Today five years ago Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
made an Apology to Australia's Indigenous People.
I quote from the Prime Ministers speech of that day:
"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."
This
document, a transcript of that Apology
written on calf-skin vellum
and
commissioned by the Government,
can be seen in Parliament House,
Canberra
for all visitors for all time to come.
