Kevin Rudd got it absolutely right today.
His measured and genuine 'Sorry' to the Stolen Generations hit the spot and resonated throughout the land.
People I know who live with the legacy of those times are walking tall today and they're smiling from ear to ear after all the tears have been shed and shed again.
They've been waiting for this day for a long time, however hopeless it may often have seemed, particularly in the decade of obduracy and mean-spiritedness that characterised the Howard years.
Today's tears are tears of joy and pride and I think we all shed them.
I have to say I had my doubts about whether Kevin07 could pull it off.
Not any more.
Using no frills and no bullshit language - he spoke the language of the people, not politics or the bureaucracy - he told the story like it was, said the word 'sorry' and built the beginnings of a way out of the mess we've found ourselves in.
In contrast, Brendan Nelson and those of his Parliamentary colleagues who actually stayed away from the event showed very clearly that they still didn't get it.
Nelson pursued an ideological battle or two by clinging to the idea that somehow home ownership and mutual responsibility would bring change.
It just wasn't the day for it: his remarks were as inappropriate as his ideology is irrelevant to the task in hand.
Today was a beginning.
And what a beginning!
2 comments:
Absolutely. Well said, Michael.
Rudd got it; Nelson didn't. A huge day all round. And what a (democratic) thrill that it didn't come as a speech at a press conference, but from the main chamber of Parliament House.
When we (inevitably) get disaffected with our govt, lets recall the importance of this day.
Thanks Karina. Some have suggested that we mark this day as a public holiday in the same way as we do 26
January. I think it's important enough for us all, now that we've said sorry, that we have that kind of reminder.
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