Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Are you waiting for us to die?' These words reflect the testimony of survivors of the stolen generation who continue to wait for the implementation of the 1997 national inquiry into the stolen generation, known as the Bringing them home report, which my mum was a co-commissioner of. It delivered 54 recommendations to address the impacts of the removal policies and to provide a pathway forward for healing.

A report by the Healing Foundation today demonstrates that only six per cent of these recommendations have been implemented. The stolen generations continue. Last year, almost one in 15 First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families, and the numbers continue to rise. Victoria has the worst rate, with nearly one in eight of our children forcibly stolen. In the Northern Territory, we're seeing a calculated reversal of progress, with the government moving to dismantle the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, which ensures our children stay connected to family, kin, culture and country. It's a return to the genocidal policy of assimilation. Each day, my office supports constituents who are desperately fighting to have their children returned or not removed or who are still grappling with the intergenerational trauma caused by being stolen.

Federal governments have pretended that responsibility rests solely with states and territories, but we know that, with leadership, they can develop a national intergenerational healing strategy and a national legislative framework to stop our children being stolen. (Time expired)