By Darren Stones
The Australian Parliament said “Sorry” to Australia’s indigenous people on Wednesday 13th February, 2008.
The apology, delivered by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, at Parliament House in Canberra, was directed towards Australia’s indigenous Stolen Generations.
Rudd’s speech was well received and it’s instilled a new sense of direction for all Australians. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally happened.
A cloud has been lifted due to Rudd’s willingness to “close the gap”. The gap he refers to is; the difference in life expectancy and opportunity between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Federal Opposition Leader, Dr Brendan Nelson spoke and was subsequently criticised for part of the content of his speech. Many people were appalled by his words and they turned their back on him as he continued to deliver his speech.
Nelson said there shouldn’t be a compensation package, but that is a key issue Professor Mick Dodson, Director of Aboriginal Studies at the Australian National University, is intending to pursue in due course.
Nelson was in a difficult situation due to the Coalitions’ stance up until recent times, but Rudd was willing to lead him through the process.
It’s questionable whether Nelson’s words were offensive, as it seems there’s a hangover from the Howard years. It could be assumed that indigenous Australians were ready and willing to direct a protest towards the Federal Liberal Party. Fair enough – the Liberals had 10 years to say “Sorry”, but it all seemed too difficult for them.
Former Australian Prime Ministers, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, attended the announcement. But, there was only one living Australian Prime Minister absent – John Howard.
Howard was Australia’s prime minister for 11 years, and he led the coalition to a crushing defeat in the November ’07 Federal Election. Is Howard still hurting from losing his long-held seat of Bennelong to Maxine McKew?
Howard has rarely been seen in the public eye since being defeated. On the day that Rudd said “Sorry”, Howard was photographed whilst taking his morning stroll. It was a day that Howard should have been standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating and Rudd.
Maybe time will heal Howard, maybe not. Rudd’s fired the starting gun and the vast majority of Australians are willing to join the race. Maybe Howard will get caught in the slipstream, maybe not. It’s up to Howard to move forward. Australia is looking for John Howard to step forward and show leadership.
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I would suggest that Howard has a right to stay at home. If he was not interested in saying sorry before, perhaps he is not interested now.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I would think that it would look false for a person that has not agreed with the idea of the "sorry" for the stolen generation to suddently change his mind and lend support by being at the event. I think that there are too few people that, for right or wrong, stand up for what they believe in and dont' just go along with everyone else.
The issue, I believe, remains to be a contentious one. An apology is a personal thing i.e. from one person who wronged to another the victim. The people who commited the wrongs don't appear to think they did wrong and yesterday does not change that. Note the wording of Rudd's apology - it was not on behalf of the COUNTRY OF AUSTRALIA. It is still up to the individuals to say sorry if they have done wrong - without that, what Rudd said yesterday is just hollow words.
Yes, of course Howard has a right to stay home.
ReplyDeleteTo be frank, I was expecting Howard to change his mind and attend the announcement. Bob Hawke rearranged his diary to attend, but I'm not sure why. Suppose he thought it was the right thing to do.
I don't think Howard would have been classed as being "false" if he had've attended. I would see that as a man openly supporting his "fellow Australians".