Views from Western Australia

Immediately after John Howard got the boot in November the topic of Aboriginal children separated from their families and communities was back on the mainstream political agenda. Day after day, ‘Stolen Generations’ and an apology was a dominant issue in the national media.

The Rudd Government has now announced there is to be no compensation fund for members of the Stolen Generations. Apparently Rudd’s crew doesn’t see compensation having any link to his commitment to provide a national apology and a comprehensive response to the Bringing Them Home report. Groups such as the National Stolen Generations Alliance have clearly outlined the link and a possible model; this was front page news in The Australian only a week before Christmas.

The Government’s decision to rule out compensation for members of the Stolen Generations flies in the face of the policy platform it took to the recent federal election.  Rudd committed a Labor Government to provide a comprehensive response to the Bringing Them Home report.  This was a major point of difference from Howard by ‘me too’ Rudd.

Brisbane-based activist Sam Watson suggests the new Federal government was following the same policies as its predecessor, stating: "Even though they’ve changed the saddle blankets we’re still dealing with the same horse."

Don’t let anyone say that activists are now trying to hijack the commitment to a commitment to a national apology. Compensation has been on the agenda since the tabling of the “Bringing Them Home” a decade ago; since then only Tasmania has made a commitment to a compensation package.

Recommendations three, four and fourteen through to twenty of the Bringing Them Home report all deal with the question of monetary compensation for members of the Stolen Generations.

So central was the issue of financial compensation to Bringing Them Home, that its authors considered on page 13 that: “Our principal conclusion is that an appropriate and adequate response to the history and effects of forcible removals requires reparations which include, as one form of reparations, monetary compensation for defined victims.” 

It is impossible to provide a comprehensive response to Bringing Them Home without carefully considering the issue of financial compensation.

The question of financial compensation was crucial to Bringing Them Home.  Nine of the 54 recommendations dealt with this issue, it was one of the four terms of reference referred to the Inquiry by former Labor Attorney General, Michael Lavarch, and the report was unambiguous in its view that financial compensation should be a necessary element of the government response.

In August last year a South Australian court decision granted an Aboriginal man over $500,000 in compensation for damage suffered after he was removed from his mother at the age of 13 months. The court found he had suffered long term depression as a result of false imprisonment and negligence. There are many thousands of other Aboriginal people from right around the country who had similar experiences. 

The absence of a compensation fund may force Stolen Generations members to seek restitution through the courts, prolonging the uncertainty and suffering of elderly and vulnerable Aboriginal people.

The question remains as to how governments, State and Federal respond.

A week before Christmas the WA Government announced $114million program to provide payments and counselling for children who were abused while under the protection of the State. Eligibility includes adults who, as children, were abused in State care prior to March 1, 2006, including Child Migrants and Stolen Generation children. They may receive an ex-gratia payment of up to $10,000 if they experienced abuse or neglect, or up to $80,000 in cases where there is evidence that abuse or neglect resulted in physical or psychological harm.  This was not designed specifically in relation to members of the Stolen Generations; however it clearly includes them in the criteria. This is because Stolen Generation members effectively became wards of the State when they were removed because the Chief Protector became their legal guardian.

We all know that not every Aboriginal child was separated and that not every child who was removed was damaged. Thank goodness for that! Nevertheless, that doesn’t change the fact that many thousands of children were separated from their families and communities and the resulting harm has been extensive. The victims are entitled to compensation.

It is also outrageous for the Government to use its commitment to the Close the Gap deadlines as an excuse not to compensate members of the Stolen Generations. Close the Gap is all about creating a better future for Indigenous people.  Bringing them home is about making right the injustices of the past.  Aboriginal people shouldn’t have to trade one of these things off against the other.  Both should be essential elements of Indigenous policy.

We need compassionate leadership from our elected Governments, both State and Federal. The Government’s recent knee jerk comments in relation to this issue are far from the comprehensive response it promised in Opposition.

The Rudd Government took a very sound Indigenous Affairs platform and set of policies to the last election that it now has a mandate to implement.  It should hold its nerve and not abandon them under pressure now that it is in government.

Great hope was placed in Rudd; however “me tooism” may prevail and Sam Watson may be right!