The Living Consequences

The newly-elected prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, has pledged to apologize to the aborginal population of Australia for the historic wrongs committed against it.

Australia’s aborigines suffered official discrimination at the hands of Australia’s white settlers for centuries, and continue to fare much poorer than whites on a variety of social measures. Interestingly, a majority of Australians support an apology, which aboriginal leaders “regard more as a symbolic gesture than as a basis for launching huge compensation claims.”