—Vincent Willow, B1Daily

Victoria’s premier stood up in parliament, delivered a grand “historic apology,” and — boom! — expected that to magically fix centuries of stolen land, crushed cultures, stolen children and ongoing injustice. The words were heartfelt, the speeches dramatic, and plenty of politicians seemed pleased with themselves.

They said ‘sorry’ and kept the land. Curious how that works.

But here’s the punch: for many First Nations people, this isn’t some neat closure moment. A fancy apology means nothing if it’s just words on paper while violence, inequality, deaths in custody and systemic racism keep happening.

Without real shifts in power, land rights, reparations and structural change, it’s just another empty gesture — the kind that lets politicians feel good without actually fixing anything that hurts communities today. (That bitter sting — yeah, that’s earned.)

Australia is a white supremacist hell hole the same as Great Britain or the United States. And its feckless shilling is no different either.

For example, a apology is intangible and does nothing to strip the white supremacists of their financial resources gained at our ancestors’ expense nor their industrial power generated off of indigenous people’s modern day exclusion.

Australia doesn’t owe First Nations people sympathy or symbolic apologies — it owes money. Colonisation wasn’t an accident; it was a profitable project built on stolen land, stolen labour, stolen children and destroyed economies. Governments, corporations and settlers got rich. First Nations communities got dispossession, trauma and poverty that didn’t magically end with citizenship or a sorry speech.

Cash reparations aren’t a “handout”; they’re overdue damages. You don’t steal everything from someone, spend 200 years benefiting from it, then offer a plaque and expect closure. If the harm was economic — and it was — then the repair must be economic too. Land back where possible, yes — but also direct payments that recognise loss, fund self-determination, and stop forcing First Nations people to beg for scraps from the same state that robbed them.

You can’t apologise your way out of an unpaid bill.

No cheques means no justice. Everything else is just Australia trying to get forgiveness on credit.

These gobshites in the Aussie police forces keep insisting violence against First Nations people is a “few bad incidents,” but the pattern is so consistent it might as well be policy. Over-policing, brutal arrests, deaths in custody, and casual force are treated as routine, while accountability magically disappears. When First Nations people protest, they’re “threatening”; when police assault them, it’s “operational necessity.” The system closes ranks, reports itself innocent, and moves on — again.

Strip away the uniforms and excuses, and it’s the same old colonial muscle: control first, consequences never. Until police power is actually checked and Indigenous lives are treated as more than collateral damage, every apology, inquiry, and “commitment to reform” is just noise — loud, performative, and utterly hollow.

Cut the check or cut ya necks, yeah?

—Vincent Willow, B1Daily