Sorry : news index (return to sorry 2008 page)

Stolen generation compo 'not expensive' 16 April 2008 - Compensating the stolen generations would not cost the federal government "billions of US dollars" and was preferable to forcing Aboriginal people through the courts, a Senate committee has been told.

The hardest word 20 February 2008 - Israel News - Newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized last week to tens of thousands of Aboriginals known as the ’stolen generation’, who as children were forcibly removed from their families by the government until as recently as the early 1970s.

Australia's apology is the right decision 20 February 2008 -Jakarta Post - Australia officially apologized to the Aboriginal stolen generation on Wednesday, in a long-waited landmark occasion. As its first action on the second day of sitting, the 42nd Parliament, represented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologized to Aboriginal citizens who were taken from their families by welfare officers, between approximately the late 1800s through to the 1960s, in compliance with the White Australia policy.

The Big Question: After three months in power, how has Kevin Rudd changed Australia? 20 February 2008 - The Independent UK - Elected nearly three months ago, Mr Rudd is Australia's most popular prime minister for 20 years, according to a Newspoll survey published yesterday.

UN rights experts welcome Australia's apology to indigenous peoples 18 February 2008 – UN - A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have welcomed Australia's recent apology to its indigenous peoples for the pain and indignity they endured under the Government's past laws and policies.

Australia - Aborigines finally get apology for injustices 18 February 2008 - Voice UK - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week made a historic public apology for the ‘indignity and degradation’ suffered by Aborigines.

Australia finally says sorry for breaking Aborigine families 18 February 2008 - Daily Nation Kenya - Australia last week gave meaning to a concept politicians avoid: nations have historical responsibility and can say sorry. That’s thanks to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Mother England as much to blame 16 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - THE HISTORIC apology offered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the stolen generations was a crucial step for Australia, as novelist Richard Flanagan wrote this week. But it does not make amends for the role played by the British in the destruction and degradation of the Aboriginal race. Initially soldiers,convicts and settlers killed Aborigines as if they were animals threatening the crops.

UN Rights Experts Welcome Australia's Apology to Indigenous Peoples 16 February 2008 - NewsBlaze - A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have welcomed Australia's recent apology to its indigenous peoples for the pain and indignity they endured under the Government's past laws and policies.

"Sorry", the first step 15 February 2008 - The Gazette Canada - Where does hope begin? Can it emerge from language alone? How about from a single word?

We should say sorry, too 14 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - The historic apology offered by prime minister Kevin Rudd to the "stolen generations" was a crucial step for Australia, as Richard Flanagan wrote on these pages this week. But it does not make amends for the role played by the British in the destruction and degradation of the Aboriginal race.

In praise of ... apologies 14 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - Saying sorry is in vogue. Public expressions of regret are an irritating substitute for action, as any train passenger will testify.

Beloved Australians 14 February 2008 - South Africa - Institute for Healing of Memories - With people of goodwill all over the world, I want to congratulate you as a people for the unequivocal apology to indigenous Australians made today in your national parliament by your Prime Minister.

Australian Government apology sincere; important step in reconciliation process 13 February 2008 - Media release ENIAR - The apology by the recently elected Australian Government to the ‘Stolen Generations’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,* delivered at 8.55am (AEST), 13 February 2008 marks an exciting turning point in Australian history and should be used as momentum to carry forward the enormous task of remedying the severe inequalities in health, education, employment and the general exclusion from Australian society, facing Indigenous people today, say the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR).

Australia's stolen generation: 'To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, we say sorry' 13 February 2008 - The Telegraph Belfast - It has been a long time coming, but at last Australia has said the word its Aboriginal population wanted to hear. It was uttered three times, early this morning, when the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, addressed the Australian Parliament. That word was "sorry".

'Britain should apologise to Aborigines' 13 February 2008 - The Telegraph UK - Britain is facing demands to join Australia in apologising to Aborigines who were snatched from their families as children, after Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, spoke of removing a "great stain from the nation’s soul”.

The courage to right a historic wrong 13 February 2008 - The Independent UK - Politicians who match their words to their deeds are hardly ten a penny these days. And, even when they do appear on our horizon, their words and deeds are all too often designed to court cheap popularity.

Removing the ‘Stain’ on Australia’s Soul 13 February 2008 - The New York Times - Bravo to Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for boldly leading the effort to ease ancient tensions by organizing an official apology to his country’s indigenous people, the Aborigines.

Australia apologizes to Aborigines 13 February 2008 - Internatinal Herald Tribune - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened a new chapter in Australia's tortured relations with its indigenous peoples Wednesday with a comprehensive and moving apology for past wrongs and a call for bipartisan action to improve the lives of Australia's Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

Australia says sorry to Aborigines 13 February 2008 - Daily Mirror UK - Australia apologised on Wednesday for the historic mistreatment of Aborigines, heralding a new era in race relations and moving indigenous people to tears as huge crowds cheered across the nation.

Australia apology to Aborigines 13 February 2008 - BBC UK -The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population.

Australian PM Rudd says sorry to Aborigines' stolen generations 13 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, yesterday issued the text of the long-awaited apology to the country's Aboriginal population citing the "profound suffering, grief and loss" inflicted on them by decades of abuse and mistreatment.

Anguish of the Stolen Generations 13 February 2008 - BBC - With torment still in his voice, Frank Byrne recalls the day six decades ago when he was taken from his mother and their community in Christmas Creek, Western Australia.

Australia: ‘Sorry’ for the Indigenous 12 February 2008 - Cafebabel France - On 13 February. Big screens, daytrips to Canberra, and a historical ‘apology’ by the new Labor government, to the 13, 000 Indigenous children taken from their Aboriginal parents after British colonisation in Australia.

Australia offers landmark apology to aboriginal people 12 February 2008 - The Canadian Press - Aborigines organized breakfast barbecues in the outback, giant TV screens went up in state capitals and schools allowed students to watch the telecast of Australia's apology Wednesday for policies that degraded its indigenous people.

Imminent Australian Government apology to Stolen Generations ‘historic’ and ‘exciting’ 12 February 2008 - Media Release eniar - The apology on 13 February 2008 (EST) from the recently elected Australian Government to the ‘Stolen Generations’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an exciting turning point in Australian history and most importantly in the healing process for stolen children and their families and communities. Heralded as a huge step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the apology is strongly supported by the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR).

Aborigines make history in parliament 12 February 2008 - The Mirror UK - Aborigines playing didgeridoos and smeared with white body paint overturned hundreds of years of British tradition in Australia on Tuesday by taking part in the official opening of the nation's new parliamentary session.

Australia's Rudd to apologise to Aborigines 10 February 2008 - Reuters South Africa - The Australian government will on Wednesday apologise to Aborigines who were taken from their families as children, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying on Sunday the apology was unfinished business for the nation.

Rudd says apology to Aborigines will remove 'blight on nation's soul' 9 February 2008 - CanadaEast - Many Australians will disagree with a national apology to Aborigines for past mistreatment, but it will remove a "blight on the nation's soul," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday.

Prime Minister Rudd's Apology To The Stolen Generations An Important Step, Australia 4 February 2008 - Medical News Today UK - The Federal Government's plan for a formal apology to the stolen generations - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were removed from their families and communities as part of the assimilation policies of the governments of the day, is a welcome and long overdue move, according to the Australian Psychological Society.

Australia's stolen generation 2 February 2008 - Fiji Times - IN 1909, the Aboriginal travelling protector James Isdell, who had formed the view that Aboriginal women were "prostitutes at heart", wrote in official correspondence: "The half-caste is intellectually above the aborigine, and it is the duty of the State that they be given a chance to lead a better and purer life than their brothers. I would not hesitate for one moment to separate any half-caste from its aboriginal mother, no matter how frantic her momentary grief may be at the time. They soon forget their offspring."

Australian court boosts compensation for Aborigine taken from family when child 1 February 2008 - International Herald Tribune France - An Australian judge increased the compensation that a state government must pay an Aborigine who was taken from his mother as a child in a decision Friday that contrasted with the prime minister's refusal to compensate members of the so-called "stolen generations."

Stolen birthrights- An apology but no compensation 31 January 2008 - The Economist UK -SINCE he was elected Australia's prime minister in November, Kevin Rudd has moved swiftly to set his Labor government apart from the former conservative coalition's more controversial stands.

Australia to Apologize to Aborigines for Past Mistreatment 31 January 2008 - New York Times - The new government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says it will apologize for past mistreatment of Australia’s Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in the country for years.

Aboriginal leaders welcome Australian Govt's apology 31 january 2008 - The Hindu India - Aborigines have long been fringe-dwellers of Australian society, but will take center stage when Parliament resumes with a historic ceremony to acknowledge the nation's capital is built on their land. The government also plans to apologize for past injustices.

Australia apology to Aborigines 30 January 2008 - BBC UK - The Australian government has announced it will issue its first formal apology to Aboriginal people when parliament resumes next month.

Tasmania to pay 'stolen generation' of Aborigines £2.2m in reparations 23 January 2008 - The Guardian UK - Tasmania approved yesterday millions of pounds in compensation for more than 100 members of the "stolen generation" of Aborigines, with the state premier describing the move as an attempt to right a shameful wrong in the island's history.

Australia's 'stolen' children get apology but no cash 13 January 2008 - The Observer - As one of Australia's 'stolen generation', John Moriarty was only four when he was taken away from his mother: loaded on to an army truck and sent thousands of kilometres away from his home in the Gulf of Carpentaria to be raised in a series of bleak institutions. He was given a birth date - April Fool's Day - forbidden to speak his Yanyuwa language and did not see his mother again for 10 years.

Don't just say sorry- Fulfill the whole apology recommendation 10 January 2008 - Media Release NSDC - “Recommendation 5a of the Bringing them home Report is the proper place to start on the way forward to the formal apology to the Stolen Generations”, said National Sorry Day Committee Indigenous Co-Chair, Helen Moran.

Australia's PM-elect to say sorry to Aborigines 26 November 2007 - Reuters UK - Australia's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd is set to repair race relations with Aborigines by saying "sorry" for past injustices, ending more than a decade of bitter division over racial reconciliation.

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