Brendan Nelson's "Sorry" speech pt. 2/2

[The88AnnaB]

How dare he humiliate and shame indigenous people on the day in which they deserved to receive whole-hearted support and compassion! Not much of a sorry at all. What a shame.

[smiggle185]

hes hot

[cunnamullafalla]

Brendan you were without a doubt the WORST Minister ever in Australia. You're an idiot, you're a coward, and I can't count the amount of times you screwed things up for that other idiot HOWARD. But he deserves you, along with Hockey, your fellow idiot brother. Im SO GLAD your Libs, means every other party in Australia will have an easy job beating you. Thank goodness you quit you idiot.

[midgysamurai15]

I think it is easy to be bitter about all this, but I do thank Brendan Nelson for at least saying the things that John Howard never had the heart to admit.

[Thefoodmonkey1]

What an amazing heart felt apology from a true and passionate leader...well done Brendan.

[Neonman78]

The problems that face Aborigines that Nelson states, would they really be a result of the Stolen Generation, or because of their squalid living conditions?

[poobearpanda345]

a qp

(. )( .)

[poobearpanda345]

lll

[ros3h]

Its not a bad speech, just very sneaky. Hes sugar coating his lack of apology.

[benboyang]

Maybe the conservatives could go easy on the thumbs down until they read a bit of history. Freedom of Speech of course is not in our constitution, but they could have some respect for other points of view. This is a sorry speech indeed, and the "whites had it hard too" approach is embarrassing to anyone that knows the facts. No doubt some little anti-freedom-of-speech type will just hit the thumbs down button and think no more about it.

[JohnMalcolm]

We agree then. It is off topic, that is what I am saying. So what is this subject doing in the speech?

[JohnMalcolm]

They were not even allowed into the main towns beyond the ring of Boundary Streets. So they were cut off from not one but two societies. Whites in the same situation would have turned out with much the same problems. You also ignore the point of free land handouts for the expressed purpose of creating a white middle class; call that having it tough?

I recommend Manning Clark's "A Short History of Australia", quite easy to read and very informative.

[Pud09]

alot of ppl were very offended by what nelson said....i took it more as what he was saying was what the problems are and how we have to focus on fixing these problems post-apology....i thought it was alright but i may be wrong

[hmasmelbourne]

I cant belive that a perfactly acceptable speech was disturbed by a load of anti howard doo gooders. Where a democracy!

[mctroyboy]

Personally i would have rathered he block this whole motion, as it is not necessarily the view of many many Australians and should not be said to be so. this was an apology from Kevin Rudd, not Australia.

[hasto2770]

well said nelson!!

[idunnowat2donext]

who cares its not our faults

[JohnMalcolm]

Are you sorry when a friend dies? Does that make it your fault?

[rokocco]

Yes. They wouldn't be dead if you were a good friend.

[lickyacid]

He seems to lose the point midway through.describing the inhumanities that happen now in the communities in centre of australia.I feel proud to be australian hearing kevin rudds speech, but the speech by dr nelson i think is nothing more than panhandling politico 'one upping'.

[terrasprite]

It sounds like a long-winded excuse rather than an apology. Very much a 'sorry, but...' speech. It reads as though all the wrongs that happened were just 'collateral damage'. I think he missed the point. This was a national 'feel good' exercise that he soured with a selfish political mentality. We now know he misquoted from original stories and without permission.. how arrogant.

[punktravesty]

Don't be fooled. This guy is a walking piece of shit. The only reason the Liberals have apologised is because they risk total political irrelevance if they don't. All that stuff about abuse in indig communities was pure racism - a justifcation for making welfare more difficult to access, sending more police to harass indig people and worst of cancelling native title leases. Also, those people clapping outside were not applauding him - they were booing and turning their backs.

[LukeAus15]

There are always people like you. The ones that when the truth is revealed, you turn your back ignoring the facts and figures.Ignoring the truth what they have done TO THEMSELVES. An apology, accepting the incorrect policies of the past but no respect is given, no understanding of the level of importance of the apology. Instead focusing on the bitter truth of the aboriginal communities. When the liberals want to do something. You just turn your back. So have a think about it. It's your country.

[lmg633]

It doesn't matter if your black, white or brindle, if you become disassociated from your family and shoved into an unknown and unwanted world you turn to self destruction.

The thing is, was this type of abuse present before they were taken? Probably not. Abusers are taught by their abuser.

[werdnanotroh]

you don't have to like what he said, but it's the truth.

[JohnMalcolm]

It is not the truth that the English arrived here "with little more than visionary hope." Had they not had GUNS, the system they sought to impose would never had been accepted. This deceptive phrase ignores the truth, that the mindset of the English authorities was FORCED upon the inhabitants of this land. There already was a vision. I am sorry for the ongoing arrogance that assumes the imported vision to be superior. I am sorry the original vision and knowledge have been largely lost.

[werdnanotroh]

lol... i'm don't disagree with you at all. by my point is, that both speeches by rudd and nelson, are helping to reconcile this bull crap... the more often people send comments like yours the longer the hate lasts.

[JohnMalcolm]

I respectfully disagree on 2 points. One, I think Nelson's speech itself perpetuates the bull crap; and two, I think getting history straight is an important part of reconciliation. While Nelson insists that children were stolen to save them from squalor, and that white settlement has improved life for everyone, others will continue to believe it.

[werdnanotroh]

I agree getting history straight is important! The AUS Government was trying to help them, you know this, and obviously they stuffed up, hence, they've FINALLY apologised. I also agree with u in saying that "white settlement has NOT improved life for everyone" but, that's how Australia operates, what would u propose they do JOHN?

[JohnMalcolm]

What do you mean "That's how Australia operates" in relation to white settlement?

Are you saying Australia today bases (or ought to base) its behaviour on the actions of the English invaders?

It was so inappropriate for Nelson to rattle on about how virtuous the white settlers were.

They were given other people's land, and protected from its owners by an army. This LED TO the squalor in Aboriginal communities.

[werdnanotroh]

No, I mean that Australia is part of the 'western world'. Some Aboriginal people are living a mix between the two... it clearly doesn't work. They're given money and don't know how to use it, and subsequently have ended up in the mess their society is in - hence the "white settler" idea doesn't work for them.

[JohnMalcolm]

But since you give yourself the right to comment further on this off-topic point, you must extend that same right to me. You seem to forget that there are aborigines alive today who were not Australian citizens when they were born. Think about it; they were physically removed from their traditional source of livelihood, and forbidden access to the new system. It is not because of their race that they didn't know how to handle money, it is because they had no access to education.

[werdnanotroh]

i don't disagree with you at all.

[werdnanotroh]

Anyway, you're completely OFF topic... What led to the squalor in Aboriginal communities was NOT the ideals of 'white settlers', what LED to the stolen generation, was ignorance. People assume they can help a race by making it like their own. What we must remember is all cultures are different, and forcing anything upon them is ridiculous. WHAT WOULD U DO JOHN?

[JohnMalcolm]

Apart from the language, this is fair comment, and you have as much right to be heard as anyone else. If I could have I would have reversed one thumbs down, but YouTube doesn't let that happen; once you're down you're down.

Native title, by the way was not a lease, it was purely allowing access, like protected animals, Even then, farmers could keep them out at certain times. The farmers' leases were converted to virtual ownerships without any public consultation; a free land handout once again.

[lestep]

Thanks for posting.

Quite a strange speech. He speaks with feeling but there is so much implicit defensiveness too.

[martinbartinfargo]

I think he had a tough time with the speech. As Leader of the Opposition he had to give a speech that spanned the views of his entire party, which is why it turned out such a mess. Though I don't like the guy at all, I do feel a little sorry for him having to deliver that dog when he would probably rather joined in with a wholehearted apology. Sucks to be a Liberal, I guess.

[learnallyourlife]

@martinbartinfargo

Someone's a labor supporter

 :)

[werdnanotroh]

Absolutely excellent. I really like how he focused on the past but also on the present. Some of this stuff is still going on today! I see a good future for the Aboriginal People.

[kellie1805]

I couldn't agree more. I cried when he recapped the stories of the children taken from the parents but then when he drew on how the abused children were found today he demonstrates how humanity can make you take choices such as taking children out of situations where they seem unsafe that can later be seen as a bad thing. Great speech.

[benboyang]

If whites were raised in the same conditions, they would have the same problems. The abuse you are talking about, is deplorable, but is a result, not a cause, of racial discrimination.

[BornskiAECC]

@benboyang the result, not a cause, of racism. Here here. 1.

[Australian22]

@werdnanotroh i beg to differ i dont beleive he was sorry for what he was actually saying

[werdnanotroh]

@Australian22 I didn't mention anything about 'sorry'. But I very much do like the speech, it addresses and highlights many issues in the aboriginal community. Regardless of what you believe, he did say "As ONE PEOPLE, we are sorry".