Latest news with #SorryDay
Epoch Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
WA to Pay $85,000 to Indigenous Survivors of the Stolen Generations
Western Australia (WA) has unveiled a long-awaited scheme to financially compensate members of the Stolen Generations, offering up to $85,000 per person. The scheme will deliver individual taxpayer-funded payments to Aboriginals removed from their families by the state prior to July 1, 1972. State Premier Roger Cook said the gesture was a necessary step. 'No amount of money could ever make up for the experience of Stolen Generations members and their families, and the ongoing effects on people's lives,' he said. Applications for the scheme will open later in 2025, with initial payments expected to be processed by year's end. The announcement aligns WA with almost all other states and territories, with Queensland now the only jurisdiction without such a program. Announcement Follows 'Sorry Day' Observance The decision comes a day after National Sorry Day, which commemorates the release of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report. That report chronicled the stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children forcibly taken from their communities over several decades. Related Stories 5/11/2025 4/24/2025 WA has historically seen the highest number of children removed under these policies. Compensation for survivors was among more than 50 key recommendations made in the report. Cook called the announcement 'a major step in the pursuit of reconciliation and healing.' In February, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed federal support would continue. 'The process of healing that began with the Apology goes on, a process we are assisting by extending the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme to June 30, 2028,' Albanese said during his address marking the 17th anniversary of the national apology. Support from Aboriginal Group The Healing Foundation, a national organisation supporting Stolen Generations survivors, praised the WA government's move. CEO Shannan Dodson said the decision followed years of advocacy. 'I pay tribute and honour all the Stolen Generations organisations that have advocated and stood alongside survivors throughout this long journey,' she said. She noted that while financial compensation cannot erase the trauma, it does offer acknowledgment and some form of restitution. Concerns Scheme Lacks Nuance Chair of the Close the Gap Research group, Gary Johns, said the premier was correct in saying the state could not change history. 'The scheme does not distinguish Indigenous children taken from families, to those given up, or those taken responsibly for their protection, and those who allegedly were stolen,' he told The Epoch Times. 'By lumping every applicant together the moral underpinning of the scheme has been degraded,' he added, saying it erred more towards virtue signalling. 'Taxpayers should condemn the scheme.'
West Australian
25-05-2025
- General
- West Australian
Sorry Day healing for stolen generations survivors
Aunty Lorraine Peeters was taken from her family at the age of four. The Gamilaroi and Wailwan woman and her five sisters were forcibly removed from their home at Brewarrina, in outback NSW, and placed at Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. Her two brothers were taken to Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home. The institutions were brutal and the children taken there - under accepted government policies - often experienced mistreatment and abuse. These children, removed during a period spanning from the 1910s until the 1970s, became known as the stolen generations. "For the next 10 years of my life I was taught another's culture, forced to forget my own, given a new identity," Aunty Lorraine told AAP. "The things they couldn't change were the colour of my skin, my identity and my spirit." For many stolen generations survivors, National Sorry Day, held each year on May 26, is an acknowledgement of their experiences and the continuing impact of forced removal from community and family. "It's an important day for us. It's a healing day for us," Aunty Lorraine said. "We all come together, share childhood memories, they're all our sisters, they're family." The date also marks the anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report to parliament in 1997. The landmark report shared the history of stolen generations in Australia and made more than 50 recommendations to address the impacts on survivors. However, only a few of the recommendations had been fully implemented, according to a recent Healing Foundation report, despite the report being tabled nearly three decades ago. Foundation chief executive Shannan Dodson said supporting survivors through equitable redress, access to records, trauma-informed aged care and support for the organisations that represented them should be prioritised by all governments. "It's really important that we, as a matter of urgency, put that elevation of their needs at the top, as most survivors are now eligible for aged care," she said. "We've already lost too many survivors without them seeing some of these things and the justice they deserve." The 2025 Sorry Day theme of "we cannot wait another generation" spoke to that impetus, Ms Dodson said. The day will be marked with events across every state and territory. On Sunday, Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation held a gathering in Sydney for survivors, their families and supporters. Aunty Lorraine's granddaughter Meagan Gerrard, who works as the corporation's project and communications manager, said the event grew each year. Ms Gerrard, a Wailwan and Gamilaroi woman, said the impact of the policies that led to the stolen generations were still being felt today. "Without public commemorative events such as this, there's less opportunity to educate and share the story," she said. "It's a really vital piece of healing and continued collective healing."
Perth Now
25-05-2025
- General
- Perth Now
Sorry Day healing for stolen generations survivors
Aunty Lorraine Peeters was taken from her family at the age of four. The Gamilaroi and Wailwan woman and her five sisters were forcibly removed from their home at Brewarrina, in outback NSW, and placed at Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. Her two brothers were taken to Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home. The institutions were brutal and the children taken there - under accepted government policies - often experienced mistreatment and abuse. These children, removed during a period spanning from the 1910s until the 1970s, became known as the stolen generations. "For the next 10 years of my life I was taught another's culture, forced to forget my own, given a new identity," Aunty Lorraine told AAP. "The things they couldn't change were the colour of my skin, my identity and my spirit." For many stolen generations survivors, National Sorry Day, held each year on May 26, is an acknowledgement of their experiences and the continuing impact of forced removal from community and family. "It's an important day for us. It's a healing day for us," Aunty Lorraine said. "We all come together, share childhood memories, they're all our sisters, they're family." The date also marks the anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report to parliament in 1997. The landmark report shared the history of stolen generations in Australia and made more than 50 recommendations to address the impacts on survivors. However, only a few of the recommendations had been fully implemented, according to a recent Healing Foundation report, despite the report being tabled nearly three decades ago. Foundation chief executive Shannan Dodson said supporting survivors through equitable redress, access to records, trauma-informed aged care and support for the organisations that represented them should be prioritised by all governments. "It's really important that we, as a matter of urgency, put that elevation of their needs at the top, as most survivors are now eligible for aged care," she said. "We've already lost too many survivors without them seeing some of these things and the justice they deserve." The 2025 Sorry Day theme of "we cannot wait another generation" spoke to that impetus, Ms Dodson said. The day will be marked with events across every state and territory. On Sunday, Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation held a gathering in Sydney for survivors, their families and supporters. Aunty Lorraine's granddaughter Meagan Gerrard, who works as the corporation's project and communications manager, said the event grew each year. Ms Gerrard, a Wailwan and Gamilaroi woman, said the impact of the policies that led to the stolen generations were still being felt today. "Without public commemorative events such as this, there's less opportunity to educate and share the story," she said. "It's a really vital piece of healing and continued collective healing."
