An apology to Aboriginal and Torres Islander people: A moment of truth for the nursing and midwifery professions

There is widespread acceptance of our nation’s history and agreement that the wrongs of the past should never be repeated. For nursing and midwifery, there still needs to be truth-telling, historical acceptance, acknowledgement of professional and institutional racism, and social justice before we can begin on the road to healing. Nursing at its premise is about healthcare to all individuals in the community. We must recognise and acknowledge the role that nurses and midwives have played since colonisation, through the influence of successive punitive government policies that led to nurses and midwives acting as agents of government, contributing to the harms and trauma of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.