Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I support the motion. We should take note of the further information that has been tabled as to the inquiry on Indigenous stolen wages. I particularly record my pleasure at the announcement by the Western Australian government that they are going to establish a task force to look into the stolen wages. I note that they responded fairly quickly to the Senate committee report. When I say ‘fairly quickly’, I note the issue has been outstanding in Western Australia for a number of years. While the Western Australian government’s announcement followed relatively quickly the publication of the recommendations of the Senate committee, it has taken the Western Australian government quite a significant period of time to acknowledge that this was an issue. However, having said that, I am extremely pleased, and I hope that the task force will move very rapidly and that the state government will come up very quickly with a system of reparation, because the people affected by this stolen wages issue are starting to pass on. During the inquiry one person who had their wages stolen passed on. The many people affected who are now elderly deserve to see the fruits of their labour that were stolen from them.

The further information that is coming to light—and I suspect there is going to be much more—shows that not only was the government responsible for taking wages; some of the missions were, as were some of the pastoral stations. Some of the pastoral stations’ infrastructure was actually bought with Aboriginal wages. Aboriginal people did not own this infrastructure; those pastoral stations did. Instead of Aborigines being able to look after their welfare and their families’ welfare, they were in fact contributing to the development of the pastoral industry, from which they saw no gain.

Some of the other evidence coming to light goes to what the Commonwealth did and did not know. When it comes to pensions and child endowment, there is now clear evidence coming to light that the Commonwealth knew that the states and the pastoral properties were in fact keeping the bulk of these payments and giving ‘pocket money’ to Aboriginal people. Again, that is stolen money. That money belongs to those Aboriginal people. Not only do the Commonwealth have the responsibility to show some leadership in terms of encouraging those states that have not yet responded to take action, they have a responsibility to look into their own records to see how much they knew about child endowment and other pension payments and to see how much they need to encourage the states to provide as reparation to Aboriginal people whose entitlements were stolen. There is clear evidence that Commonwealth agencies knew at the time. They carried out audits of money being taken. They provided advice to state governments and to other employers about how much money to keep back. It is quite obvious that the Commonwealth knew, so they cannot wash their hands of this. They cannot pretend that it is purely a state issue. They need to show leadership. They need to go back to their files; to look at that evidence; to look at the evidence of the reports and the audits, which were carried out, as I understand it, on various occasions; and they need to provide that information to Aboriginal people. They also need to provide that information to the states. They need to look at the other recommendations that were made in that report that relate to them.

Once again, I am pleased that the Western Australian government has decided to establish this task force. I am concerned about the length of time that it will take. I think they need to be operating at the same time to ensure that they start thinking about what scheme is appropriate to provide reparation to those Aboriginal people, who are now getting quite elderly. They need to be looked after now and have reparation provided now rather than in some indeterminate period of time in the future. I urge the federal government to look at the recommendations of this report as a matter of urgency and take action to implement the recommendations. This is another issue where they cannot afford to sit on their hands and hope that the people who are affected will go away. They will be derelict in their responsibilities and in their duty to the Aboriginal people of Australia if they do not show this leadership now. I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later stage.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.