Stolen Generations survivors call for action in WA, Queensland

Twenty five years after the landmark Bringing Them Home Report, Stolen Generations survivors in two Australian states are still waiting for redress.

By

Keira Jenkins

Source:

The Point

24 May 2022 – 3:37 PM  UPDATED 24 May 2022 – 3:37 PM

Stolen Generations survivors are sounding the alarm, urging Queensland and Western Australia to commit to reparations before it is too late.

Thursday will mark 25 years since the Bringing Them Home Report was first tabled in Federal Parliament, giving voice to the experiences of Stolen Generations survivors.

The report made 54 recommendations, including reparations for survivors.

While most states and territories have introduced systems to compensate survivors, state governments in Western Australia and Queensland are yet to act.

Wilman and Noongar man Tony Hansen was removed from his family when he was just three years old, and placed at Marribank Baptist Mission, almost 300 kilometres south of Perth.

He said it is a trauma that is embedded in survivors’ lives forever.

“Our families are living and walking with this trauma that they’re faced with all their life,”  Mr Hansen, the co-chair of Bringing Them Home WA, told NITV’s The Point.

“From growing up and being forcibly removed from their families, and placed in institutions and not having any contact, losing their culture, their identity, and being placed into these institutions, to live and grow up as white people with the white policies and practices of the days.”

‘Cannot continue to wait’

Mr Hansen said these survivors deserved redress before it is too late.

“Sadly, in this state our people are dying and it saddens my heart that the government is not doing anything about it, they’re not coming to the table,” he said.

“It’s sad to know that survivors are taking whatever reparation they can get because they know that their time on this earth is finished and they have a very short space, before they pass away.

“We cannot continue to wait while our people are dying.”

Professor Steve Larkin says survivors have waited long enough for redress.Source: NITV The Point

The Healing Foundation, a national body supporting Stolen Generations survivors, called on governments to act. 

“The alarm clock on the bedside table is going off,” the foundation’s chairman, Professor Steve Larkin said.

“These governments have slept in.

“I think these people have been more than patient, in fact it’s overdue and they’re entitled and they’re deserving.

“I am encouraging both the [Western Australian and Queensland] governments to act now.”

On Thursday, Mr Hansen will present a petition to his state government in Western Australia, calling for action.

For him, redress is an important step for survivors. 

“I think it’s an acknowledgement to say we as government have done the wrong things in the past and we want to right the wrongs moving forward, and we want to build a relationship with the most disadvantaged people in our communities and that is the Stolen Generations people.”

*For more on this story, tune into NITV’s current affairs program The Point at 7.30pm Tuesday, or later on SBS or SBS On Demand.

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