Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (12:15): I begin by acknowledging the Ngunawal and Ngambri people and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging, and also recommit, on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full. I pay tribute to Indigenous affairs minister, Ken Wyatt, whose own mother was part of the Stolen Generations and to my friend Senator Patrick Dodson, who is here with us today, who, as a boy, hid in the long grass of Katherine watching as the welfare officers and police took away his mates. I also pay tribute to our shadow minister Linda Burney, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Senator Jacqui Lambie, Senator Lidia Thorpe and Senator Dorinda Cox. I welcome members of the Stolen Generations who have joined us here or are watching; we are humbled by your presence.

The effects of those removals, that theft, still linger. That's why an apology had to be made and, just as importantly, accepted. As we were reminded last week, it takes great courage to come and face the institution that has failed you and failed you profoundly. That was the case 14 years ago when members of the Stolen Generations came to Parliament House to witness the apology. It was an apology they had waited so long to hear. It was an apology that had been promised to them after years of resistance and rejection, even by some on the day itself. Even in that unifying moment for our country there were some who turned their back, but overwhelmingly it was a unifying moment.

What shines in our shared memory is the determination, the grace and the guts of those members of the Stolen Generations who were here for the apology. Ken Rudd would later recall the fear among them as they entered through the Prime Minister's courtyard, and yet they came. That is courage.

It was the first order of business of the new government. It remains my proudest moment as a parliamentarian, and as the Leader of the House I was proud to put in place the practical arrangements necessary on that day. The speech which Prime Minister Rudd gave was a seismic act of catharsis. He turned an important page for all of us as he said:

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

When he uttered the words, 'I am sorry on behalf of our nation,' our nation was lifted up. We cannot look to our future without reflecting on the past, because until a nation acknowledges the full truth of its history it will be burdened by its unspoken weight. We must acknowledge the wrongs, learn from them and look for ways of healing.

Truth telling can be confronting, but it need not be grounds for conflict. It should be seen as the first step of finding grounds for resolution and moving forward as one. As Mick Dodson put it:

I know of no Indigenous person who told their story to the inquiry who wanted non-Indigenous Australians to feel guilty—they just wanted to people to know the truth.

It's a powerful statement from a great Australian. We should come to this process not armed for battle but with our arms open, our minds open, our hearts open, but we must also keep our eyes open. Until last year, this anniversary was also when we assessed the Closing the gap report, the annual catalogue of the chasms that still divide Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Those chasms remind us that speeches that do not lead to action are a hollow, bitter undertaking. They remind us that we must all do better, every one of us.

The apology will always hold its special place in our national story, but as the start of a new chapter we have it within us to write that chapter. In an act of profound generosity and grace, we have been given the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a patiently extended hand, waiting for us to take it and go further as a nation. But now we should feel, within our own hearts, the insistent rhythm of Uluru's three generous requests: voice, truth, treaty. Labor is committed to all three—the voice to parliament enshrined in our Constitution, truth without which we can never be all that we can as a nation, and treaty emerging from the makarrata commission which Labor will establish. The apology faced the past, bringing us to the end of one journey and the beginning of a new one. Closing the Gap shows us the present and underlines the urgency of taking the next steps, and the Uluru statement shows us a fairer and a better future, a better future that is within our reach, a better future that encompasses all Australians.

My good friend the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs will speak shortly about the road ahead and how we can all walk it together.