sorry
Flotsam & Jetsam
Will The Nu-Vampire Trend Please Die? Tonight?
12:15PM Foster Kamer | Remember the Tarantino/Rodriguez camp-fest that was From Dusk Til’ Dawn? George Clooney killed a bunch of south-of-the-border stripper/hooker-vampires using holy water-loaded Super Soakers. That was in 1996, and it should’ve been the end of vampire-cool. Now look where we are. More »
Online
Conde Nast’s Survival Strategy: Less Orangina, More Sex
6:00AM Foster Kamer | Conde Nast’s having survival issues. Not to worry. Despite shuttering Gourmet, Si’s got a brand new bag: a Conde Nast dating site. We test-drove it with a profile on behalf of a certain chairman. More »
Print
Dan Brown’s The Lost Secret Is Just The DaVinci Code In Washington
8:44AM Foster Kamer | Or so goes Janet Maslin’s review of Dan Brown’s new book. Maslin’s take, and my own, after the jump. More »
People Of Melbourne Not Sorry To Turn Their Back On Brendan Nelson
2:09PM Clem Bastow | Defamer Australia was fortunate to attend the massed gathering at Melbourne’s Federation Square this morning, where around 8000 people watched Prime Minister Kevin Rudd deliver a moving, intelligent, compassionate and, yes, long overdue apology to the members of the Stolen Generation and for the damage and hurt that it caused Australia’s Indigenous people.
Unfortunately for just about everyone there, we also watched opposition leader Brendan Nelson deliver his “apology”, which was about as sincere as Jonah saying “Sorry, ranga!” and went a little something like this (and we’re paraphrasing, so no quoting us in your school projects): “My mum said I had to apologise to you, but you lot should take a long, hard look at yourselves and get your hand off the bottle and the petrol can, after all, our grandfathers died in the war for you, or something, and no one wants to be born in a remote Indigenous community, anyway, so we did the right thing – it’s not our fault you’re having a cry about it now.”
As one increasingly incensed young professional type next to us shouted, “You’re demeaning the whole f–king country with your words.”
And while we were moved to tears by Kevin’s speech and by the faces of the members of the Stolen Generation who attended Parliament as distinguished guests, we were equally moved – in a slightly different way – when Melbourne decided en masse to tell Brendan what we thought of his speech. This was the view from where we were standing:
Yes, Melbourne turned their backs on Nelson (not before one memorable skater dude in front of us stood for a good two minutes with double flipped birds aimed at the screen), a fact that was duly noted by the ABC’s Tony Jones the moment he returned to the telecast following the adjournment.
The Age has footage of the moment here, and we were proud of both parts of Melbourne’s reaction to this wonderful day – proud to be a part of saying “sorry”, and proud to tell Brendan Nelson he is, in fact, a dickhead. More » It’s No Longer Hard To Say We’re Sorry
10:30AM Jess McGuire | It is an incredibly rare morning when we set an alarm to ensure we don’t sleep through a parliamentary speech.
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry. We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written. We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again. A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.
It’s also not often we find ourselves bawling our eyes out before 10am, unless that Hallmark ad where the old lady is always checking the mail but no mail ever comes and her neighbours see her and send her a card and she gets the card and she’s so happy she brings the neighbours jam and they all hug has come on the telly. We cry then, too.
In all seriousness though, what a wonderful day.
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