Greens senator attacks PM over apology issue Source: AAP | Published: Thursday August 26 10:35:26 AM Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown has accused Prime Minister John Howard of failing as a leader on the issue of an apology to the stolen generation. "He cannot say ... he is not big enough to say, I am sorry, on behalf of the nation," Senator Brown told reporters. "Every other parliament in the nation, almost every other politician and people right across this country have been able to say I am sorry. "But John Howard is not big enough to do that," Brown said. Australian Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway's maiden speech last night called on the government to express deep and sincere regret for the hurt and trauma suffered by indigenous Australians. Australia's only Aboriginal federal MP omitted the word sorry in a compromise Howard seems likely to accept. But Brown believes this had come about because Howard had not offered an alternative. "Thank goodness we have an indigenous community that is big enough to find ground for this leader who has failed in this context," Brown said. "I have said I am sorry. I feel deeply sorry about the whole history since the invasion as far as the Aboriginal people are concerned and the stolen generation in more recent history, in particular. "However, I remain also sorry that we don't have a prime minister who could give ground," he said. ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/