The anniversary of Sorry Day was beset by Labor Party leadership speculation yesterday as Julia Gillard moved to gag her ministers.
The Prime Minister has reportedly ordered senior members of her team not to talk to newspaper editors about Kevin Rudd's ambitions to return to the prime ministership.
Ministers must now seek express permission from her office before any meeting or private talks with senior editorial figures.
Mr Rudd's supporters say they are pleased the speculation has calmed, after a frenetic burst before the opening of Parliament. They believe the federal caucus will consider the leadership issue seriously after the expected landslide against Labor in the Queensland election.
Mr Rudd, who delivered the national apology to indigenous Australians in 2008, attended a breakfast at Government House in Sydney to commemorate the event.
He said Australia was ''still barely scratching the surface'' in efforts to achieve reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
He said Aboriginal people had told him there had been some ''healing of the soul'' since the apology and they had a ''new-found sense of dignity, identity and respect'', partly because the attitudes of non-indigenous Australians were changing.
''Many [indigenous people] have become accustomed to well-meaning white fellas coming and going as the fashions of policy ebb and flow,'' Mr Rudd said.
''We can't do that any more, for the real hard business of reconciliation does not lie in high-sounding speeches like the apology.''
Mr Rudd was asked if he wanted to return to the position from which he was deposed by factional leaders and Ms Gillard in mid-2010.
''I'm a very, very happy little Vegemite ... and a content Vegemite, being Foreign Minister of Australia,'' he said.
''It's the fourth anniversary of the apology and the business of reconciliation is ongoing, that's what important.
''I did this [function] last year, I think the year before I delivered a report to Parliament and the year before that. We made some progress and we've got a whole lot more progress to make.''
Ms Gillard will deliver a detailed progress report in Parliament next week.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said it was important for her team to speak with one voice.
''I want Australians to understand what we're doing today to manage the economy,'' she said.
''We co-ordinate the explanation of that message, we always have and we always will.''
Asked about a gag on ministers speaking to newspaper editors, she said the questioner misunderstood the situation. ''We're co-ordinating as we always have and always will,'' she said.
When Mr Rudd was Prime Minister, he was accused of gagging ministers from talking to the media and centralising control of the government in his office.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Ms Gillard had lost control of her cabinet.
''She has lost control of a divided and dysfunctional government,'' he said.
Cabinet minister Anthony Albanese said it was common knowledge that ministers co-ordinated their media engagements.
He denied ministers had been gagged by Ms Gillard.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said he did not know whether Monday's Four Corners program about the Labor Party would reignite leadership speculation.
''There's a lot of speculation, a lot of inaccurate comment, a lot of commentary and I never intend to add to it,'' he said.
''I haven't seen the program but what I'm going to do is get on with my job.''
Ms Gillard has done an interview for the ABC program titled, ''The Comeback Kid?'', focusing on the future of the Labor leadership.
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