Sorry

Tomorrow the Prime Minister will issue an apology to the indigenous people of Australia for past mistreatment. Finally. The previous PM was singularly pig-headed about doing this, and would go no further than a statement made under pressure of "deep and sincere regret".

As I understand it, the actual word "sorry" is important to indigenous Australians because of its connection to the term "sorry business", which relates to mourning. Quite obviously, indigenous Australians have much to grieve for.

I'm awaiting Big Kev's words with no little anxiety. I hope, hope, hope that he doesn't use some tricky set of phrases that wriggle us out of actual responsibility for the terrible things our nation has done. It's an historic day, and he needs to be very careful not to blow it. I feel that we only have one shot at this.

And it would be easy for him to do a bit of wriggling. I heard Roly Sussex, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Queensland on the radio recently talking about the various meanings and connotations of the word "sorry", and it was food for thought. Will Kevin use the "I regret what's happened, but it's not my fault" version? Or will he do the right thing and use it to accept responsibility? Fingers crossed.

Another point Professor Sussex brought to my attention was the apology that the Canadian government made to that nation's indigenous people. I've been trying to find a transcript of that apology this morning but sadly haven' t been able to produce it. From memory it started with "Canada apologises...". I can only hope that we get something as bold. It doesn't say "the parliament apologises.." or "the Canadian government apologises...". Canada. The entire nation. And "apologises" is unambiguous.

The topic has been all over the radio over the past few weeks, and I've heard it mentioned several times that some people are uneasy taking responsibility for the actions of their predecessors. I understand that, but consider this: we still benefit today from their actions. The land I've currently got my capacious arse parked on was not paid for, or negotiated for, nor was the land I shop on, socialise on, browse at art on or walk the kids on. The broader Australian community needs to wake up and realise that. Sure, we can't just pack up and go home -- this is my home -- but to say that it's simply in the past and we need to just move on is not only ridiculous, but callous.

Brendan Nelson has been whining on about wanting to see the wording before he'll lend his support; what a damn cheek. The Libs had 11 years to make this move, and if they had bothered they would have had total control over the wording. It's Labor's turn now, so it's their call.

Let's hope they get it right.


Edited to add: Here's the wording here. And it looks pretty good.

ABC Online's Apology page for further information.