After taking office as Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd said issuing a formal apology to Aborigines was "government business, motion No. #1." And so he did. Speaking before Parliament on February 13, 2008, Rudd apologized for policies that "have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians." Among the offenses singled out by Rudd was a policy that lasted until the 1970's that put up aboriginal children for adoption to white families in the hopes of "breed[ing] out the color."