Stolen Generation and "Sorry" Day links
Click to viewThis is the most complete version of Rudd's speech today that I could find on Youtube.
In my opinion, this second vid gives an excellent portrait from the people's point of view. It gives a good history and then the apology part of the speech at the end. In conclusion, I think Rudd's apology was heartfelt, sincere, and very moving. In all seriousness, it is a brave and historically important speech.
From an ASAO source who was actually at Parliment, Nelson (opposition leader) DID have time to prep a response, so any of ABC's attempts to downplay his supposed unpreparedness are uninformed at best. The people had every right to jeer and turn their backs. And yes, as one commentor on this vid noted, he did try to rephrase Stolen Generation with a lesser variant. The commentor asked if someone walked into Nelson's house and walked out with his big ass TV, that would be STOLEN, wouldn't it? Arggh...
(these videos don't show Nelson's speech, but I have a link to the text below)
A full report with vid can be found here: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23202611-952,00.html
Here are the text links for today's speeches, from another ASAO.net source.
The speech Rudd made after was longer and the
full text is accessible at
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/Rudd_Speech.pdf
So too is the full text of the speech made by the
Opposition leader
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/Nelson_speech.pdf
The apology was formal tabled as a motion in
Parliament yesterday and the
Hansard is available at
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr120208.pdf
And, for the record, someone needs to show Howard the door. What a slap in the face.