Young PR

Australia Says Sorry

Today every proud Australian will stand a little taller as the Australian Government Parliament formally apologises to our indigenous aboriginal people for wrongs committed since our nation was colonised 200 odd years ago.

This is an important symbolic step for my nation and I’m really disappointed to be removed from it. My Aussie political antennae are out of whack thanks to the distance and I can’t help but wonder if the news I’m reading online and having relayed to me by friends and family is accurate. Are Australians really enthusiastically embracing reconciliation? Or is xenophobia and racism still lurking below the surface, out of view of Parliament house and all the visible statements of support?

And then this morning, Facebook brought me one of the most heart warming surprises I’ve had for a while. As I scrolled down my news feed I noticed that Steven Noble had updated his status to ‘I’m sorry’. Then a mate from uni did the same. followed by a bloke I used to work with. I clicked through to my friends’ statuses and found a grassroot movement underway as Australians from all walks of live change their Facebook status to ‘is sorry’ today as a small gesture of support for reconciliation. It’s so simple, yet so powerful - reconciliation has been a hot issue in Australia for years, but here, hundreds of regular Australians are expressing to their most important constituency (their friends and family) their support for reconciliation, and lending their own voice as a nation says sorry.

Once again, thank you social media - you enrich my life. Thank you to the Australian Government, for doing what is right. And for what it’s worth “Paull Young is sorry” too.

The Australian Government’s Parliament’s official apology (via the SMH):

I give notice that, at the next sitting, I will move:

That

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

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.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.