The papers are full, of course, of Sorry Day.
And Australians will make their own minds up about that.
But as the New South Wales Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said yesterday, this apology is an acknowledgment of guilt which will have far-reaching implications for current and future generations, both in Australia and internationally.
As she says, it leaves an indelible mark on our history by supporting the notion that Aboriginal children were stolen, thus imputing some criminal intent to the actions of good men and women who were motivated by rescuing or saving children from appalling conditions.
In a nation of unbridled political correctness, the courage of New South Wales Senator Fierravanti-Wells to not fall into line ought to be noted.
The Hansard will at least record that not everybody in the Parliament yesterday was marching in step.
And many Australians would say thank God for that.
But to issues more specifically affecting all Australians, we could have had many sorry days.
One suggestion, at a time of difficult inflation and the consequences of that in relation to interest rates, and the burden this will impose on people already struggling, is that Woolworths and Coles have their own sorry day.
Today Woolworths has taken out full page advertisements saying that they're backing our farmers, and urging us to shop tomorrow at Woolworths on Drought Action Day and all their profits will go to families in need.
Believe that and you'll believe anything.
Instead of calling it Drought Action Day, tomorrow should be Woolworths' and Coles' own shameful sorry day.
Say sorry for their business practices which have inflicted profound grief across the nation.
So far as backing our farmers, they should say sorry for the degradation and indignity inflicted on our farmers by screwing them into the dirt and paying them unconscionably low prices while charging unconscionably high prices to consumers.
Woolworths and Coles could say sorry to all the thousands of small businesses whose economic opportunity they've crushed through predatory conduct.
They could say sorry to the previous government for swearing on a stack of Bibles they were lowering prices when the truth was they were actually increasing them faster than any other supermarket anywhere else in the developed world.
Woolworths and Coles could say sorry to every Australian consumer for the unconscionably excessive higher prices they charge and for the pain and suffering inflicted upon Australian families for increasing inflation and putting pressure on interest rates.
Woolworths and Coles could say sorry for the indignity inflicted on a dairy farmer whose 12 year old daughter was too embarrassed to go to school because her struggling farming family didn't have enough money for them to pay for new shoes.
The price this farmer receives for his milk today is lower than it was in 1990, but the retail price at the supermarket has increased by over 100 per cent.
They could say sorry to the family of another dairy farmer whose daughter, also aged 12, has twice tried to hang herself because of financial pressures facing her dairy farming parents.
Why couldn't Woolworths say sorry for the oppression they've inflicted on men like Malcolm Ky, a survivor of Pol Pot's killing fields, whom Woolworths lied to then stole his business, leaving him with a crippling debt which he has no way of repaying.
Woolworths had their henchmen lock him out a few days before Christmas when Malcolm was trying to earn a few dollars to be able to afford his young children a Christmas present.
Malcolm survived the Khmer Rouge, he couldn't survive Woolworths.
Woolworths could say sorry for trying to stamp out competition from small independently owned liquor stores in Campbelltown, Tweed Heads and Arncliffe/Rockdale.
Woolworths paid a $7 million fine, but they could not say sorry.
Woolworths tomorrow, when they're saying they are backing our farmers, Woolworths and Coles, the gatekeepers to 80 per cent of our national supermarket shelves, should stand up and say sorry to every Australian.
Apologise for the unconscionably, excessively high prices they charge.
And for increasing prices faster than supermarkets anywhere else in the developed world over the last 20 years.
So tomorrow on so-called Drought Action Day, when they're allegedly backing our farmers, Woolworths will try to cleanse its conscience, fumigate its wealth in yet another empty gesture by throwing a few crumbs to the farmers which amounts to a little over 100th of one per cent of their annual turnover.
A great publicity stunt.
So tomorrow in backing the farmers on Drought Action Day, Woolworths could say sorry for the wrongs of the past and then for the other 364 days of the year, they could concentrate on continuing with their anti-competitive business practices charging unconscionably, excessively high prices, inflicting pain, suffering and hurt upon Australian families and our farmers, while at the same time increasing inflation and placing upward pressure on interest rates.
And hoping like hell that the Rudd government doesn't have the guts to repair the Trade Practices Act to bring this all to an end.
Quite a bit, I would have thought, to say sorry for.
As for backing our farmers on Drought Action Day, forget it.
A stunt.
