«Australia»

We are seeing healing among the stolen generations, and initiatives which are enabling Indigenous people to make their distinctive contribution to our national life.

Malcolm Fraser

I am deeply committed to the cause of Indigenous Australians, and not just because of the Apology, but the big challenges which lie ahead in closing the gap.

Kevin Rudd

I look forward to the day when indigenous actors can play Hamlet and Ophelia and not just Othello and Desdemona.

Shari Sebbens

There is this really old school stereotypical notion in Australia that to be Aboriginal you have to be black: anything but white or pale skinned. What ’The Sapphires’ does is open up the conversation that I’ve been having my whole life, the fact that being indigenous isn’t about the color of your skin; it’s about your connection to your culture.

Shari Sebbens

The Apology opened the opportunity for a new relationship based on mutual respect and mutual responsibility between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Because without mutual respect and mutual responsibility, the truth is we can achieve very little.

Kevin Rudd

Sorry Day falls on the eve of Reconciliation Week, giving us the chance to ask whether we are making progress in the wider challenge of reconciling Indigenous and other Australians.

Malcolm Fraser

As nations we should also commit afresh to righting past wrongs. In Australia we began this recently with the first Australians - the oldest continuing culture in human history. On behalf of the Australian Parliament, this year I offered an apology to indigenous Australians for the wrongs they had suffered in the past.

Kevin Rudd

The problem with politicians getting to know the issues in indigenous townships is that we tend to suffer from what Aboriginal people call the ’seagull syndrome’ - we fly in, scratch around and fly out.

Tony Abbott

Yet there are thousands of Indigenous people searching for family members.

Malcolm Fraser

I think we have to keep working enormously hard to see that every single Indigenous child - every Australian child - has true equality of opportunity. We’ve got to work harder at it. I think, you know, the heartland issue for us is the gap; the gap in life expectancy in this country.

Quentin Bryce

Solutions will not be found while Indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions.

Malcolm Fraser