Australia apologises for mistreating Aborigines

By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia apologised on Wednesday for the historic mistreatment of Aborigines in a move indigenous leaders said would help end generations of pain.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told parliament that past policies of assimilation, under which aboriginal children were taken from their families to be brought up in white households, were a stain on the nation's soul.

"Today, the parliament has come together to right a great wrong," Rudd said.

"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians."

The parliamentary apology comes 11 years after a major report into past assimilation policies found between one in three and one in 10 aboriginal children had been taken from their families between 1910 and 1970.

The report urged a national apology to those affected, known as the Stolen Generations, but the then conservative government under prime minister John Howard rejected the finding and offered only a statement of regret.

But Rudd made the apology the first item of parliamentary business for his centre-left Labor government, which won power in November last year, ending almost 12 years of conservative rule.

About 100 members of the Stolen Generations were in parliament to hear the government apologise, some wiping away tears as Rudd spoke, while thousands of people gathered on the lawns outside to watch the parliamentary debate on giant television screens.