Australia to apologise over 'stolen generations'

Australia will issue its first formal apology for past policies that forcibly removed generations of Aboriginal children from their families, a senior minister said today.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the apology to Australia’s so-called “stolen generations” of Aborigines would be the first item of business for the new Labour-dominated Parliament.

The apology will be made on February 13.

While the new government is swiftly responding to decade-old calls for an apology, Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd is refusing demands from some Aboriginal leaders to pay compensation for the suffering of broken families.