No-one can apologise for something that someone else did. I can't apologise for something you did, and you can't apologise for something I've done. And neither of us can apologise for something someone else did. Any apology we did make wouldn't mean anything since we didn't do it and so have nothing to be sorry for.

This is an obvious fact, right?

So why do politicians persist in apologising for things that happened before they were in power, grown up, or in some cases even born? How can Kevin Rudd apologise for Australia for the "profound grief, suffering and loss" inflicted by successive Australian governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population? Just like Blair or Livingstone can't apologise for the brief period in history where Britain perpetuated the slave trade [and the same goes for the Papua New Guinea tribe and the cannibalism of their ancestors]. Not with any real sincerity can they.

They can regret what happened, but they can't apologise for it. Regretting an incident is fine and not a problem. We all have some regrets about past issues. But we can't apologise for something we didn't do. Any apology made is just an empty and meaningless gesture. If we carry this idea on, children born of rape will be apologising to their mothers for their father's actions, and ultimately everyone will have to apologise to everyone for something that some long-forgotten ancestor did.

However, Rudd does have slightly more legitimacy in making his apology than Blair or Livingstone for theirs, since the period his apology covers goes right up to the 1960s. But even that is a long time ago. Way too long. Just let all this stuff go for crying out loud and let's move on a equal people, not looking back over our shoulders at past slights!