Im sure you want Britain to apologise over the slave trade as well.

Get a grip man. We have nothing to feel shame about now.

So the way things were done 100’s of years ago is acceptable? It may not have been the done thing back then to admit something was wrong & issue and apology but havent we moved on a bit?

And you think that if something is revealed, that shows a horrendous act perpetrated by a government but hidden for years , you honestly think that you should not feel shame for what happened and the way your government has mishandled it over the last few years?

Why should the incumbent Government apologize for something that that happened in a bygone era that had nothing to do with their generation..the indigenous people in this country never stop whinging about something or anything ..i’m sick and tired of hearing about it

So because they are ” whingers” this makes what happened right ? If it isnt ok, and i hope you will admit that it want,what about those who are still alive who had their lives severely effected by the actions of what was meant to be a Democratic Western civilisation?

2nd attempt..hopefully acceptable this time !

Why should the incumbent Government apologize for something that that happened in a bygone era that had nothing to do with their generation..the indigenous people in this country never stop whinging about something or anything ..i’m sick and tired of hearing about it

So because they are ” whingers” this makes what happened right ? If it isnt ok, and i hope you will admit that it want,what about those who are still alive who had their lives severaly effected by the actions of what was meant to be a Democratic Western civilisation?

2nd attempt..hopefully acceptable this time !

Yes…. quite.

I note with interest the use of “extermination camp” as opposed to the more usual “concentration camp”….nice touch. Emily Hobhouse would weep.

I also have always been amazed at the vitriol Australia sent South Africa’s way during the 1970’s and 1980’s for the abhorrent system of apartheid, yet looking at their own house…… The hypocrisy was astounding.

Like most countries Australia was blind to its own faults and apparently, judging by the hesitant & unhappy apology, is still somewhat Myopic!

I seem to remember that she did cancel some concerts in Israel as a result of death threats from a bunch of extreme right-wing nutters. It would have been about 10 years ago, if I’m right.

I stand corrected !! hadnt heard about that or if I had its gone into the deeper parts of the little grey matter 😮 !

But you see to some those threats wouldnt count..after all they were made by christian/neo con extremists so therefore they must not really have meant it !:D

I suggest you go an watch a few episodes of Family Guy and American Dad. The portrayal of Jesus and the Christian version of God in those two highly popular cartoons makes the Danish cartoons look like childs play.

If it caused offence to ordinary Muslims, well tough luck, just as the above mentioned cartoons are unaffected the offence they may cause to Christians.

If you regard the defence of freedom of speech as foolish then you morals are severely misplaced.

So what is acceptable in America has to be acceptable everywhere else ?

To be honest i have better things to do than watch the sort of TV trash that you seem to find so interesting…Family guy has never struck me as being exactly a fine advertisment for TV American or otherwise !

Free speech is fine but not when it is abused to offend others . Diplomacy hasnever been one of your finer ponts but give it a chance some time !

and with regards to Morality..well someone whose attitude to offending others is “Tough luck ” is hardly in a position to lecture !

There is a very distinct problem here. A government may be an institution of continual existence but as an institution it is made up of individuals. The result is that whilst (for example) it was the British government that supported an tolerated the slave trade for so long that government is now completely removed from that time and space. The individuals who make it up have no involvement or even support for such past acts, so why should they apologise? In the case of Australia some members of the institution of state who engaged in the crime may well still be in place however the vast majority will have had nothing to do with the period. As such any apology is actually completely neutered by the fact that the people making it did not commit any of the acts for which they are apologising and likely have as great disdain for those acts as the victims do. If you want such an apology to meaningful it needs to come from the people who perpetrated the acts and not from people who have no attachment to them. Otherwise an apology such as this is an empty emotional crutch and nothing more.

In simple terms, if a man you have never met punched another man in the face in a time before you were aware or even alive do you go to the man who was punched in the face, or to his children, and apologise?

As the people who perpetrated this foul policy were the elected representatives of the Australian people and as such acting on their behalf then it is incumbent on their successors to address an issue that STILL effects some of their citizens.

Have said it before but i think it bears repetition… We are judged not by how we treat the strong and influential members of our society but by how we treat those who are weak and have little or no voice.

Reconciliation needs admission that what was done was wrong.It has taken place in countries where there have been conflict and has helped , maybe only marginally , but helped. South Africa & Northern Ireland are but two examples

Quick question for you..and not being anti American or anything like it ( despite what you might think! )

I for one think that Iran should apologise to the people taken hostage at the US embassy…I also think that Vietnam should apologise for their maltreatment of POWS all those years ago.. dont you agree?

Muslims have tried to kill the artist responsible for the Danish cartoons, fortunately they were caught before they committed their murder and Danish news papers are courageously re-publishing the cartoons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7240481.stm

And you think its a good idea to re-publish something that caused so much trouble and DID cause offence to ordinary Muslims? (not just the head bangers.)

If someone published pictures of Jesus that Christians found offensive the pictures would be withdrawn immediately. Look at the row, the vilification that followed Sinead O’Connor’s destruction of a picture of the Pope.

Yes no one threatened to kill her but i would not have fancied being in her shoes if she had ended up in the hands of some of the so called Christians i have come across !

Courageous nothing foolish in the extreme!