There were some of the most extraordinary scenes ever witnessed in the Australian Parliament. Or in any parliament.  Words of apology, words of regret, words of commitment and bipartisan words of support as Prime Minister Rudd, followed by Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, said ‘I’m sorry’ to the Aboriginal people of this country and the victims of past policies that created what became known as ‘the stolen generation’.

There were tears in Parliament, in the spectators’ gallery, among the thousands of people who filled the lawns surrounding Parliament House and in gathering around Australia for an historic day.

A day that many indigenous people thought would never come. A day that some Australians still feel – even bitterly – should never come.

Prime Minister Rudd started the First session of his first parliament as the Government  with The Sorry declaration the first piece of business. I thought his speech after reading the apology – which I read on air yesterday – was even more moving, more emotional than the actual document.

It was genuine. It was touching. It was wrenching at times as he detailed specific cases. The same with Opposition Leader Nelson.

The point was rightly made that some children were taken for their own good. Their own health and welfare. But among some of the hunters –with the backing of many state and federal governments – the goal was more sinister.

Men with the official name, a misnomer called Protector of Natives, had awesome power to literally tear babies from their mothers’ arms. One goal was ‘dilute the Aboriginality’ of young so-called half-castes, dilute the colour and culture of the black man, until as one “protector’ reported to Parliament within generations it would lead to the ‘complete disappearance of the black race.’

To those who say ‘It wasn’t my fault… I personally didn’t do it’--  as we hear repeatedly on talkback radio – the PM pointed out that these practices were still being applied in some parts of Australia in the 1960s and 1970s – when man was going to the moon, exploring other worlds, while not caring for our own.

One anecdote that stuck in my mind was the description of the church missions and how, in the name of Christianity, black children were forcibly removed from their families and then brothers and sisters were separated further.

As Kevin Rudd recounted they were formed into three lines and told : ‘You are now Catholics, you are Methodists, you are Church of England.’

Many never saw their mothers again. As I said… there were extraordinary, scenes in our Parliament today. Made even more emotional by the fact that it took so plurry long.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008