SORRY DAY

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:51): Thank you, Madam Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms BEDFORD: Could I ask the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, please, to report to the house on Sorry Day?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (14:51): I thank the member for Florey for this very important question and, in doing so, acknowledge her commitment and her work to advancing the cause of reconciliation in our community. Today—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —we remember the pain and sorrow that adults and children, families and communities—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —experienced during the dark days of forcible removals—a period in history that came to be known as the Stolen Generation. Each of us in here should stop, just for one minute, to imagine how we would feel if that was to happen to us in this place—our children taken away. It is not a surprise therefore that the injustice of that experience would impact on generation after generation. That is why saying sorry is so important, because we, as a nation, admit that we got it wrong and that we all share a collective responsibility for making good past wrongs.

I do sense that, as a nation, we have come of age a little by having the courage and the maturity to say sorry; and although 'sorry' is the hardest word and a very powerful symbol, it is simply a down payment, a promise, to try to make things better, because sorry is not enough if Aboriginal people live much shorter lives than non-Aboriginal people.

Sorry is not enough if Aboriginal young people have an unemployment rate that is much higher than non-Aboriginal people. Sorry is not enough if non-Aboriginal Australians, including us, are able to turn a blind eye to the entrenched disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal people.

Today, on Sorry Day and on the eve of Reconciliation Week, which starts tomorrow, I have set myself the task, as each and every one of us in this place should, of working with and across government and with the private and community sector to find a way of translating our words into action. When all is said and done, we know that actions do speak louder than words and we will be judged accordingly.

I am confident, however, that the task is not insurmountable. We are making inroads, and the amazing resilience and capacity for forgiveness of Aboriginal people is an inspiration to all of us.