Earlier this month we marked the fifth anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. The Apology was adopted by the Parliament on the motion of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and supported by the Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson. Their successors spoke well when passing the largely symbolic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Bill 2012.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said 'on this special anniversary we acknowledge the courage that enabled Kevin Rudd to offer the Apology and the generosity of spirit that enabled Indigenous Australians to accept it'. She spoke of the Constitution as 'a foundation document (which) is more than just a set of rules and procedures':
It can articulate a nation's sense of itself. But our nation cannot articulate such a sense of self when there are still great unanswered questions in our midst. How do we share this land and on what terms? How adequate are our national laws and symbols to express our history and hopes for the future? No gesture speaks more deeply to the healing of our nation's fabric than amending our nation's founding charter.
With a real show of bipartisanship, Tony Abbott complimented Gillard on her 'fine speech' and without any fanfare proceeded to put to rest the Howard critique of the 'black armband view' of history. He told Parliament:
Australia is a blessed country. Our climate, our land, our people, our institutions rightly make us the envy of the earth, except for one thing — we have never fully made peace with the First Australians.
This is the stain on our soul that Prime Minister Keating so movingly evoked at Redfern 21 years ago. We have to acknowledge that pre-1788 this land was as Aboriginal then as it is Australian now. Until we have acknowledged that we will be an incomplete nation and a torn people.
We only have to look across the Tasman to see how it could have been done so much better. Thanks to the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand two peoples became one nation.
So our challenge is to do now what should have been done 200 or 100 years ago to acknowledge Aboriginal people in our country's foundation document. In short, we need to atone for the omissions and for the hardness of heart of our forebears to enable us all to embrace the future as a united people.
Let's not underestimate the significance of Howard's successor giving credit to