Editing Stolen Generations (section)

==Australian federal parliament apology==
{{Main|Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples}}
[[File:RuddSorry.jpg|right|thumb|[[Kevin Rudd]] on screen in [[Federation Square]], Melbourne, apologising to the stolen generations.]]
[[File:Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples.jpg|thumb|Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples. Taken at Parliament House, Canberra.]]
{{Commons category|Stolen Generations}}
One of the recommendations of the 1997 [[Bringing Them Home]] report was for Australian parliaments to offer an official apology. A decade later, on 13 February 2008, [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]] [[Kevin Rudd]] presented an apology to Indigenous Australians as a [[motion (parliamentary procedure)|motion]] to be voted on by the house. The apology text was as follows:<ref>{{cite news |first=Ping |last=Lo |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/02/12/2160871.htm |title=The words Rudd will use to say 'sorry' |newspaper=abc.net.au |date=12 February 2008 |access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Dylan |last=Welch |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudd-says-sorry/2008/02/13/1202760342960.html |title=Kevin Rudd says sorry |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227111927/http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudd-says-sorry/2008/02/13/1202760342960.html |archive-date=27 February 2010}}</ref>

{{quotation|I move:<br />
That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.<br />
We reflect on their past mistreatment.<br />
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation's history.<br />
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.<br />
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.<br />
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.<br />
For the pain, suffering, and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.<br />
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.<br />
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.<br />
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.<br />
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.<br />
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.<br />
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.<br />
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement, and economic opportunity.<br />
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.<br />
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.<br />
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.|Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, 13 February 2008, at a sitting of the Parliament of Australia.|source=}}

The text of the apology did not refer to compensation to Aboriginal people generally or to members of the Stolen Generations specifically. Rudd followed the apology with a 20-minute speech to the house about the need for this action.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2162134.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222215413/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2162134.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2008 |title=Video: Watch Kevin Rudd's full apology |access-date=14 February 2008}}</ref><ref name="fullspeech">{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23206474-661,00.html |title=Full text of Kevin Rudd's speech |access-date=14 February 2008 |work=News Limited |date=13 February 2008 |archive-date=17 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217222532/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0%2C21985%2C23206474-661%2C00.html |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The government's apology and his speech were widely applauded among both Indigenous Australians and the non-Indigenous general public.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/thunderous-applause-in-sydney-for-rudds-speech/2008/02/13/1202760345966.html "Thunderous applause in Sydney for Rudd's speech"], Australian Associated Press, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 13 February 2008.</ref><ref>McKenny, Leesha, [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/speech-gets-standing-ovation-in-redfern/2008/02/13/1202760352322.html "Speech gets standing ovation in Redfern"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 13 February 2008.</ref>

Opposition leader [[Brendan Nelson]] also delivered a 20-minute speech. He endorsed the apology but in his speech Nelson referred to the "under-policing" of [[child welfare]] in Aboriginal communities, as well as a host of social ills blighting the lives of Aboriginal people. His speech was considered controversial and received mixed reactions. Thousands of people who had gathered in public spaces in around Australia to hear the apology turned their backs on the screens that broadcast Nelson speaking. In [[Perth]], people booed and jeered until the screen was switched off. In Parliament House's Great Hall, elements of the audience began a [[slow clap]], with some finally turning their backs.<ref name=backturn>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fury-over-nelsons-sorry-reply/2008/02/13/1202760367682.html |title=Fury over Nelson's 'sorry' response |work=[[The Age]] |date=13 February 2008 |access-date=12 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209183531/https://www.theage.com.au/national/fury-over-nelsons-sorry-response-20080214-ge6q1r.html |archive-date=9 December 2022}}</ref>

The apology was unanimously adopted by the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], although six members of Nelson's opposition caucus left the House in protest at the apology.<ref name=backturn/> Later that day, the [[Australian Senate|Senate]] considered a motion for an identical apology, which was also passed unanimously. Beforehand, the Leader of the [[Australian Greens|Greens]], Senator [[Bob Brown]], attempted to amend the motion to include words committing parliament to offering compensation to those who suffered loss under past Indigenous policies, but was opposed by all the other parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds130208.pdf |title=Senate: Official Hansard, No. 1, 2008 |publisher=Parliament of Australia, [[Hansard]] |date=13 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216213456/http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds130208.pdf |archive-date=16 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Crawshaw |url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23206550-29277,00.html |title=Brown defeated in 'sorry' compo bid |newspaper=news.com.au |date=13 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216145347/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C23206550-29277%2C00.html |archive-date=16 December 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>