Published Wednesday, 13 February, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Premier
The Honourable Anna Bligh
Qld Premier endorses national apology
Statement by Premier Anna Bligh to the Queensland Parliament today:
“Today is a day of national significance.
It is a powerful and emotional day for the Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians alike. A day when we as a nation consciously make our own history.
This morning I was pleased to attend a breakfast reception held at Parliament House for Indigenous leaders and members of the Stolen Generation and their families.
This was an emotional experience for all present – I was overcome by emotion as I addressed the people in the room. This morning the faces that were looking back at me were all filled with tears.
Again it struck me that the pain being acknowledged today is not ancient history – it is a raw and ever present reality for so many Queenslanders who live in our neighbourhoods and whom we represent as part of our electorates.
There were many hurting hearts in that room, as there are right across the country, and the power of that emotion was tangible.
This morning I acknowledge the presence in the public gallery of those Indigenous Queenslanders who have attended Parliament for this momentous occasion.
Today this country took an historic step towards true, national reconciliation.
Today, the Federal Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has made an unreserved apology to Indigenous Australians who were members of the Stolen Generation, to their families, and to their descendants and recognised that every one of them had been affected in their own way.
In the national Parliament this morning, Prime Minister Rudd has fully acknowledged and apologised for the pain and suffering experienced by Indigenous Australia as a result of laws and actions that were sanctioned and legislated by Parliaments around this country – including the Queensland Parliament.
Laws that tore apart Indigenous communities - that forcibly removed children from the guidance and love of their parents, family and their culture.
The Prime Minister has provided an opportunity for all Australians - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - to turn a new page in reconciliation.
While the national apology of itself will not fix the problems experienced by Indigenous people, it is an important and significant beginning.
To truly embark on reconciliation, past practices must be severed with a loud declaration of apology. We cannot face the future with hope unless we recognise and acknowledge our full history – the finest moments and the most shameful ones.
Those who had an opportunity to listen to the proceedings in the federal parliament this morning could not help but be struck by the significance of the moment and the powerful symbolism in the federal parliament. In my view, that symbolism was all the more potent because it was such a bipartisan moment in the history of Australian politics.
The symbolism of Prime Minister Rudd and the opposition leader Brendan Nelson joining together in a genuine act of unity and partnership was exactly what the recommendation for an apology was all about when it was first made.
Unfortunately, for very many political reasons, that recommendation led to a 10-year argument in this country. From the outset, what was needed was unity and partnership so that we could take these difficult and intractable issues forward.
On this issue I want to commend Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his leadership and the opposition leader, Brendan Nelson, for his leadership of the conservative side of politics. As I watched both leaders of our nation in the parliament, together greeting Aboriginal leaders and together managing this issue, I thought it a very potent symbol of unity and partnership.
This House is no stranger to such an apology.
On 26 May 1999 the Queensland Parliament said ‘sorry’ to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the past policies under which their children were taken away from them.
I acknowledge the leadership of my colleague Judy Spence, who was the Minister responsible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy at the time, for her leadership on that issue.
It was a significant day in this House where we acknowledged and apologised for the part our Parliament had played in Indigenous suffering.
Unfortunately, for many reasons, the apology of May 1999 did not enjoy the bipartisan support that we witnessed in the Federal Parliament today.
At the conclusion of my statement, I will move that my statement be noted.
I have advised the Leader of the Opposition of my intention to have the statement noted. This allows the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Southern Downs, the opportunity to make his own contribution to the debate this morning.
I offer this opportunity to make his own contribution to the debate this morning. I offer this opportunity in a genuine and sincere effort to give the Leader of the Opposition the opportunity to join his federal colleagues in overcoming the previous reluctance of his side of politics on this issue.
I make this offer in a genuine and sincere effort to see replicated here the sort of unity and bipartisanship that we witnessed this morning. I hope that offer is accepted in the spirit of sincerity with which it is made.
For me, another very powerful aspect of today’s apology, which I think is a very important statement, is that the wording was as focused on the future as it was on recognising the past. It focused on a future where such injustices are not repeated and where our Indigenous Australians enjoy the same opportunities and the same quality of life that all Australians expect.
And importantly– a future where all Australians, whatever their origin, put to rest the pain of yesterday and work together to create a tomorrow of equality, respect and mutual responsibility.
I endorse the national apology today and, as I did on 26 May 1999, I acknowledge the resilience of Indigenous people.
Their determination to survive the unjust polices of the past is a testament to their personal strength and the proud nature of their culture.”
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Media: 3224 4500
“Today is a day of national significance.
It is a powerful and emotional day for the Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians alike. A day when we as a nation consciously make our own history.
This morning I was pleased to attend a breakfast reception held at Parliament House for Indigenous leaders and members of the Stolen Generation and their families.
This was an emotional experience for all present – I was overcome by emotion as I addressed the people in the room. This morning the faces that were looking back at me were all filled with tears.
Again it struck me that the pain being acknowledged today is not ancient history – it is a raw and ever present reality for so many Queenslanders who live in our neighbourhoods and whom we represent as part of our electorates.
There were many hurting hearts in that room, as there are right across the country, and the power of that emotion was tangible.
This morning I acknowledge the presence in the public gallery of those Indigenous Queenslanders who have attended Parliament for this momentous occasion.
Today this country took an historic step towards true, national reconciliation.
Today, the Federal Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has made an unreserved apology to Indigenous Australians who were members of the Stolen Generation, to their families, and to their descendants and recognised that every one of them had been affected in their own way.
In the national Parliament this morning, Prime Minister Rudd has fully acknowledged and apologised for the pain and suffering experienced by Indigenous Australia as a result of laws and actions that were sanctioned and legislated by Parliaments around this country – including the Queensland Parliament.
Laws that tore apart Indigenous communities - that forcibly removed children from the guidance and love of their parents, family and their culture.
The Prime Minister has provided an opportunity for all Australians - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - to turn a new page in reconciliation.
While the national apology of itself will not fix the problems experienced by Indigenous people, it is an important and significant beginning.
To truly embark on reconciliation, past practices must be severed with a loud declaration of apology. We cannot face the future with hope unless we recognise and acknowledge our full history – the finest moments and the most shameful ones.
Those who had an opportunity to listen to the proceedings in the federal parliament this morning could not help but be struck by the significance of the moment and the powerful symbolism in the federal parliament. In my view, that symbolism was all the more potent because it was such a bipartisan moment in the history of Australian politics.
The symbolism of Prime Minister Rudd and the opposition leader Brendan Nelson joining together in a genuine act of unity and partnership was exactly what the recommendation for an apology was all about when it was first made.
Unfortunately, for very many political reasons, that recommendation led to a 10-year argument in this country. From the outset, what was needed was unity and partnership so that we could take these difficult and intractable issues forward.
On this issue I want to commend Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his leadership and the opposition leader, Brendan Nelson, for his leadership of the conservative side of politics. As I watched both leaders of our nation in the parliament, together greeting Aboriginal leaders and together managing this issue, I thought it a very potent symbol of unity and partnership.
This House is no stranger to such an apology.
On 26 May 1999 the Queensland Parliament said ‘sorry’ to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the past policies under which their children were taken away from them.
I acknowledge the leadership of my colleague Judy Spence, who was the Minister responsible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy at the time, for her leadership on that issue.
It was a significant day in this House where we acknowledged and apologised for the part our Parliament had played in Indigenous suffering.
Unfortunately, for many reasons, the apology of May 1999 did not enjoy the bipartisan support that we witnessed in the Federal Parliament today.
At the conclusion of my statement, I will move that my statement be noted.
I have advised the Leader of the Opposition of my intention to have the statement noted. This allows the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Southern Downs, the opportunity to make his own contribution to the debate this morning.
I offer this opportunity to make his own contribution to the debate this morning. I offer this opportunity in a genuine and sincere effort to give the Leader of the Opposition the opportunity to join his federal colleagues in overcoming the previous reluctance of his side of politics on this issue.
I make this offer in a genuine and sincere effort to see replicated here the sort of unity and bipartisanship that we witnessed this morning. I hope that offer is accepted in the spirit of sincerity with which it is made.
For me, another very powerful aspect of today’s apology, which I think is a very important statement, is that the wording was as focused on the future as it was on recognising the past. It focused on a future where such injustices are not repeated and where our Indigenous Australians enjoy the same opportunities and the same quality of life that all Australians expect.
And importantly– a future where all Australians, whatever their origin, put to rest the pain of yesterday and work together to create a tomorrow of equality, respect and mutual responsibility.
I endorse the national apology today and, as I did on 26 May 1999, I acknowledge the resilience of Indigenous people.
Their determination to survive the unjust polices of the past is a testament to their personal strength and the proud nature of their culture.”
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Media: 3224 4500