Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow is the 17th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations delivered by former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. It's a significant milestone of healing for First Nations people, who have suffered some of the most unspeakable crimes from past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation. As a nation it's important to commemorate and acknowledge the wrongs of the past that remain open wounds. The truth of this era must be put into our school curriculum and our civics and citizenship education. This is the unfinished business of this nation. Stolen generation survivors are some of most vulnerable people and have kept their stories and experiences secret for many years, even decades.

I am a child of the generation following the end of the era of removals. My family were in the missions and on the reserves for five generations, and we are still working our way through the intergenerational trauma. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have to work every day to heal from this, and I recognise that this is not everybody's story. I want to respectfully acknowledge the many people who have been taken or lost along the way. Sharing these experiences is critical, and our future collective path should be forged through respect and through understanding our survival and our resilience. We are still here and we are not going anywhere. Woola.