It’s been a long time coming, and it’s odd that a word of two syllables, and only 5 letters could take ten years to be said.

But it’s happened.

The new government, has taken an amazing first step: They’ve apologised to the Stolen Generation.

I went to Federation Square, here in Melbourne, to watch the big screen and see it as it happened.

Kevin’s speech wasn’t particularly political, it was heartfelt and… dammit, it seemed honest. He constructed it in consultation with those that are the unfortunate members of the Stolen Generation. I particularly thought his comment about “…infantile bickering, point-scoring and mindlessly partisan politics…” said a lot about what had been happening prior to today.

It’s a brave new world… hopefully this first spark will be enough to light the fire of change.

I mentioned to S on Skype that if this is actually carried-through, her kids will never know a country where an Aboriginal person is treated any differently from everyone else, where they are just as educated, healthy and long-living as all of us.

Brendan Nelson, on the other hand, copped it sweet during his speech, when he started going on about modern removal of children; Ignoring this would be wrong, but to bring it up during an apology regarding the legal separation of families is pretty dim. Fully a third of the audience at Federation Square turned their back. There were chants of “Get Him Off!” and derisive clapping.

(picture from the ABC website)

In a way, it very much appeared he was trying to accept the truth of the situation, while distancing from the actual apology. He also dragged the old wartime paradigm into the mix, which is… I don’t know… I found it very much labouring a point which wasn’t particularly valid in the first place.

A friend, R, in Canberra for the apology commented “…Nelson said some ill-considered things that were poorly received. He could’ve left out comparisonsof suffering and war!”

However, overall, it’s a good first step. Now comes the work, and as Kev said, it won’t be easy, but it’s certainly worthwhile. R noted “…so overdue and so needed. Good to be here with those survivors…”.