To Belly; to Gibbo; to Wassup....I understand your opinions, and pain; I'm a progeny of an Aboriginal mother and an English dad, back in the WW2 period. I had a traumatic childhood, and reverse racism was more common that I thought, because I was white and my brother was black. I've forgiven my mother for the aching bones and the bruises that I was ashamed of on the bus to school, that's the only way her mother taught her, and, my father for not doing anything about it. My point is, one must forgive what has been done, it's the only way I could move forward in life, and as a nation we must also move forward. If anyone of us on this forum is going to take an academic view, based on their personal beliefs, or otherwise a political view, you must listen to the people who have been aggrieved, put your thoughts in your pocket for a while, and listen to the people who have been mostly been disrespected, other than those who have broken the white man's law before and after colonisation, according to when the first fleet arrived, and the enforcement of British justice thereafter. At last I think this nation can exhale with a sigh of relief, that at last we as a nation can regain our self respect, and as a consequence, respect for our fellow man in this country of many world races, and I might say, what are the immigrants to this nation going to think if we cannot resolve our basic beliefs to the indigenous inhabitants of this island. We have in our new Prime Minister a means of doing this, and it's about time.

YES... the 'sorry' does not go far enough!

YES.. most of you are agreed on this!

YES.. some of you who say this now.. were the very ones who politicized or aided and abetted the politicization of the single issue 'stolen' generation purely to damage a goverenment?

TRUE SORROW....should be for the dark side of human nature which regarded itself as having some kind of manifest destiny to take Australia for itself.

TRUE SORROW should be for the fact that there is pretty much ZIPPO we can do about it now.. except try by all means to limit the damage.

BUT...if we had true sorrow, accompanied by 'true repentance' from being:

-receivers of stolen property by virtue of our birth here and our unwillingness to restore said property to its original owners.
-collective guilt for defending property acquired by horrific methods.

Then.. we would try to unwind all the historic sins which brought us to today!

BUT.. the price is too high.....right? we would be denying our birth right.. our identity..our sense of self.

So...what's left? well.. the only thing left is for ....'forgiveness'. What a wonderful concept.. but will us being forgiven by Aboriginal people change anything?
Yep..it will maybe free them from the bondage of hate, and might change a few of the less arrogant among us. It will be like a straight Jacket being loosed from their bodies, freeing them to stop focusing on their pitiful situation in many cases, to move on and adjust to how things are now.

BUT..again, in all of this, there is the issue of 'justice' -sins done but unpunished somehow leaves a sense of 'There is something missing' from the equation.

"I came not to be served, but to serve, and give my life as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45

from which we can then move to:

"I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly" Jhn 10:10

How interesting to see two different Christian perspectives on this subject.

Thank-you. On this subject I will support Gibo.

You know;- we can be churlish and petty, and VALIDLY point out some of the shades of grey. BUT, our indigenous brothers and sisters WERE treated disgracefully; and DID experience genocide at the hands of white settlers.

I am NOT responsible for it.
Sorry is just one silly word.

....but it matters so much to native Australians. It matters so much.

Can't we do this for them? A word. A word that is so important to them. ONE WORD to cover this shocking history is but a tiny thing.

If YOU have a problem with it, then I pity you your appalling narrow mindedness.

I couldn’t agree more Graham.

I’ve been expressing exactly these sentiments amongst friends and colleagues. I seemed to be the only person holding this view. So it is excellent to see that someone else feels the same.

We should note this day it was a historic one.
I am bursting with pride in Kevin Rudd, his speech outdid the Redfern one of Keiting.
And the promises he made say clearly it is just one step we are on the path to a better life for our first Aussies.
No grin on my face nothing hidden, I feel sorry for Brendan Nelson.
He got it wrong, along side Rudd's statesmanship he failed even himself.
I have no doubts right now and for as long as he lives Brendan will wish he could do it again.
I heard other comments we should look closely at , and if a thread gets of the ground we may yet do that.
Long after my death Kevin Rudd's speech will be remembered, it is sad truly that Nelson could do much better he may yet do so in other forums but he let himself down today.

Graham, are you suggesting that an apology be made for the "colonisation" of this continent 200+ year ago? How long is that piece of string your holding?

It is just and admirable to say sorry to those stolen, their families and their communities for the racist and misguided policies of the past. But to suggest we say sorry for merely being, ignores, or more likely, is a Canute like gesture against the tide of history.