Essay About Kevin Rudd And Australian History

Kevin Rudd Sorry SpeechKevin Rudd Sorry SpeechIn this speech by Kevin Rudd (The Prime Minister of the time) from Parliament House on February 13th 2008 made an apology to “the stolen generation” His contention was to inform the indigenous community of the governments ‘wrong doings’ to their people in the past. Using an apologetic tone other elements to form a cohesive, formal speech. Kevin Rudd argues that “this apology will right many wrongs in Australian history’ when using a remorseful tone about the way he “mistreated” those who were the “stolen Generation”. He goes on and comments about how he wants to make amends to the aboriginal that were treated badly by most Australian and himself. He uses a metaphor “A new chapter” wanting to start fresh from all the wrongdoings that was caused. “We apologies for” has been repeated in his speech where he says sorry on behalf of Australia for moving the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander for taking away their children and their own country. This repetition of “We apologise for”, continuously reinstates the previous Prime Ministers contention to the audience, to making sure his message is successfully conveyed.

The Prime minister goes on about how “we need to say sorry for many, many wrongs and justice committed towards the Indigenous Australian”. He admits on behalf of Australian “we say sorry” to all the “pain and suffering” that have been caused towards the indigenous people. Using emotive language, pain and suffering Kevin convinces the audience of his contention, which is to make up for all the wrongs that have been done by the government in the past. He continues in inclusive language when saying “we” representing the Parliament of Australia, which he wants the aboriginal’s forgiveness to so that we could start a “new healing of nation”. By using inclusive language Kevin Rudd wants the audience to know that on behalf of the Parliament of Australia he is truly sorry.

In closing, in response to a question, Mr. Rudd said:

What is wrong with Aboriginal people and how we —they  have been dealing with it for years? As we speak, a growing number in our public life ‗we‏re” experiencing what is happening to us all and to our communities, as we look at the lives of young Indigenous people and wonder whether we can continue to be who we have been for these past 8 years to tell these people something new. That is what we can ―t take away from this discussion, because the majority of Australians do not know of the problems that Aboriginal people have with their communities. These issues do not come from political decisions or from Indigenous Australian politicians.

And, Mr. Rudd also responded:

The people in this chamber, our colleagues, all of us, have had their troubles and we “now” have a 
to
 deal with those. There is no better time to fix those, than now, than here. And there is no more time for us to say yes to these decisions. The decision ―we”’t was a mistake and a failure. I think that we should bring it into the community. We owe our decisions to those who have served. To the community all of whom have served. We need to take responsibility and, with me and the people of Australian society I would like to take responsibility for the decisions made by the Government yesterday. These are the very decisions that you have to ask yourself: What are the most important decisions that the Australian people have made to address this issue.

And, when asked further in his reply about his own view, Mr. Rudd said:

In the past we have made some mistakes. We made overstating the problems of these communities. We took what was happening in our communities for granted and overstating them all and we have to be mindful of that. And we have given this community too much time, too much respect here in Australia to be responsible for any harm that we might be experiencing as a Nation in response to some kind of action that’s being taken by this Minister.

When asked if the government was acting in good faith or not, Mr. Rudd said:

I would not comment on what our government has done in some case. We haven’t made these decisions and we do not intend to. The government has not made these decisions for us, as a Nation or for the Country. We’re in this to improve things for people, rather than to further and enhance them. To the government we are concerned. Because we are concerned for future generations of Indigenous Australians. We worry about their future at an early age when you see problems of this nature emerge. The government wants to save the Aboriginal community a chance of future development. The government is talking about our future for the future generations of Indigenous Australians. And we are speaking as part of an ongoing process of healing and