I begin by acknowledging the first Australians on whose land we live, and whose cultures we celebrate as the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
Why did we do the apology? You know, saying sorry is both hard and easy.
It's hard because it admits that you've done something wrong, and we did. Big time.
It's easy because it's a word, and unless you add action to your words, I think as I may have said in the apology itself, it has all the attractive appeal of a clanging gong.
And it's both those things which actually bring about real reconciliation, real transformation and real rebirth.
The apology was good - good for Australia, for indigenous Australia, and as I've discovered remarkably for Indigenous people around the world.
I was in Peru last week at the APEC summit, with a small community which had been supported and tended by the good Sisters of Mercy from Australia for the last decade or more.
And what struck me was among the many presentations of simple gifts from the local communities serviced by those good sisters was a very simple presentation also from the local indigenous community, saying thank-you.
Thank-you for advancing the task of global reconciliation between settled communities, settler communities and indigenous communities around the world.
And I remember when I was first introduced to the concept and the language and the content of closing the gap, on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, and the ceremony at the Old Parliament House here in Canberra.
At that time, someone sang for us a song which you've all heard before, but which had a remarkable poetry and resonance and substance on that day and subsequently, which was this - From Little Things, Big Things Grow.
And that's what struck me about what we've done together, in the Australian community, on the question of the apology - from little things, bigger things grow.
And it is a wonderful thing to watch those things grow.
As I said before, lighting the candle of hope is one thing. Building a bridge called respect between indigenous and non-indigenous communities is another thing.
Crossing that bridge and then embarking upon the practicalities of reconciliation, that is something else and that is why we're here today.
That is the good thing that we are.
You'll be surprised to know in this job that I have, I actually read these things from time to time.
I've got a confession though - I only read it while the others were speaking, with no disrespect to them.
This Reconciliation Plan by NAB - this is a very good plan and I turn to the fifth page that says ‘making it real - turning principles into programs'.
It talks about dealing with financial inclusion and that is of course the provision of credit services to indigenous communities around the country and the great work that was already being done by the Traditional Credit Union, which I'm familiar with.
It speaks also about the second area of practical work for sustainable indigenous employment.
And thirdly, creating understanding and awareness.
And there are practical things to be done under each of those headlines.
This has been the subject of much work. To all the good people from National Australia Bank, all 24,000 of them who work right across Australia in more than 1000 branches, (inaudible), and who are watching this morning, I should say this to you all - you should be very proud of your bank.
It is a very good document and you have done a very good thing.
The other reason why it is a good thing is because other companies will learn from it.
There are already reconciliation action plans out there and many of them good. But you know, this is right up there in terms of a good document.
So for those in corporate Australia who have not done so yet, or are in the process of so doing, or would like to have another run around the track, have a look at this one. It is worth having a look at. It is a good document.
So an apology is one thing, doing something about it is another. And what this corporation has done about it is, I believe, substantial. What the rest of corporate Australia needs to do about it needs to be equally substantial. But I commend corporate Australia at large for what I have discerned and see as a genuine spirit, a genuine commitment, a genuine desire to do likewise.
And they are doing likewise. Mention was made before of the Australian Employment Covenant and the commitment that we have fashioned together as large corporations and as Governments at a meeting recently at Kirribilli on creating over time 50,000 sustainable indigenous jobs in Australia.
That's a very big commitment. Let me tell you in the time of a global financial crisis, it's a super commitment. But what struck me in terms of the attitude and the dispositions of CEOs who were there that day - Michael was there from memory and Rupert Murdoch and others from banking and from the principal employer organisations as well - is that they are fair dinkum about this. And this is a good thing.
But there is a third leg to this partnership in making the aspirations contained in the Apology something real. Indigenous communities must be partners with us. Corporate Australia must be partners with us, the Governments have to lift their game as well.
What we sought to do in the meeting in this building only two days ago as the Council of Australian Governments was lift our game. You know, I'd like a buck for every speech that has been made about this for the last 50 years, you would be a very rich man.
You would be somewhat poorer if you were to measure the bucks against what's actually happened out there in the field. But you know, it wasn't a bad outcome. There is a solid, new, concrete financial commitment from the Commonwealth and the states, the numbers of which are reflected in the communiqué which goes to the core of how we close the gap between indigenous and non indigenous Australia.
Let me remind you what closing the gap actually is, and then you can collectively all suck in breath. To close the life expectancy gap within a generation. To halve the gap in the mortality rate for indigenous children under five within a decade. To ensure all indigenous four year olds in remote communities have access to quality early childhood education programs within five years.
To have the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for children within a decade. To halve the gap for indigenous kids in year 12 attainment rates, or equivalent attainment by 2020 and to halve to gap in employment outcomes within a decade.
These are big goals and some would say it is probably the right time to start muffling those goals a bit because they are all looking pretty hard. I would say the reverse. Let's hook into it and let's be real about it.
I believe Indigenous leadership is real about it. I believe corporate leadership is real about it.
What I am saying to you out of the meeting of the Council of Australian Governments on Saturday and the funding bottom line against commitments in Indigenous housing and Indigenous health and Indigenous education, and support for remote area service delivery for Indigenous communities which make up 25 per cent of the Indigenous population of our country, finally Governments at last are real about it as well.
And that is the missing part of the triangle. Indigenous Australia, Corporate Australia and Government.
Get those three together and we can start to close the gap. And I think in our own small way, that has started.
So to conclude where I began, this is a really good document. And I would say to others in the Australian corporate community, go to the NAB website and have a look at it. This is a good thing for the nation, it is a good thing for the Aboriginal community.
And with those few short remarks, which bear no relationship to the prepared text which may have been circulated to some of you, could I therefore on behalf of the Government, officially launch this, the National Australia Bank Reconciliation Action plan, aimed at closing the gap.
I thank you.