Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia is racist, despite believing otherwise five years ago.
Mr Rudd also took aim at the controversy around Adam Goodes, saying that "it was 100 percent bullshit", the boos were just about bad football skills.
Over one-hundred people gathered at NSW Parliament House on Friday to hear speakers commemorate the 8th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generation.
Kevin Rudd told the audience that over the past year the treatment of Adam Goodes showed a side of Australia that needs to be dealt with.
"Five years ago, as Prime Minister I said I did not believe that racism was at work in Australia. Perhaps I was just naive back then. Or perhaps I was just plain wrong.'
Mr Rudd called for Australians to not be silent.
"Don't allow our Indigenous brothers and sisters to stand alone. Call it out for what it is. Name it. Shame it. For racism in any form has no place in the Australia of the 21st century," he said.
Mr Rudd said racism "is like a cancer that eats away at the fabric of our society - the fabric that binds us together as the wider Australian family."
