Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a remarkable honour this morning to be in the Great Hall of the parliament for this, the 10th anniversary of the apology to the stolen generations of Indigenous people. I pay tribute to the survivors of the successive stolen generations, their families and their kin for their grace, their good humour, their thoughtfulness and their forgiveness—the forgiveness they offer to us that we might reconcile our dark history and create a better future for the first peoples of this nation.

I ask members opposite, I ask the cabinet, I ask all those in the ministry, I ask the Prime Minister: where were you? A few members opposite have paid their respects today—Senator Scullion, the member for Hasluck, the member for Grey, and there may have been others. But, for the most part, members of the Liberal and National parties here in this parliament failed to even turn up to a celebration of the most significant days in the history of this parliament and the history of the nation. Where were you all? Where was the Prime Minister? What was so important? What could you not drop to come along to pay your respects to the stolen generation here today? Were you all following the example set by the member for Dickson 10 years ago to this day when he failed to turn up to the apology to the stolen generations? Is that your moral compass these days? This country deserves better than a disrespectful government.

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