Albanese reaffirms Uluru Statement pledge on National Sorry Day

By DANIEL LO SURDO

Australian Prime Minister and Member for Grayndler Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart on Thursday’s National Sorry Day, calling the document “an act of grace … which will bring us closer together as a nation”.

National Sorry Day this year marked the 25th anniversary since the tabling of the ‘Bringing Them Home’ report in Australian parliament, which came after a government inquiry into the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their communities.

The report found that between one in three and one in ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their communities between 1910 and 1970, and that most families have been affected, in at least one generation, by the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Albanese said that the report was “powered by the courage of the survivors of the Stolen Generations” and was the “beginning of the journey towards reconciliation”.

“As we more fully acknowledge our history, we begin to unburden ourselves of its unspoken weight. We learn from our wrongs and we do not rest in our search for ways of healing.”

Randwick flags at half-mast for National Sorry Day

Following Labor’s success at the federal election earlier this week, Albanese said his government would commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, which would see constitutional and structural reforms to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives.

In the eastern suburbs, flags at Randwick Town Hall were flown at half-mast to mark National Sorry Day, with mayor Dylan Parker saying that he felt “proud to participate in Sorry Day and restate our Nation’s apology to the Stolen Generations”.