Sorry is a powerful word.
And on Thursday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese finally delivered the apology the nation, and in particular the Jewish community, needed to hear in the wake of the Bondi massacre.
Addressing those gathered at the Sydney ceremony to mark the National Day of Mourning for the Bondi victims, he apologised and said an attack on the Jewish community was an attack on Australia.
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“We are gathered here because on the 14th of December, everything changed. And for that, I am sorry,” the Prime Minister said at the Light Will Win ceremony.
“We cherish the promise that this country is a safe harbour. Sadly, that promise was broken.
“You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom and you were met with the violence of hatred. I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil.”
For the Prime Minister, it was another important step along the road to finally responding to the attack in a meaningful and appropriate manner, after what was initially an inadequate and politically focused reaction.
It was a reaction which saw him hold out for 25 days against a royal commission into anti-Semitism — using a range of spurious excuses — despite widespread calls from across the community for the probe.
Finally calling the Royal Commission, and then this week securing the passage of new hate crime laws and gun restrictions, followed by his apology were all necessary parts of finding a path back to credibility.
And yet, amazingly, his political opponents somehow managed to hand him even more political capital by tearing themselves apart again.
The tension between the Liberal and National parties, stoked by the Prime Minister when he threw into the mix gun control — always an issue that divides the conservative side of the House — exploded during the week.
By week’s end the Nationals had walked out of the Coalition as their leader David Littleproud declared it was basically finished for as long as Ms Ley remained Liberal leader.
On Friday the parties’ hangovers kicked in. The Nationals woke up to the reality they will be deemed a minor party, with resulting pay cut for many and a loss of staff, and the Liberals woke up with no idea what to do about their leadership.
And the enmity displayed this week would seem to make it a long way back for any other Liberal leader to embrace a Coalition when Mr Littleproud is Nationals leader.
Mr Albanese was quick to rub salt into the Coalition wounds, declaring on Friday that he led an “extraordinarily united party” and that not only did the Liberals and Nationals not like each other, but that “the Liberals don’t like other Liberals and the Nats don’t like other Nats.”
It seems like we can put down the binoculars focused on the next Federal election.
Barring unforeseen events of magnitude, the wreckage of the Liberal and National parties is such that it already looks like Mr Albanese is a good bet should he seek another term.
