On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.
Monday 13 February is the 15th anniversary of the Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples . Given by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Apology was a watershed moment for reconciliation in Australia.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered the Apology on behalf of the nation. At 9:30am on 13 February 2008, Rudd presented the apology to Indigenous Australians as a motion to be voted on by the house. It has since been referred to as the National Apology, or simply The Apology.
Government Responses to Bringing them Home
A major recommendation of Bringing them home was that all Australian Parliaments apologise to the Stolen Generations for the actions of their predecessors in forcibly removing children from their families. All State and Territory Governments have apologised.
“It was right for prime minister Rudd to make the apology in 2008. It's right that we recognise the anniversary today,” he said in parliament on Monday. Dutton, then a shadow minister under opposition leader Brendan Nelson, infamously boycotted the apology delivered by Kevin Rudd.
Political views. Dutton is aligned with the "National Right" faction of the Liberal Party, which he leads. He has been described as a right-wing populist.
Oral language and traditions that could only survive if passed down from one generation to the next were lost, and many parents struggled to get over the loss of their children. Children experienced neglect, abuse and they were more likely to suffer from depression, mental illness and low self-esteem.
On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.
In 1969, New South Wales abolished the Aborigines Welfare Board, and this effectively resulted in all States and Territories having repealed legislation that allowed for the removal of Aboriginal children under a policy of 'protection'.
This was done by Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, through a policy of assimilation. Under this policy, the forcible removal of First Nations children was made legal.
Many First Nations people consider the use of the term 'Aborigine' racist. Aboriginal people are a diverse group of individuals and use of the term 'Aborigine' has negative connotations imposed during colonisation and can perpetuate prejudice and discrimination.
The research project, currently in its eighth year and led by University of Newcastle historian Emeritus Professor Lyndall Ryan, now estimates more than 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives were lost in more than 400 massacres, up from a previous estimate of 8,400 in 302 massacres.
1957: Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke said to the people of Australia: "It is my official duty, and my personal desire, to express to you and through you to the people of Australia, our heartfelt sorrow for what occurred in the war."
The National Apology
In 2007, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd began consulting with Indigenous Australians about what form a national apology should take. On 13 February 2008, he offered a formal apology to members of the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian parliament.
On June 11, 2008, on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons to deliver an apology to students of Indian residential schools, their families, and communities.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rate decreased by 3% from 2,412 to 2,330 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population. At 30 June 2022: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners accounted for 32% of all prisoners.
It is true that there has been, historically, a small number of claims that there were people in Australia before Australian Aborigines, but these claims have all been refuted and are no longer widely debated. The overwhelming weight of evidence supports the idea that Aboriginal people were the first Australians.
These children were forcibly removed from their families and communities through race-based policies set up by both State and Federal Governments. They were either put in to homes, adopted or fostered out to non-Indigenous families.
In Victoria, the term 'Forgotten Australians' refers to people who spent time as children in institutions, orphanages and other forms of out-of-home 'care', prior to 1990, many of whom had physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse perpetrated against them.
The Apology's profound symbolism has translated into few positive improvements in the economic, social, medical and educational outcomes of Indigenous Australians, who remain among the world's most disadvantaged people.
In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology for the mistreatment of Indigenous Australians on behalf of the federal government. National Sorry Day has also inspired many public acts of solidarity and support for reconciliation.
What Is National Sorry Day About? National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on May 26 each year. This day gives people the chance to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities.
Many stories about the Stolen Generations are testimony to how very deeply mothers suffered because their children were forcibly taken from them. Fathers took to alcohol after some, and sometimes all, of their children were taken because they had "nothing to live for".
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody presents its report to the Commonwealth Government. It finds that of the 99 deaths it investigated, 43 were of people who were separated from their families as children.
The children were denied all access to their culture, they were not allowed to speak their language and they were punished if they did. The impacts of this are still being felt today. There are currently more than 17,000 Stolen Generations survivors in Australia.