Parties reiterate landmark Stolen Generations apology

Federal parliament has marked the anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations with both major parties recommitting to reconciliation.

Scott Morrison in parliament on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Federal parliament has marked the anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations with both major parties recommitting to reconciliation.

Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd made the landmark apology in 2008, saying he was “sorry” on behalf of all Australians for the “pain, suffering and hurt” of the Stolen Generations and their descendants.

Scott Morrison said on Monday the “journey to make peace with our past” was ongoing.

“Fourteen years have passed since we had said sorry here in this place. Sorry for the cold laws that broke apart families. Sorry for the brutalities that were masked even under the guise of protection and even compassion. Sorry for believing that Indigenous people were not capable of stewarding their own lives. Sorry for the failure to respect, to understand, to appreciate. Sorry for the lives damaged and ­destroyed,” the Prime Minister said.

“So on this day, and every year since, we are right to remind ourselves of times past, not to re­ignite the coals of pain or bring division where there are the beginnings of healing, but to be mindful of lessons learned, to turn again from the great Australian silence towards each other.”

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt, whose mother was part of the Stolen Generations, said while it had been more than a decade since the apology was first made, “we are still sorry”.

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Linda Burney said the apology recognised change required everyone to “step confidently forward together … It was a speech of truth that set us free … but what we do with that freedom is what ­matters.”

Mr Morrison said sorry was “not the hardest word to say – the hardest is I forgive you.”

His statement angered members of the Indigenous community, including Greens senator Lidia Thorpe – a Djab Wurrung and Gunnai Gunditjmara woman – who slammed the sentiment. “This is outright disrespectful to all those affected by Stolen Generations in this country,” she said. “How dare you ask forgiveness when you still perpetrate racist policies and systems that continue to steal our babies?”

Anthony Albanese said the effects of the removals of children “still linger” and that was why marking the apology was important. “We cannot look to our future without reflecting on the past, because until a nation acknowledges the full truth of its history, it will be burdened by its unspoken weight,” the Opposition Leader said.

“We must acknowledge the wrongs, learn from them and look for ways of healing. Speeches which do not lead to action are a hollow, bitter undertaking.”