The traffic ground to a halt as hordes travelled to the Parliamentary triangle for the apology to the Stolen Generation. It was History in the making, as they say. PM Kevin Rudd ranged from the emotional to the practical. A recognition of the past, a look to the future. And he concluded with his policy wonk hat firmly on, detailing specific, practical and bipartisan initiatives.
His "kind of war cabinet" - the joint policy commission - will be one to watch. It is great policy: political point scoring could retard progress on this issue, and a joint commission could allow forging of sensible policies both sides of politics could live with. But is it good politics? If it is good politics (for Rudd) it won't work, as it won't be bipartisan and divisive political brawling will ensue. See that not even a week has passed and opposition leader Brendan Nelson is coming under fire for being co-opted into the governments agenda.
There is so much that could be done on the policy front, but the key will be ensuring the joint commission has political points in it for both sides. If any one party wins or loses politically, the whole thing will crumble to dust and the apology will have failed indigenous Australians.
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