In the first Parliamentary sitting week, I walked in with the same exhilaration and sense of possibility I felt when I became the youngest-ever woman to enter Federal Parliament in 1995.

It was a little like school returning after a four month break. MPs, seemed genuinely glad to see each other; the excitement of new MPs – there are 42 - was palpable; and overwhelmed Senators-Elect roamed the corridors.

I watched the Welcome to Country with extra pride (previously unexperienced during an Opening ) as indigenous Australians welcomed us to their land with music, dance and a message stick for the Prime Minister. Hardened politicians were moved (some could not hide their tears).

I felt sad, too - that I was leaving Parliament just as a Government was beginning to get it right.

The formal Opening – during which House of Representatives Members flood the Senate's cosy chamber – exudes excitement as friends meet from both Houses and we observe new faces while the Governor-General outlines the Government agenda with packed galleries looking on.

My son refrained from catcalls during proceedings and apart from a restrained "Hi Mummy", he waited to the end to exclaim "I love Kevin Rudd!" Don't read too much into it, Dear Reader: 4 months ago he was screaming "I love John Howard," an indoctrination for which I am not responsible. I like to think it's a healthy respect for his elders.

The Apology (to the Stolen Generation) was everything it should have been. I said in the Senate that the Prime Minister spoke for me - a rare feeling. His words and eloquence were a welcome contrast to years of antagonism and shame.

Nothing deserved to mar that grand occasion: picky amendments from the Greens; qualified and poorly chosen words by the Leader of the Opposition; nor the upstaging of a Prime Minister by his tyro staff.

It was not a day for quibbling. It was a day of national unity and potential. As young and old alike cried: tears of joy for some, pain for others; some indigenous people wore t-shirts stating "Apology Accepted" and "Thanks". Such generosity of spirit outshines the weasel words of the Tuckeys and Mirabellas of this world.

Too late the Opposition Leader realised this could have been his day to bask in the reflected glory and excitement. As he walked with the PM -- the former enjoying the accolades -- Dr Nelson's face was beaming as he realised the significance of this moment. Did he realise also how he blew it?

I have never doubted the difficulty Nelson had in reconciling his ranks - bridging the gap between those implacably opposed and those in favour (we've all had to manage this: akin to herding cats when things are bad) but did he do himself a disservice and his own proud work in indigenous issues a disservice by his remarks and his equivocation? 

By Wednesday's Question Time, the school yard antics crept back and we returned to the Parliament of old: new and relatively young Ministers emulated the tactics and language they'd observed in their counterparts. Playful and some rude interjections abounded (Senator Barnaby Joyce to Senator Robert Ray - "Are you still here"? So much for respect for the elders); and policy agendas took shape. The Opposition was rightly outraged by the inexperience of some new Ministers (reading answers: Justine Elliott; lauding themselves: Chris Bowen).

People swapped roles: the Opposition decried the amount of time allotted to a Senate inquiry into the Workplace bill while the Government highlighted the need for speed. Things don't change that much in the cross benches – we still need to keep and eye on both of them.

Something did change irrevocably for our nation. As Dr Nelson said, the Opening of Parliament "...will never be the same .".  Nor will our country be the same even if it does seem that the more things change in the Parliament, the more they stay the same.