Apology

Last week, Madonna earned the ire of florists everywhere when she revealed her contempt for hydrangeas.

After receiving a bunch of the popular flowers from a fan at a press conference, cameras caught the Material Girl chucking them aside and whispering: “I loathe hydrangeas”.

Pre-empting the inevitable online rage, Madonna uploaded a video “apology”, which saw her gently caressing a forlorn arrangement of the purple flowers.

Continue reading "Hush your apologies, you lame celebrity" »

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Blimey, we can barely make it through a week without someone proffering an apology.

Those above came from John Galliano, Tiger Woods, Todd Carney, Ricky Nixon and Fergie, the Duchess of York – whose latest transgression led her to admit: “I am just so contrite, I cannot say.”

This, just two weeks after her last apology for offering to sell access to her ex-husband, saying she needed to “find the lotus flower within”.

Continue reading "Celebrity apologies and crocodile tears" »

Last week British Prime Minister David Cameron apologized in the house of commons for what he called the ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ actions of British troops on Jan 30 1972 in Londonderry Ireland – a day better known now as Bloody Sunday.

On that day 14 demonstrators were killed and many more injured while protesting against internment. An investigation in the aftermath of the day cleared troops largely of any wrong doing.  However, 38 years later and a follow up investigation costing $280 million, it was concluded that the initial findings were incorrect and that the victims were unarmed and had been engaged in a peaceful protest.

In Northern Ireland, the Troubles had been rife in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but that day remains one of the most significant events since it was carried out by the army and not paramilitaries, in front of the public and world press. For that reason, David Cameron’s apology is most significant and was duly met with great applause. But where does an apology like that lead, are there consequences? Will potential criminal prosecutions for “unlawful killing” by soldiers open up old wounds- what about the other side, the unionists? Will they now seek apologies for those in their community who were also killed during those years through bombings, assignations or shootings.  Could this apology destabilize the peace process or alternatively, strengthen it?

Continue reading "Sorry is no longer the hardest word" »

Ever tried to apologise to someone and been rebufffed?

Pope Benedict experienced just that on the weekend when he made an apology to Irish people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests.

His apology came in the wake of last November’s government report, The Murphy Report, which found the Irish clergy “obsessively” concealed child abuse by priests in Dublin from 1975 - 2004 and operated under a policy of ” don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Continue reading "Pope’s apology won’t be enough for change" »

Every now and then life deals you a moment which overloads your emotions.

You’re not sure whether to cry or cheer or run and hide just to catch your breath.

That’s how I felt standing on the sixth floor of NAB’s Melbourne headquarters when watching Kevin Rudd’s apology to my people’s stolen generation.

Continue reading "It’s not just government working at closing the gap" »

When Kevin Rudd delivered an apology to the indigenous people in 2008, he committed himself and his government to a series of practical measures, designed to lift many aborigines from appalling conditions of poverty and abuse.

He promised a new bipartisan approach under the leadership of himself and the Leader of the Opposition. Subsequently, he promised the report on this great moral challenge on the first sitting day of each Parliamentary year.

Today these solemn promises can be seen for what they were: hyperbole from a Prime Minister who regularly makes grand statements but fails to follow-up on many of them.

Continue reading "The apology that turned out to be just words" »

The former Democrats Senator Andrew Murray, one of the driving forces behind today’s apology to the “Forgotten” Australians recently told Kevin Rudd that while many apologies had been made by state governments, churches and charities to the children abused and neglected in care in this country “some were better apologies than others.”

There was a pretty strong sense in the Great Hall of Parliament House this morning that this apology was one of the “better” ones, how ever you might define it.

For a start you could hear it. “Sconey”, 40, from South Australia, told The Punch when the SA Government apologised the speakers didn’t work.

Continue reading "What makes a good apology?" »

In 1957 a little girl’s life was changed forever.

She was three years old when her family was torn apart, when she was separated from her brothers and sisters and sent to St Catherine’s Orphanage, in Geelong.

For the next thirteen years she lived in constant fear of being punished for every minor indiscretion and with the empty feeling of a childhood deprived of love.  She wouldn’t see her brother again for forty years.  Hers is one of half a million stories.

Continue reading "For Leonie, for Vera, for everyone who suffered" »

- This is the speech given by Labor MP and Punch contributor Richard Marles this afternoon on the Forgotten Australians. The Punch will run some of the MPs’ addresses this week.

Today we have heard just a few of the half a million stories of the Forgotten Australians, each as sad and as powerful as the last. Collectively they represent a well of pain and a great wrong which today our nation acknowledged.

Among those are the stories of the co-founders of Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) - Joanna Penglase and Leonie Sheedy. These two were the driving force behind the original Senate inquiry. They have been the driving force behind the National Apology.

Their shoulders have provided support for a multitude of Forgotten Australians. Their ears have heard a thousand stories and in the process provided relief. They are great Australians.

Continue reading "Acknowledging the anguish of those we forgot" »

Breaking the news to Leonie Sheedy that our national Government was to apologise to the Forgotten Australians and the former Child Migrants unequivocally rates as the best day in my short parliamentary life.

As she screamed with a mixture of disbelief, joy and relief the enormity of what this will mean to the 500,000 Forgotten Australians and the 7,000 Child Migrants was palpable.

Leonie’s emotions were overwhelming and they overwhelmed mine. It was impossible not to join in the tears.

Continue reading "How do you make up for a lack of parental love?" »

A few weeks ago I made a stupid and offensive joke in a piece written in the immediate aftermath of the drawn opening Ashes Test.

It involved the alleged time-wasting tactics of the English side in the dying moments of the game, and referred to a private SMS exchange with a friend of mine which joked about the appearance of 12th man Bilal Shafayat.

While I wrote in the piece that the text message was clearly offensive - and had construed the piece as a self-deprecating look at the stupid behaviour of sports fans – the decision to publish this private SMS was of itself the truly stupid aspect of the article. This is because it was not only insulting and demeaning to a decent man and sporting professional in Bilal Shafayat, but anyone else who faces ridicule on the basis of their appearance.

Continue reading "My apology to Bilal Shafayat" »

Aboriginal reconciliation hit the headlines again this week with an extraordinary call for all non-indigenous Australians to make restitution for the crimes of theft and genocide – or leave the country.

Dr Peter Adam said that atoning for the sins of the past required such a radical solution.

‘‘No recompense could ever be satisfactory because what was done was so vile, so immense, so universal, so pervasive, so destructive, so devastating and so irreparable,’’ Dr Adam said in a speech to the NSW Baptist Union.

Continue reading "The priest who turned back the clock on reconciliation" »