Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021, and the related bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021. I start by welcoming the introduction of a Stolen Generations Redress Scheme for the areas of the Commonwealth where children were removed from their families. These bills are long overdue and Labor hopes to see their speedy and effective implementation. I'm grateful that the government has adopted what has been a very important and longstanding Labor commitment to redress for the members of the stolen generation taken from families in Commonwealth jurisdictions. Labor took a stolen generations reparations commitment to the last election on very similar terms to the bill before the Senate today.

For more than 60 years after 1910, Australian governments took children from their homes in the wrong attempt to assimilate them into white society. It was the Bringing them home report, published more than 24 years ago, which elevated the experiences of the individuals affected by this policy, documenting the harrowing testimonies and submissions about the removal and institutionalisation of First Nations children. These testimonies revealed the destructive impact of the child removal policy, which did not only go on for decades but also affected families across multiple generations. In one testimony, Evie, a stolen generation member from the Northern Territory, told the royal commission how the removal of children from her family had started with her grandmother, how it had continued across four generations, causing permanent scarring to so many lives, and how it had ingrained a loss of trust in the public institutions whose first duty is to protect. It's a harrowing retelling, and I hope I can give it the voice her story deserves.

Evie's grandmother was taken from Tennant Creek to The Bungalow at Alice Springs, a state home for First Nations children taken from their families, where she had two children—Evie's mum and Evie's uncle—to the Aboriginal Protection Officer. Evie's grandmother said she had no say in that and she was only 14 years old. Evie says:

When she was 15 and a half they took her to Hermannsburg and married her up to an Aranda man. That's a no-no.

… when Mum was 3, they ended up taking Mum from Hermannsburg, putting her in The Bungalow until she was 11. And then they sent her to Mulgoa mission in New South Wales. From there they sent her to Carlingford Girls' Home to be a maid.

Evie's mum tried to get back to the Northern Territory. She had a little baby and she wanted to get home, but she had no money because she wasn't being paid. Evie told the royal commission that her mum just kept asking the authorities for her wages. When initially refused, in the end the authorities told Evie's mother she would get her wages but needed to leave her baby behind. So she left her baby—Evie's brother—and went back to the Northern Territory, where she had Evie and four other children. Each child was taken away almost as they were born and sent south for adoption.

Evie tells us:

One of them came back in 1992. He just has that many problems. The others – we don't know where they are. So it's like we've still got a broken family.

I was taken away in 1950 when I was 6 hours old from hospital and put into Retta Dixon until I was 2 months old and then sent to Garden Point. I lived in Garden Point until 1964.

Of her time at Garden Point, Evie says:

… I always say that some of it was the happiest time of my life; others it was the saddest time of my life. The happiest time was, 'Yippee! all these other kids there'. You know, you got to play with them every day. The saddest times were the abuse. Not only the physical abuse, the sexual abuse by the priests over there. And they were the saddest because if you were to tell anyone, well, the priests threatened that they would actually come and get you.

… And just every day you used to get hidings with the stock-whip. Doesn't matter what you did wrong, you'd get a hiding with the stock-whip.

…   …   …

In 1977 I had three children. … All those kids were taken off me. The reason behind that was, well, I'd asked my girl-friend and so-called sister-in-law if she could look after my kids … while I was in hospital for three months …

I couldn't get my kids back when I came out of hospital. And I fought the welfare system for ten years and still couldn't get 'em. I gave up after ten years. …

And with my daughter, well she came back in '88 but things just aren't working out there. She blames me for everything that went wrong. She's got this hate about her – doesn't want to know. The two boys know where I am but turned around and said to us, 'You're not our mother – we know who our real mother is'.

So every day of your bloody life you just get hurt all the time …

So even now these past policies continue to have a devastating effect on the lives of Stolen Generations members and their families.

It was the final Bringing them home report that included a recommendation on the need for reparation, because it is the act of reparation that is the measure of genuine reconciliation and healing. The report also recommended a national apology from the Australian government. In February 2008, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered on that recommendation and apologised—13½ years ago. In his apology, the former Prime Minister properly recognised the systemic abuses inflicted upon members of the Stolen Generations. The apology was a very important first step in formally recognising the extent of the pain and suffering inflicted upon the Stolen Generations. It served as a powerful acknowledgement of the past and opened the door for the reparations we see in this bill today. As a parliament and as a country we had failed, and we had failed one of the most important duties that we can have as a country: to do no harm to our children. Kevin Rudd's National Apology to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the country and the parliament was a powerful recognition of that fact.

There are current members of this Senate who were present for that apology, and I hope I can speak for everyone here today when I say that we all remain truly sorry.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a couple of statements on this important bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021 and the related bill. One of the things that we have been doing in this parliament is to have served with some important historical figures, like the minister for Indigenous affairs, Ken Wyatt. I know that he's a good friend to many in this chamber, across the aisle. From our side, I want to acknowledge his significant contribution to Australia and in bringing together this legislation.

Of course, his mother, Mona, was a member of the Stolen Generations. She spent a large part of her life at the Roelands mission. Mr Wyatt himself has talked about the Wiradjuri elder, Isabel Reid, who was born in Wagga Wagga in 1932. The minister said that one afternoon she was walking home from school with her brother and sister when she was taken from her family by the government. Her parents did not know what happened to their children. That is the most harrowing set of words that I can imagine reading or hearing, and it's about our government. It's about historical judgements made by the governments of Australia and of the states of Australia, and it is a great shame. And it's still having a big impact.

It's obvious, when we travel around a state like New South Wales, which has the largest Indigenous population of any of the states, that the intergenerational trauma and impacts of these disgusting policies are real. So the least we can do is to make this small but important gesture at this stage, when many of these people are elderly. But it's an important gesture. No-one is ever going to say that any amount of money is worth a life but, in this case, it's very important that we put in place this financial compensation scheme to acknowledge for all time the wrongness of the policies that were put in place many decades ago but which are still reverberating today.

I want to acknowledge all the work that has been done on this and all the bipartisan support that will come for this important bill. And I acknowledge, again—although I wasn't here for it some 12 years ago—that the apology was a very important moment. But there is still much work to do and I am personally committed to doing whatever I can do while I'm in this place.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to and acknowledge the work of Harold Furber, who passed away peacefully last month, surrounded by family. Mr Furber was born in Alice Springs in 1952 and, in 1957, was taken from his mother to the Croker Island Methodist Mission. He was taken, along with his younger sister, when he was only four years old, and they were eventually separated too. Mr Furber was instrumental in bringing together many voices of the stolen generations. His work with the Central Australian Stolen Generation and Families Aboriginal Corporation created a stronger, united voice for members of the stolen generation right across the Northern Territory. He was a talented footy player. He rubbed shoulders with the great players of his day at the North Adelaide Football Club in the early seventies. Determined to find his sister, he signed up with a Queensland footy team, which gave him the opportunity to search for her. He eventually succeeded and was able to attend her wedding. Mr Furber worked tirelessly to advocate for survivors and had called for a reparations package for years. One year after former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his historic apology speech, in 2008, Mr Furber felt the apology was empty, with nothing practical being done. He said there was a lot of euphoria and excitement after the speech, but he felt as though the Commonwealth had quickly turned its back on survivors in the Northern Territory.

Here, today, we do see those concerns addressed in the best possible way for the moment. Clearly, as the previous speakers have said, no amount of money can really compensate for the incredible loss of so many members of the stolen generations not just in the Northern Territory but right across Australia. Until now, Territory survivors haven't been given the same respect and recognition as survivors living in some states. In April this year, around 800 stolen generations survivors in the Northern Territory launched a class action against the Commonwealth government. This class action came after many years of federal government inaction on the issue. The lead litigant, Eileen Cummings, was only four when she was taken from her family in the 1940s. Backed by lived experience, survivors like Ms Cummings have shown great strength and bravery in challenging the government and all political members, whether in government or not, for recognition. Without their fierce advocacy, I'm sure we wouldn't have this scheme here today.

Aunty Maisie Austin, the CEO of the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation, has also done incredible advocacy work and will certainly keep a close eye on the rollout of this scheme. Ms Austin gave evidence to the inquiry into these bills and reminded us that many of these survivors are reaching the end of their life or have already passed away, before they could see this through. And, yes, there have been so many stolen generations members who have passed away. From my home community, there's Aunty Hilda Muir, who I pay great tribute to, and people like Barb Cummings, who was tremendous in forwarding the march towards equality for stolen generations. There are so many more, who I am unable to announce today, but I know those members and families listening will know who I mean. There is simply no more time to waste.

The government has not publicly stated that participation in this scheme will be conditional on forgoing the right to make a civil claim, but I imagine this can be expected to be the case. In the Northern Territory, the exact number of children who were taken away may never be known, but what we do know is that there are hundreds of families that have been affected. I'm sure there isn't a community in the Territory that hasn't been affected in one way or another by the stolen generations.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Bringing them home report put a face and voice to much of the suffering endured over decades. The commission interviewed around 500 people who were affected and spoke to institutions right across the country. These are not just statistics; they are very real stories, which are hard to hear and, I imagine, were incredibly hard to tell in the first place. I will read part of the testimony of one man who was left in the infamous Bungalow in Alice Springs, He said:

There was no food, nothing. We was all huddled up in a room … like a little puppy-dog …on the floor … Sometimes at night time we'd cry with hunger, no food … We had to scrounge in the town dump, eating old bread, smashing tomato sauce bottles, licking them. Half of the time the food we got was from the rubbish dump.

There are so many other stories of hurt and suffering at the Bungalow, and many children were told they were unwanted or that their parents were dead. Another survivor recalled the trauma of lies and forced separation. She said:

I remember this woman saying to me, 'Your mother's dead, you've got no mother now. That's why you're here with us'. Then about two years after that my mother and my mother's sister all came to The Bungalow but they weren't allowed to visit us because they were black. They had to sneak around onto the hills. Each mother was picking out which they think was their children. And this other girl said, 'Your mother up there'. And because they told me that she was dead, I said, 'No, that's not my mother. I haven't got a black mother'.

I thank the many survivors out there, and those who are no longer here, for sharing their stories. I also thank those who endured their suffering silently, without being able or willing to tell their story, for whatever reason.

One of the most important parts of this scheme finally being established is that it gives survivors acknowledgement—acknowledgement of what was done to them, acknowledgement that it was wrong and racist and acknowledgement of each person's story. Under this scheme, a one-off $75,000 payment in recognition of the harm caused by forced removal will go some way to providing recognition to survivors who are still with us today. I also welcome the provision of a one-off $7,000 healing assistance payment and an opportunity to confidentially share stories with senior officials.

As a parliament and a country, we failed in one of the most important and basic duties we have, and that is to not harm children. In fact, the complete opposite was done. The removal of children from their families—an almost centuries-long practice by governments across Australia—created a trauma that has transcended generations and will continue to do so for years to come. In some situations, the removal of children was a slow process that happened over the course of some weeks. In other cases, children were just taken immediately, without warning. Many mothers didn't know it would be the last time they would hold their child, many families didn't know it was the last time they would spend together and many children never even knew their families to begin with.

The separation of families and the destruction of communities on a systemic scale cannot simply be forgotten, and the fear and pain remain with not only the members of the stolen generations but their children and grandchildren too. We continue to see the long shadow the trauma has cast on relationships, on health and mental health, on people's economic prospects and on culture, language and identity. The stolen generations have haunted not only the victims but also our national history and conscience. I'd like to think the stolen generations are a faraway memory—something that did happen a long time ago. Instead, it happened so recently—right up to where we are now. And, if we're not careful, we'll continue to do the same thing by removing First Nations children from their families.

The prohibition and loss of language has been connected with the loss of identity for those forcibly removed and their descendants. Many children were beaten for speaking their own language, and this loss of culture has isolated children from the supporting structures and identity of their culture.

In the Northern Territory today, most children in out-of-home care are Indigenous. Although the scheme will be a relief for some surviving members, it is concerning and sad that many family members of those who have passed away will be left out. So, for many families, this is too little and too late. The Healing Foundation has pointed out that many survivors are in poor health and virtually all will be eligible for aged care next year. Each year, more stolen generations elders are lost, and the remaining survivors suffer significant distress. So I urge the parliament: let there be no unnecessary delay in rolling out this scheme.

My thoughts are with the survivors in the territories who waited for too long and did not live to see this scheme come to fruition. Throughout this pandemic we have seen far too many examples of poor messaging to Indigenous communities and we do not want to make things any harder now in this instance with this particular area of the stolen generations.

Let me also stress the importance of involving community organisations and elders in the decision-making process all the way through. The information needs to be available in languages early on and throughout the rollout of the scheme. It needs to be accessible to remote communities—although in-language communication should have been a no-brainer in the rollout of the vaccine, and the federal government did take way too long to get that communication out there. I certainly don't want to see this repeated with regard to the stolen generations. It means working closely with stolen generations' survivor groups at every stage—working with the Healing Foundation, the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation and other groups in the NT, the ACT and Jervis Bay. The scheme needs to heal, not retraumatize.

In April this year Labor reaffirmed our commitment to a stolen generations redress scheme. Labor took a policy to the 2016 election, which was almost identical to the government's announcement, of $75,000 in redress and $7,000 to help with funeral costs.

The redress scheme we have is thanks to the dedication and tenacity of advocates, community groups and survivors themselves. I thank each and every one of them. Many survivors in the Territory are now in their 70s and 80s and many of them never thought this day would come. I hope these payments will go some way in helping them enjoy their final days or help give their children and grandchildren a better future. Hopefully this scheme and the recognition of wrong it will afford will go some way to the healing of those Australians who feel so deeply betrayed.

Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their sincere and heartfelt contributions and commend these bills—which facilitate the operation of certain aspects of this redress scheme—to the Senate. The objective of these bills is to ensure that receipt of a redress payment does not, first, affect a participants' access to or eligibility for any pensions, payments, benefits or services—however they might be described—provided by the Commonwealth; second, require the repayment of an amount to the Commonwealth and to ensure that the redress payment is absolutely inalienable. They will also ensure eligible participants of this scheme receive the full benefit of their redress payment. Payments under the scheme are excluded from income testing for other Commonwealth payments or benefits and will facilitate the crosschecking of identity information. I commend that too to the Senate.

As a group, this Senate should be honoured to be involved in this important and historic moment. We should also acknowledge the work that members of the stolen generations and their families have done in the past and that they continue to do to bring this scheme into effect.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My understanding is that there was an amendment circulated but that's not proceeding.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I confirm that we will not be proceeding with the amendments that were circulated by the Australian Greens.