The day when “sorry” mattered
There are moments in life when the actions of a leader instantly connect with, and shift the mindset of an entire population.
Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd defined that moment today. In the first instance he made good on an election promise. But more than that, he went beyond saying “sorry” and pushed for partisan, practical strategies to address the cultural divide between indigenous Australians and the rest of us who came later.
Today’s speech was, in my opinion, deeply profound. Yes, he’s deeply buried the Howard legacy (a man who was conspicuous in his absence). But more importantly I believe that when a spirit of reconciliation is embedded into the culture from the top down, real change can, and will actually begin.
A few things I will remember about today:
- Explaining to my inquisitive 4 year old daughter why we are saying sorry on behalf of other people
- Realising that Rudd has the makings of a statesman (it’s about time we had one in Australia)
- Watching the spontaneous standing ovation after Rudd’s speech
- Wondering what on earth possessed opposition leader Brendan Nelson to imply there were cases when it was appropriate to take Aboriginal children from their parents. News Ltd report: “Our generation does not own these actions nor should it feel guilt for what was done in many, but certainly not all cases, with the best of intentions,” [Nelson] said. No wonder the crowds outside parliament turned their backs.
SMH report here, and video and text of the speech over at the ABC here.
Thursday, 14 February, 2008 at 9:56 am
I think Brendan Nelson has revealed himself as completely unable to see the profound racism in taking those children from their parents, when it was commonly ASSUMED that it was bad for a child of mixed race to be brought up in an Aboriginal community, and also assumed that Aboriginal parents would ipso facto be incapable of good parenting. And if he can’t see that, what does it say about him? It may be true that, as some argue, human beings are all inherently racist – but we can at least be intellectually aware of the illogic and inhumanity of such a position and be vigilant against it in ourselves.
Yes, Rudd’s speech was splendid and he showed great leadership.
Thursday, 14 February, 2008 at 10:28 am
Great summary Mark, I completely agree. If Wilson Tuckey & Co are still looking for the reasons they lost government last November their response on this issue should provide a hint — they’ve apparently forgotten who they were elected to represent.
Personally, I don’t understand the resistence to saying ’sorry’. Sure, it’s only a word, but words are symbols after all and they have value — every parent who gets their child to say ’sorry’ after doing something wrong knows that.
Now we have to do something practical.
Thursday, 14 February, 2008 at 4:04 pm
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