Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table the explanatory memorandum and to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

It is now more than a decade since the “Bringing Them Home” report was first tabled. This report set out the gross human rights violations that so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people endured because of official government policies and laws which enabled and often encouraged Indigenous children to be removed from their parents and separated from their community and culture solely on the basis of the colour of their skin.

There is still a lack of appreciation in various parts of Australian society about just how profound and far-reaching the trauma caused by these practices has been, and how strongly it continues to affect many Indigenous people and communities today.

As a result of this inquiry, some important and effective actions have been taken to facilitate family reunion and to improve counselling and family support services for victims. However, many recommendations from the report were rejected or remain inadequately implemented by governments at both state and federal level.

One important recommendation among the many which have not been implemented was for a formal national apology to the Stolen Generations to be made.  The previous Liberal Party government doggedly and damagingly refused to take this action, despite it being undertaken promptly by all State Parliaments around the country.

I am pleased that the new Labor government have taken a first step towards addressing the substantial unfinished business surrounding the stolen generations issue and initiated a formal national apology, which was unanimously supported by Parliament yesterday and celebrated in Parliament House and by millions of people all across Australia.

It is however disappointing that the government have completely rejected any proposal of providing monetary compensation for those forcibly and unjustifiably separated from their families.  I believe that while first steps are important, it is imperative that our governments show leadership and take responsibility for those in our community who have been comprehensively disadvantaged simply because of the colour of their skin.  Our governments must accept that it has been part of a system which perpetuated and perpetrated active discrimination which has affected generations and generations of Aboriginal people and their communities who are in need of healing.

I am pleased to re-introduce this bill to the present parliament, which seeks to put a key component of the uncompleted recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report back on the agenda and to provide an example of a way to redress some of the wrongs of the past.

I initially tabled an exposure draft on this bill in the Senate in April 2007, which was largely modelled on the Act adopted by the Tasmanian Parliament to provide compensation to stolen generations victims, which on the 22^nd of January 2008 saw $5 million shared amongst 106 applicants.

I sought comments and feedback from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and organisations and other people from across the country.  The bill that I table today reflects the valuable contributions and comments that I received. I am grateful for their time and the recommendations that many people put forward to improve the workability of this bill.  It is clear that what may be suitable in Tasmania will not always translate well into the situations from other parts of the country, so I have made amendments to that initial exposure draft.

The majority of the changes are reflected in the area of eligibility for compensation which has been broadened out to ensure that a more meaningful degree of justice is delivered.  The eligibility criteria have been extended to take into consideration:

• Those who were subject to previous government policies which removed Indigenous children from their families.  This ensures that eligibility can be extended to provide for children of those removed under previous government policies of removal to claim compensation payments to which their parent(s) would have had an entitlement;
• Those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children of mixed race descent:
• who were subject to legislation for removal from their families regardless of the process of conferring wardship or any other official status bringing about their removal from their families;
• to apply for a compensation payment whether cared for by an Aboriginal family during that period or not;
• Children of deceased persons who were subject to previous government policies or removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families;
• The ability of the Stolen Generations Assessor to accept oral evidence in relation to the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children; and
• The surviving children of those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people removed from their families under previous government policies.

While I acknowledge that money can never fully compensate for such a wrong, it is nevertheless a mechanism for some reparation and recognition of the harm done to the individual person.

Feedback I received also drew attention to other aspects of the Brining Them Home report, and included proposals for the establishment of healing centres and services of assistance for people in receipt of compensation as a result of removal from their families.  In addition to this, the establishment of a Funeral Trust Fund to provide funeral services for the deceased and to assist families with this expense are reflected in this bill.

It is important that we as a nation recognise the significant loss in relation to cultural knowledge, relationship to land, inability to claim land, loss of enjoyment of family life, and impairment to access of economic opportunities that our First People have been subjected to.  This loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children fundamentally harmed not only their life chances, but also life chances of their children and grandchildren.

It is important that we allow for a new generation to be part of the healing process in order to move into the future.  Governments must show leadership on this issue and the Democrats recommend that the federal government also support the following initiatives as a positive step towards this process:

• Making funding available for initiatives such as convening a conference to provide the opportunity to those removed from their families to determine future policy in relation to the support required to address the effects of separation from their families for themselves and their children;
• The implementation and promotion of historical information about the Stolen Generations and the effects of previous government policies which removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families in schools and public institutions to the benefit of a national identity in the spirit of true reconciliation;
• Implement a bill of rights established which includes a guarantee of protection and safe custody for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.  This would provide for the cultural and spiritual obligations to be enshrined within the legal framework of national and state legislation to ensure that wrongful removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families does not occur again.

This Bill is intended to assist in rebuilding momentum towards addressing major areas of unfinished business, including but not limited to the many unimplemented recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report.  It should be emphasised that there has been a general failure of governments at state level as well as federal to address these issue. The time for action on these areas is long overdue, and must occur before we can genuinely move forward and reach our full potential as a nation.

Whilst I have taken heed of public feedback to amend the initial exposure draft of the legislation, I am open to further suggestions about how to further improve this bill by way of more amendments.

I commend this bill to the Senate and urge the new federal government to embrace the historic opportunity and to take that extra step towards righting the wrongs of the past in the true sprit of reconciliation.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.