Rudd will not be apologising on your behalf. He'll be apologising because the Parliament, the govnt's at various times (Govnt's which the indigenous pop had no say in their election) have passed various pieces legislation that were clearly and bluntly discriminatory and highly damaging to the greater part of the indigenous pop'n. The "Stolen Generation" legislation is still going on today, though the vocabulary is a great deal more subtle. The fact some aborigines have survived these pieces of abominable legislation, or that they might have even been treated benevolently by the white folk around them (not all the whites were or are inhumane) does nothing to diminish the hardship and the wrong done to those upon whom these pieces of legislation was applied. Rudd will certainly be representing the oz people when he makes the announcement but he will be doing so only as a member of parliament. The whole process will be legislative and political. You have your own heart and you know what it says to you. No one can get in there and tell you to twist it in any way they want. We all live with our own, very individual conscience.
