Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

Seventeen years ago today, the Bringing them home report was tabled in the Australian parliament. The report told the heartfelt and tragic stories of children who were denied the opportunity to know the love of their family. Between 1910 and the 1970s, between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers. One of the recommendations of the inquiry was that an apology be given to acknowledge the terrible wrongs that had been done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Labor made that apology the first item of business in 2008 when elected to government.

As Indigenous affairs minister that day I will never forget the raw emotion of the Indigenous men and women who were present in the gallery—Indigenous people like Nanna Nungala Fejo, who told her story so that we could all better understand.

Tomorrow is the beginning of National Reconciliation Week, a reminder that the journey towards Reconciliation has not yet been fully travelled. I hope we can all join together today and acknowledge the injustices of the past, and work together to close the gap and continue our campaign for Constitutional recognition.

See this speech in context