Introduction by Croakey: The Western Australian Government has announced this week that it will provide individual payments of $85,000 for living members of the Stolen Generations in WA in “recognition of the harm caused by removal from family and community”.
Premier Roger Cook said, “the WA Government has long acknowledged the historical injustices and their ongoing impact on the Stolen Generations, their families, and communities. The WA Stolen Generations Redress Scheme is a major step in the pursuit of reconciliation and healing”.
This leaves Queensland as the only Australian jurisdiction without a redress scheme.
Following years of advocacy for a redress scheme for Western Australian survivors, The Healing Foundation’s CEO, Yawuru woman Shannan Dodson, said she felt an overwhelming mixture of emotions about the announcement.
“Across Western Australia, survivors and descendants have been fighting tirelessly for years for justice and redress. I pay tribute and honour all the Stolen Generations organisations that have advocated and stood alongside survivors throughout this long journey,” she said.
“No amount of money will make up for the trauma inflicted on Stolen children, but redress is validation of their experience, and some compensation for the pain they’ve suffered.”
At a webinar hosted by The Healing Foundation on Wednesday morning, Stolen Generations survivor Yvonne Mills, with connections to the Kokatha and Mirning peoples in South Australia, said that survivors applied for the redress scheme to help pay for healthcare they needed.
“The reason why…we’re living with this trauma at the ages that we are, is because we didn’t get looked after in the first place,” she said.
Survivor Ian Hamm, Yorta Yorta man, added that redress schemes are also a government’s measure of “accepting responsibility for what we as a state have done to our people”.
Hamm urged the Queensland Government to not ignore its Stolen Generations community and said that “we should not allow the spotlight to diminish on them in addressing redress in Queensland…they should not be able to fob it off”.
The WA announcement came the day after National Sorry Day on Monday, which marked 28 years since the Bringing Them Home Report – the final report from the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children.
Many statements and acknowledgements shared on National Sorry Day (see below) highlight the limited action on the recommendations of the report.
An analysis by The Healing Foundation published earlier this year showed that only six percent of the 83 recommendations had been implemented since 1997.
Below, statements from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations and leaders call for urgent action and systematic reform to address the harmful structures still in place today.
“Sorry matters. But an apology without action are just empty words,” the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation said.
Statements from other stakeholders, including human rights organisations, federal politicians and the wider health sector, call for the implementation of recommendations in the Bringing them Home report.
Sorry means action
#AusPol acknowledgements
Deep reflection
Acknowledging strength and resilience
Statement from The Uluru Statement from the Heart on LinkedIn
While today is the anniversary of the Uluru Statement, it’s also National Sorry Day, which is another incredibly important day to mark.
National Sorry Day is a day to acknowledge the strength and resilience of the Stolen Generations as we take time to remember the forced removal of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and reflect on the ongoing journey of healing in this Country.
This day also marks the Bringing Them Home final report being tabled in Parliament on 26 May 1997 – 28 years ago. Bringing Them Home scrutinised the impact of the protection acts; the lawful racial segregation of Aboriginal people to “protect” during and following the killings and reprisals as dispossession of lands occurred.
These acts lawfully authorised the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. These children were forcibly taken from their families and became known as the Stolen Generations.
We know that still to this day only six percent of the Report’s recommendations for Stolen Generations survivors have been implemented.
We invite you to visit the Uluru Dialogue/Indigenous Law Centre/Justice and Equity Centre “Towards Truth” database, which is the world’s first comprehensive database showing how the treatment of First Nations people is inextricably linked to the constitutional order and rule of law in Australia.
The database captures all such laws and policies. It resolutely puts an end to the routinely cited Australian excuse that “We Weren’t Told”.
Reaffirming support for the Uluru Statement
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Bridging now to next
Reading and resources
Amnesty International Australia has shared some resources on reconciliation and self determination:
Previous Croakey articles on National Sorry Day
On the Unfinished Business of Bringing Them Home, 2024
Without action, Sorry Day falls short of its potential as a catalyst for change, 2022
On Sorry Day, how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are behind bars?, 2021
See Croakey’s archive of articles on cultural determinants of health
