The form of prime minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to Aborigines for past injustices is yet to be known, but any suggestion that it is not long overdue is a continuation of the denial of historical fact.

New Coalition leader Brendan Nelson does him self no credit to suggest that the Rudd government has more pressing priorities. Eleven years of Coalition government found no time to address a wrong that should have been acknowledged a long time ago.

Nor should an apology be purely about the past.

Government treatment of Australia’s indigenous people since first settlement has informed an undercurrent of racism that exists to this day.

Saying sorry is not just about what happened 200 years ago, 100 years ago or even 50 years ago.

Suggestions to the contrary deny the undercurrent that shuts this nation off from the rich cultural heritage aboriginal Australia has to offer.

A formal apology to indigenous Australians should also be personal.

It affords an opportunity for every one of us to examine our own actions and attitudes and to draw a line under behaviours that have no place in an educated, intelligent society.

To its credit, the Queensland government always acknowledges the traditional owners of the land when and where ever it conducts its business. At dinner functions this often includes the performance of a welcoming dance by local aborigines.

On many occasions I have witnessed appalling displays of rudeness and outright contempt by members of our business community whose sneers and disparaging comments point to a sickness of spirit that desperately needs addressing.

Look around on the Sunshine Coast and everywhere are place names which speak to our links to a people whose history stretches back to before the birth of Christianity.

Yet there is scant evidence in our communities of the people who fished the waters and carefully harvested the bounty of a paradise, once rich in its biodiversity but now sacrificed to the singular pursuit of another subdivision opportunity.

It is high time we understood and acknowledged what happened to these first Australians.

Mr Rudd is only partly right when he says that a formal apology will “bridge the gap” with non-indigenous Australians. While a government apology is long overdue, it will remain essentially meaningless until all Australians look beyond their individual ignorance, preconceptions and prejudices and embrace the real history of the land in which we live.

And while that may take several generations to fully accomplish and will require some serious re-thinking of the history taught in our schools, “Sorry” is as good a place as any to start.

The issue of compensation for those still suffering the impacts of their forced separation from parents and extended families is already being addressed through the courts.

The landmark Bringing Them Home report recommended that compensation be paid. The South Australian Supreme Court did just that last year, awarding more than half a million dollars to a 55-year-old who never recovered from his forced removal from his family.

It is best that these matters be resolved before the courts rather than in some sort of blanket cash settlement by the government. That process, while painful to each individual involved, is essential to developing a national understanding of the damage wrought.

Compensation may be difficult for many white Australians to accept but all Australians have a right to the courts as a vehicle to address injustice.

What we should all have the capacity to understand though, is that there is no more painful loss than the loss of a child or a parent.

Aborigines have only been counted as part of our population for the past 40 years yet have fought in all areas of conflict in which Australia has been involved since nationhood.

They are Australia’s original inhabitants, their history is the early story of this nation. Until that is properly acknowledged and the wrongs of the past 200 years fully addressed, we will remain a country divided and weaker for that fundamental failure.