minted Bipartisan Brendan grow some balls and get rid of him?
Nelsons words are more indicative of his ignorance than anything else - the policies were not always of the ‘best of intentions’ as it was made quite clear in the 1930s that the most desireable outcome was the ‘breeding out’ of Aboriginal people.
Hardly a ‘best intention’ I would think.
Yes, that cracked me up too.
I liked Kevin’s speech, but it was the sight of both sides of Parliament on its feet clapping and the two leaders in at least one unrehearsed handshake that actually made me cry. I’ve never seen it before and I don’t expect ever to see it again.
Spare a thought for poor old Nelson though, stuck between the rock of Aboriginal presence and the hard place of his own party. He would have been better off getting up and saying ‘Onya, Kevin, me too’ and sitting down again.
Would Rudd have given Nelson a heads-up about the proposed bipartisan commission before he actually got up to speak? You’d think he must have, but Nelson’s body language suggested it had come as a total surprise.
copied across from the mealy-mouthed thread:
An excellent speech by the PM. Much better than speeches he made during the election campaign. He rose to the occasion, as did the distinguished visitors, Minister Macklin, and the visitors in the public gallery.
By contrast, the Opposition Leader appears to be “sorryish�, sort of, kind of. He gave an apology, BUT………
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Jeez, a bloke comments ‘n then youse open a new thread on him! I’m sure this isn’t what the Diggers, both indigenous and non-indigenous gave their lives for, on foreign soil far away, in a spirit of kindness and determination, gosh it was tough being a settler in this harsh land and what with the blackfellas, but we should all be thankful for the gift of a whole continent and our economic prosperity from the comfort of 21st century Australia, was that a dog whistle? why are you looking restless and embarrassed up in the very furthest reaches of the back benches Peter Co$tello? so as I was saying, a bit of a dog’s breakfast, but really if someone was just doing some well-intentioned removing, it’s all very well for morally superior.
[sits down. Thinks, “That went quite well, I reckon.”]
I watched the apology at Federation Square in Melbourne, where there were apparently around 2,000 people gathered to watch the apology. Rudd’s speech was received with many tears and a long ovation.
I thought that he spoke very well. I’d been apprehensive, after his election victory speech, that he wouldn’t rise to the occasion. But his words were, largely, very well-chosen, and he spoke precisely if not always eloquently - it was the content I thought, rather than the delivery that was moving. It was a fitting, powerful address.
Nelson on the other hand, was abysmal, mealy-mouthed and mean-spirited (you could hear the formula trying to stitch together the two sides of the party). By about half-way through, the great majority of the Fed Square crowd had turned their backs, and there were slow claps, booing and cries of ’shame’. I think he missed the spirit of the occasion, when he could have simply offered his support for the apology. It certainly didn’t sound ‘unconditional’.
On the whole a very moving morning, and such an important day. But the work, most of it, is ahead.
“Spare a thought for poor old Nelson though, stuck between the rock of Aboriginal presence and the hard place of his own party. He would have been better off getting up and saying ‘Onya, Kevin, me too’ and sitting down again.”
My sentiments exactly, Dr Cat. I feel a bit bad for the guy - he seemed almost reluctant to deliver what was in front of him after Rudd’s speech, and in the context of its reception. The speech itself was ambivalent, it wavered between a number of different positions, which I think reflects some of the political division that Nelson was trying to represent. It was a bit of a mess really.
YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!
Look! We’s all growed up now, mummy!
What a great day. Thanks Rudd, for making me proud to be Australian again.
You know, what Rudd lacks in flair and poetry he makes up for in genuine warmth and compassion; particularly this morning. We’re a big nation again.
I for one believe those who thought he would be Goss-style ‘take a cold-shower’ small c conservative are being proved wrong. Australia’s getting a rapid progressive overhaul, and Rudds particular genius is that he looks so safe and steady, no one really notices it happening.
He’s the anti-Keating in that sense. Keating had all the poetry and flair, and way better speeches, but raised conservative hackles merely by standing up a delivering a preparatory cough.
Happy day for indigenous people. A great day.
You can be sure a large contingent of the Old Regime were leaning over Brendan’s shoulder and whispering in his ear while he and his staffers penned that speech. Too many dissonances between what we know of Brendan’s personal views and the poisonous Howard legacy. All that equivocation and kulcha-bearing white nation-building stuff to keep the bogans happy.
No wonder Brendan was looking quite pained, with the whole nine yards of Abbott rammed up his fundament.
Not that I feel sorry for him, though obviously Rudd and Macklin did.
Yep i got tingles and a big lump in my throat, it was fine to see the chamber looking human for a change. I think you have something DFA, its a bit like opening a can of lite and finding coopers inside.
We popped on the box and watched Rudd’s speech while my partner was breast feeding.
Haveing our little one suckling contentedly at his mum’s breast, safe and secure, made the stories of children being taken from their grief stricken tore at our hearts in a way I cannot describe.
Thankyou ALP.
st kev
“Parliament has never looked so good.”
“…the sight of both sides of Parliament on its feet clapping…”
Yes, for me the real power of Rudd’s speech - it made me cry, too - came from its context, its forum, the gently insistent presence of the Stolen Gen reps, even to some extent the unspectacular, near-bureacratic manner of the PM’s delivery. After decades in which our Parliament has been swamped and sidelined - by the mass media, by the relentless anti-institutional narcissism of neo-liberal economics, by the cult of celebrity (especially populist celebrity intellectuals), by privately funded ‘Culture War’ think tanks deploying methodologies transplanted from O/S…it was as if the grown-ups of democracy were asserting their rightful place again. In the end, our Parliament is everyone’s best and last hope and chance, and everyone has a vested interest in bulwarking its national civic hegemony. Another reason why the formal apology there was so important to us all, not just Indigenous Australia. We’ve got to take democracy seriously if we want it to take us seriously.
And that synthensis of democratic weight and representative substance, the way Rudd half-turned and asked all his fellow Reps to ponder how they’d feel if what was done to all those lining the galleries were done to them, how hard it would be to forgive, the unforced human compassion that Rudd weaved in and out of his narrative…that will remain in my memory for a long time. The moment when he challenged Nelson, as if rolling up his sleeves, on the bipartisan policy tank, was a beauty, too. And FWIW, I for one don’t think Nelson did as badly as many seem to to think, given that rock hard/place he was in.
Anyway, I couldn’t help thinking, overwhelmingly…how right it all felt. The right thing for ‘us’ to do, before ‘we’ all do everything else we need to do.
As an outsider this is all very much beyond my grasp, but judging from the reactions here it sounds like it was a truly grand moment. As a good poet once said, “it is just the thing”. Here’s hoping the new government’s gesture, and the detailed thoughtful effort that went into its preparation, bring good karma and good energy to Rudd and his government’s efforts, and to all the people.
The Rudder’s speech by and large avoided the cliches which he commonly uses, and was certainly a generous bipartisan speech with which to open parliament - though not entirely lacking in sly backhanders: ie, ‘This is not, as some would argue, a black armband view of history’ - and his reference to parliament avoiding an apology ‘for over a decade’. Clever statements, in that the Labor cultural warriors will know that these are meant to refer to the Howard Government (and will probably be used repeatedly in that manner over the next few years).
Agree with #23 - I thought Rudd’s address was just astonishing. Was also struck that he managed to acknowlege the inaction of the last ten years without making it overtly partisan - very difficult tightrope to walk, that one - and also that he specifically addressed the good intentions/culture wars arguments directly. (Though I did have a wry smile at the line that said, more or less, “It’s not a black armand view; it’s just the truth.” Cop that Johnny.)
Wouldn’t have been Brendan Nelson today for love or money. I know that being oppo leader is shit sandwich territory but this must have been a hell of a hard speech to give given the Lib/Nat history and current makeup. Not that he couldn’t have done better - wtf have the sacrifices of our fallen soldiers got to do with the topic of the day?
Bloody good day though. About time.
I got a bit teary too. It wasn’t the text of the motion so much as Kev’s argument after it that has moved me from “Kev’s both a diplomat and a practical man — an excellent man to lead us after You-Know-Who,” to “My gosh, we’ve got ourselves a statesman!”
Nelson did quite well for a man who is waiting for a rat-trap to go off in his underpants. I wonder if Kev offered himself as a model: look like a less scary copy of the Vaucluse Vulture and maybe you’ll beat him? Or did he just say, “Do the noble thing; you know you want to”?
Brendan did look weepy when they came back from greeting the Distinguished Guests, and he used to know something about Aboriginal health; let us hope this bodes well for the joint committee.
Wonderful, wonderful day!
Is there any occasion for thoughtful contemplation in this country, any matter at all, which will not be a suitable occasion for conjuring up the ‘Diggers’?
Is it remotely possible that the Liberal/National parties can ever grow up?
It’s not often that I’d be on the wrong side of opinion at LP, but I have reservations about the language used in the speech. I felt it lacked nuance. But I overanalyse language.
“and loss on these our fellow Australians” is probably supposed to read “and loss on our fellow Australians”, right?
and,
““A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions…â€? Possibility?? Leading from the front with that one…
I’ve got others, but those ones bite.
However, it’s about bloody time! Congratulations Parliament…
Jack Robertson @ 23, I think your eloquence has been eclipsed only by the PM’s but I imagine you don’t mind.
Not much to add to what others have said. Rudd was excellent and the entire scene was memorable. Hopefully the cameras captured some images as evocative as Gough pouring the sand through Vince Lingiari’s fingers all those years ago, and hopefully the songwriters will be up for something at least as good as Paul Kelly’s & Kev Carmody’s tribute to those events.
One cheer to Brendon Nelson for trying his best from an impossible position.
That nice Mr Rudd… nerd…diplomat…tv star…leader…dragon slayer…Legend
Andrew @ 26: I found Mr Nelson’s speech very confusing, poorly written, unclear. You may be right: “being Opposition Leader is shit sandwich territory”….
but really, did he have to bring his sandwich into the parliament, and gnaw his way through it in front of MP’s, Aboriginal guests, and the public watching in Canberra and in homes and workplaces around the nation?
awful.
Can a pm be australian of the year?
I was (again) choked up by the genuine warmth and emotion with which Jenny Macklin introduced the Elders to the two leaders. It iced the cake. The hugs all round said: See! This is not just fancy words here.
Tears and cheers all round!!! I had my doubts about Kev, today they were well and truly dispelled.
Nelson had an opportunity to rise to the occasion and he blew it.
sublime, a pm can be australian of the year by acclamation, and doesn’t need to receive the award formally; but lowitja must needs be appointed Governor-General by HM the Queen of Australia, on the recommendation of the pm
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From “The LP Manual of Etiquette and Polite Behaviour in Former Colonies”, Feb 13th 2008
Grand day. Only a little bit wistful for PJK at one or two moments. Weeping buckets all morning. Doubts about Kevin receding fast. Very grateful to him and them all for doing the right thing, at long last. It feels like the end of a very long winter.
Pavlov’s @ 13
“Would Rudd have given Nelson a heads-up about the proposed bipartisan commission before he actually got up to speak? You’d think he must have, but Nelson’s body language suggested it had come as a total surprise.”
AT LAST I think I understand what a “wedge” looks like, ‘cos I think I saw the PM do it to Mr Nelson, on live national TV.
Hmmm.
What’s kind of sad is that in parts, Nelson’s effort was really quite good. But in others you could just feel the weight of Nick Minchin pressing into his back, and the ghost of Howard.
On the broader context, I had a slightly different emotional response to the apology. It’s more relief that the national embarrassment, of not acknowledging the blatantly obvious wrongs of the past, is over.
That, and tinged with a bit of fear that while we might be able to do the symbolism, that actually fixing the mess in Aboriginal communities might prove, despite what Rudd said, beyond our collective will to achieve.
Saying sorry was comparatively easy. Making amends will be hard.
I would’t object to seeing the ‘Diggers’ and Gallipoli being conjured up in conjunction with this:
Now back on topic.
Bravo to Kev, great stuff.
Boos to Brendan are well deserved.
This is most certainly a moment to rejoice in, and I do so with my own story.
But I cannot agree with FDB that we as a nation are “all grown up now”.
We are still happily turning our backs on our government’s disgraceful role in the wholesale slaughter of people who look and talk different.
When do we say “sorry” to the people of Iraq, and how much compensation will we offer them???
Lowitja would never be made G-G - a G-G has to be broadly acceptable to both sides - and the Lib Nats and conservatives in the community would never accept her.
And what a surprise. Wilson Tuckey is still a knob head.
Today is one of those days that I really wish I was back home. I think this will be remembered as a very special event for years to come.
Amused: one might consider the howls of outrage if somebody used Anzac Day to make a point about the Stolen Generations…
I can’t add much to what’s been said. I think the idea of a bi-partisan “war cabinet” is an excellent one. Rudd has set the bar very high now and people will be eager to see real change happen. I just hope that that can be acheived and that Macklin is up to it. For that reason, it was good to see the genuine warmth with which she greeted the elders.
Today’s apology is an important step in the de-Howardification of the country.
The next step should be to abolish ANZAC day as a public holiday, and replace with a public holiday on February 13.
Rudd’s speech was surprisingly good given his past performances. I agree with those who opine that Rudd’s speech lacked some polish and nuance, but then again so did the Gettysburg Address. Sometimes history gives a moment weight beyond the words.
Nelson also made a respectable effort in all the circumstances. I’d give him a qualified pass and we shouldn’t underestimate the establishment of the bipartisan commission. The opposition has grasped the life-line that Rudd thew them, and it is a good thing for the future health of government and Indigenous Australians.
That pained expression you saw on Nelson’s face as he gave the speech was the dawning realisation that he’d joined the wrong party after all.
And history will damn Howard, Tuckey, Mirabella and the other boycotters for their disgraceful conduct today.
Monsieur Paul, mon francais est tres mal: en anglais, s’il vous plait?
Rudd was magnificent.Brendan just didn’t get it. I watched it at Armidale Town Hall, and we all gave Rudd a standing ovation. I was behind a row of NEGS girls and they got up and walked out on Nelson. The eloquence of the young. Everyone, we have our country back. Today I am proud to be an Australian. j-p-z, you can download a video of the speech from the Sydney Morning Herald website. I’ve sent it around the world, I feel so proud.And to see the smiles and tears of joy on the faces of my Aboriginal friends. Now that was the great reward.
Beautiful day!
Rudd was great. In the true sense of that word.
Lowitja O’Donoghue
first Aboriginal nurse in South Australia
1976 first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the Order of Australia
Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1983
named Australian of the Year in 1984
made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1999
Course she’d be acceptable to both sides. She’s a monty to be GG.
Ghandi - fair enough, but if not “all growed up”, at least we can play in the Big Countries’ sandpit at recess now.
The next step should be to abolish ANZAC day as a public holiday, and replace with a public holiday on February 13.
I don’t think that ANZAC day should be abolished, but it should become more like it used to be when I was a kid: that is, a day to remember that war is always a waste of life.
I completely agree though that Feb 13 should become a public holiday– we definitely need a public holiday that honours the indigenous people of our country.
Nelson’s speech was shameful, a total disgrace, to call it anything else is to whitewash, literally, it.
Read this from his speech [link]
“Sexual abuse of Aboriginal children was found in every one of the 45 Northern Territory communities surveyed for the Little Children are Sacred report. It was the straw breaking the camel’s back, driving the Howard Government’s decision to intervene with a suite of dramatically radical welfare, health and policing initiatives.
The Alice Springs Crown Prosecutor, Nanette Rogers with great courage revealed to the nation in 2006 the case of a four year old girl drowned while being raped by a teenager who had been sniffing petrol. She told us of the two children - one a baby - sexually assaulted by two men while their mothers were off drinking alcohol. Another baby was stabbed by a man trying to kill her mother.
So too, a ten year old girl is gang raped in Aurukun; the offenders going free, barely punished. A boy is raped in another community by other children.
Is this not an emergency, the most disturbing part of it being its endemic nature and Australia’s apparent desensitisation to it?
Yet state governments responsible for delivering services and security resist the extension of a Northern Territory style intervention.
I ask the Prime Minister to report to this Parliament regularly on what his government is doing to save this generation of Aboriginal Australians from these appalling conditions.”
Child sexual abuse and domestic violence are endemic features of the whole of Australian society not isolated within indigenous society alone but rife throughout all sectors of our communities.
To highlight, particularly in this speech on this occasion, and focus on such abuse as if occurring only in indigenous society is simple blatant inexcusable racism for which ignorance, if that is what it is, is absolutely no excuse..
Shameful.
“The next step should be to abolish ANZAC day as a public holiday, and replace with a public holiday on February 13.’
Now way! This is Australia, we can’t give up public holidays. Better idea is ANOTHER public holiday on 13th February. If we HAVE to give up a public holiday then surely it should be Queens Birthday or Invasion/Australia day
According to the editor of The Indigenous Times on ABC this morning, one of the opposition members was reading a magazine and laughing thoughout both the Rudd and Nelson speeches. I think his name was Chris Pearce, member for Ascot.
I don’t know which is worse, boycotting the occasion, or staying and being openly contemptuous of the proceedings.
If there’s no particular problem with sexual abuse in Indigenous communities, what are we all worried about? Come on, don’t be so naive. Pretending there is no problem is utterly disingenuous.
Nelson’s speech was a mess, but what else do you expect when, as another commenter put it, he’s between a rock and a hard place? He was to a large extent speaking to his party room, as we all expected. This should be a happy occasion; let’s put partisan quibbles to one side for now.
When the hansard of the Queensland Parliament Question Time comes out just after 2.00pm it will show both Opposition Leader Springborg and the Liberal Member for Currumbin,Jann Stuckey as having a lot of work to do to come up to speed with where the apology debate currently is.
Hannah’s Dad, you’re so right. To dwell on those details on this occasion was very inappropriate and clearly distressing to many older Aboriginal people outside (as shown in interviews on Channel 9 after the speeches). And when are the LIB/Nats ever going to drop this “best intentions” nonsense? It really amounts to saying that removal was for the best and ultimately a good thing - which is essentially no appology at all, as they’d do it again tomorrow if they could get away with it, with the best of intentions.
“This should be a happy occasion; let’s put partisan quibbles to one side for now.”
Of course, Leon, but isn’t the point that Nelson was unable to do so? Rudd scored a few points, but was generally very restrained on this front. Nelson’s speech was like an exercise in post-Howard political correctness, which I don’t blame him in particular for, but is still worth examining.
I don’t think the parliamentary floor, with the eyes of millions upon you, is the best place to speak to one’s party room.
Leon you have missed the point completely.
Nelson and the Coalition are ignoring the unpalatable fact that CSA and DV are problems within the whole of Australian society and focusing only on such in indigenous society and thus it is racist.
There is no pretense on my part that CSA/DV is not a problem in indigenous society.
There is pretense, by deliberately ignoring, on the part of Nelson et al, that such exists in the whole, not just indigenous, of Australian society.
That is not acceptable.
Exactly, Klaus K. Nelson was unable to rise to the occasion and let go of partisan point-scoring.
I felt that there were portions of Nelson’s speech which were full of compassion and understanding, and then his face and voice would change and a chunk of committee-speak apologism would be uttered. It’s a shame he didn’t feel he could just cut those chunks from the speech, it detracted from the occasion and being pushed around so obviously bodes ill for his longevity as leader, methinks.
Ambigulous wrote:
Here’s an English paraphrase by Alistair Hulett:
The Internationale doesn’t translate very well literally from French to English; the most literal translation, sung by American communists, is basically unsingable, and the somewhat less literal paraphrase sung by UK and Australian communists is full of archaisms. This is possibly one of the reasons why non-communist left and labour parties in the Anglosphere have preferred songs like The Red Flag and Solidarity Forever, whereas in continental Europe (amongst other parts of the world) the non-communist left parties still sing The Internationale, often with different lyrics to distinguish them from the communist versions.
Now back on topic…
Nelson tried to straddle the fence, and got his goolies caught on the barbed wire.
Serves him right. What a dope.
“I felt that there were portions of Nelson’s speech which were full of compassion and understanding, and then his face and voice would change and a chunk of committee-speak apologism would be uttered.”
Definitely, and I do commend him for much of what he said. I thought of this as an intellectual ambivalence in the content of the speech, and his delivery suggested to me that he knew it and felt it as well. As I was watching, the phrase ‘politically correct’ came to mind to describe the bits where he went into those chunks of ‘committee-speak apologism’ that you describe. It might be too loaded a concept, but it just felt like that.
Laughed at that line too - PC & Amanda - just a tiny touch of Ruddian conceit - but still appropriate and funny.
I’m with you Lefty E – Rudd’s warmth, his compassion, his humanity all on show – a really wonderful speech.
As for Nelson - a spoiler effort from a party with no shame. Kev brought them home, but bits of Brendan’s reply was akin to revving up the bus. The spontaneous response to his speech, right across the nation from indigenous peoples, says it all.
That said, it is still a great day for the Stolen Generations, all other indigenous Australians and…the rest of us mob too.
Leon @ 60, here’s what Hannah’s Dad wrote:
“Child sexual abuse and domestic violence are endemic features of the whole of Australian society not isolated within indigenous society alone but rife throughout all sectors of our communities.”
I think when a bloke calls something “rife” he’s not saying it should be ignored, or that it’s OK. Rather, he’s saying it’s widespread. I think he took it for granted his readers would think of child sexual abuse and domestic violence as shocking acts needing attention, to REDUCE them.
I’m staggered you thought he was condoning or lessening the importance of these crimes, WHEREVER they are committed.
************
Just because we’re celebrating a wonderful day, doesn’t mean we have to leave our critical faculties at the door as we walk in.
Update: [by MB] If you missed the PM’s speech, or would like to see it again, it can be found in full on this YouTube channel. Many news outlets only carry portions of the speech.
Thank you, Kevin Rudd.
thoroughly teary all morning, stood in front of Tas parliament house and watched his speech. It will be, I think, recognised as one of the greatest speeches in Australian history - for the strength of its empathy, its honest and almost startlingly blunt language, and the detailed attention it gave to putting Australia’s history on record, above the culture wars, the quibbling and the bullshit. He went far further than I thought he would.
I didn’t bother staying to listen to Nelson. Why let him and his ilk spoil this great moment?
Nelson was banging on about sexual abuse because Abbott was pushing for the Liberals to support the apology as a way of defending Howard’s legacy, and in particular the NT intervention. It’s pure internal Coalition politics.
But I don’t really care what he said. He had the opportunity to rise further to the occasion. I don’t know if he’s a reader of political history, but in 1907 when Winston Churchill was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, one of his tasks was drafting a fully representative consitution for the South African colonies. Remember this is only a few years after the Boer War. The Tories weren’t prepared to go as far as granting full representative democracy. Churchill made a speech in the House and said (among other things) - “this constitution can either be a gift from the Liberal party, or, if you choose to be generous, it can be much more important as a gift from England” - that’s paraphrasing - but the Tories decided to change their position and the bill was carried without a division. Of course, that didn’t extend to one person, one vote, but we’re talking 1907, and in the circumstances of the time, it was a very meaningful gesture of reconciliation with a defeated foe.
There’s been a lot of extraneous noise today - including some vile stuff on some blogs I won’t mention. I propose to ignore it. This day belongs to the Indigenous people of this land. “Sorry” has been said, and we now have a new situation and a new basis for healing and moving forward.
I thought Rudd was superb.
Rudd and those around him looked progressive, young, strong and grounded. They made it a day of recognition (the most tragic cost of JWH’s posturing), equality, opportunity and hope; and in doing so dissolved many of my reservations about the coming term of government. Nelson’s fervent, mealy mouthed, tin-eared, moralising looked as out of place as the thinly populated, mostly overweight relics behind him.
I was in Martin Place and thought at the end “Keating’s Culture Wars are finally over.” Keating could never have made that speech. If one wanted to get all Hegelian, we could say Rudd supplied the synthesis of the Keating thesis and Howard antithesis.
Precisely.
By the way, (and sorry for taking the focus off the above point) has there been anything heard from the absent Coalition members?
At last, a Prime Minister that we can be proud of.
Some people will not be convinced. From The Age:
Some coalition MPs were obviously displeased with the apology and some were absent from the chamber as it was delivered.
One Liberal MP, Chris Pearce, read a magazine during the motion and the speeches, refusing to get to his feet for several standing ovations.
He stood begrudgingly only when MPs were asked to vote on the motion.
Outspoken West Australian Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey was present in the house for a prayer before the apology but left when Mr Rudd rose to his feet.
This was, I think, my favourite section of Rudd’s supporting address:
“Keating could never have made that speech”
What rubbish. Over his career Keating argued for and against everything at different times.
Guido that report I believe is from the Brisbane Courier-Mail which also mentions Alby Schultz, Don Randall and Sophie Mirabella, as well as Mark Vaile.
Iron Bar was present for prayers but did a walkout.
Mark Vaile’s absence is interesting.
Vaile may have been genuinely absent (e.g. illness or overseas), but in that case would have had a “pair” on the Government benches, since a vote was to be taken.
Maybe Anthony Albanese should have called a quorum.
Agreed, tigtog. That part of the speech was excellent.
I was first struck by Kevin speaking directly to the camera. That’s new isn’t it?
d
Spiros
Keating could never have made that speech. His would have been hateful, divisive, and all about him.
At least someone didn’t drink the kool-aid then.
What rot, John Greenfield.
In making these nit-picking points, you’re doing exactly what Rudd very properly cautioned against - turning the tragic story of lives destroyed into an ongoing piece of political piffle. I was so pleased that Rudd nailed the culture wars thing for what it is, and that he read quotes from the officials of the time to demonstrate that denialists and naysayers are just mean-spirited and self-serving attention seekers.
I was also very pleased to see the offer to make the necessary measures to redress these wrongs a bipartisan one.
That’s the spirit we should be discussing it in.
When I first got involved with Murri activists in the land rights movement in 1988, two decades ago, and had the privilege to work with and struggle with people like Kev Carmody, Bob Weatherill and Sam Watson, among many others, I was struck by the generous and open hearted approach and great goodness of spirit among Indigenous people fighting for their due in this country. Recognition, as dk.au says, is absolutely key. In my view, white Australians have only just caught up with their Indigenous brothers and sisters.
As to Paul Keating, part of that shift in sentiment and thought is down to the work of 4 of our 5 living former PMs. It took real political courage for Keating to handle Mabo as he did. It probably did a lot towards costing him the election in 96. It was a big heave on the road to healing.
See, courtesy of Jean at Creativy/Machine, Keating’s Redfern speech of 92, and read what she has to say about its reception for a sense of how far we’ve gone, and how much trust has been built despite the appalling record of John Winston Howard.
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Keating could have made that speech. He might not have meant a word of it, but he could have said the words. Keating’s successor would not have even tried.
Anyway, it was Rudd who made the speech. He now has to deliver on the expectations he has raised about improving the lot of indigenous people. It’s a big ask.
I think that’s very unfair indeed to PJK.
Keating probably would have been more successful in narrow political terms if he hadn’t been a man of deep feeling.
I’m gratified by Rudd’s clear sincerity and resolve. He’s admitted the task ahead will be hard. But I think that what he’s rightly calling is for all of us to make it a field in which we all labour.