Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples

Australia, February 13, 2008: Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations The template many campaigners elsewhere still point to. Rudd apologized in Parliament for the laws and policies that removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Its limits were plain on the day: Rudd had ruled out a compensation fund, and Opposition leader Brendan Nelson backed the apology but said decent Australians were hurt by accusations of theft over their good intentions, a reply met with slow clapping and turned backs; six Opposition members left the chamber. Federal redress came only in 2021, with $75,000 payments for survivors removed in the Commonwealth's territories, and Peter Dutton apologized for his boycott in 2023.