Australia's Aboriginal community finds hope from BLM | ABC News

In 2008, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a landmark speech called the National Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples. It included an apology to the Stolen Generations, and is now considered a defining moment in the country's history.

When asked why it took so long to apologize, Rudd told ABC News' Britt Clennett that it can be hard for people in power to take responsibility.

"Australians can be a stubborn lot -- by which I mean white Australians -- and it's hard for any people to recognize that they've done wrong by others," Rudd said. "In the United States, you see the same in terms of African Americans. You see the same in terms of Native Americans. But Australians are pretty slow learners as well."

Some 13 years later, Rudd said there's still significant much work to do -- at all levels -- to prevent deaths in custody.

"When we look at incarceration rates for aboriginal people, which are abominably high, there's a sequence of events, poor health to start with. Poor education leads to poor employment, leads to people living a life of petty crime," Rudd said. "This is intensified in Indigenous Australia."