Gerry Georgatos
The Stolen Wages campaigns are struggling in the finding of justice for families of those long gone and for those with little time left on this earth.
From WA, Yamatji Phil Moncrief said, "(These are) simple cut and dried cases. A social justice run up the mountain of corruption is what it is - it does not get much easier than to get the justice done here." However, the Stolen wages remain stolen for far too many people, their families and/or their descendants.
From 1890 to 1985, state and federal governments did not pay the wages and entitlements of Aboriginal peoples who were under their control - and these were wages much less than a non-Aboriginal person would earn for equivalent work. During this period, most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were controlled by various 'Protection Acts'.
Apart from some minor payments - 'pocket money' - the wages were sent to the relevant department, such as the department of Native Affairs, who managed the money 'for the benefit of the wage earners'.
Historians say that Queensland owes half a billion dollars in stolen wages, NSW 70 million dollars - every state and territory has monies owed and the repayment schemes are a fraction of these and/or not happening. Queensland's repayment scheme would equate to compensation payments equal to 3 cents for each working hour for Aboriginal folk who had wages withheld.
In 2008 the West Australian state government launched a taskforce to investigate Stolen Wages.
Mr Moncrief's family continues to endure the relentless wait for a sliver of justice however the government is failing to heed the call for some long overdue action, he said.
WA Aboriginal Legal Services CEO Dennis Eggington said that thousands of Aboriginal people helped create the wealth of WA but had their wages stolen. "It is disgraceful that the Barnett government has still not responded to recommendations from the 'Stolen Wages Taskforce Report', and is yet another example of a government which is motivated more by profits than by people," said Mr Eggington.
"Much of the wealth of this state has been made off the backs of hard working Aboriginal men and women. For the state government to continue to deny our people what is legitimately owed is cruel and heartless," he said.
"If only our cries for justice could be heard above the din of the parliamentary dining room. Aboriginal people deserve more than the crumbs off the table of the privileged. After all, it was from our land, our sweat and our oppression that this bread was baked."
Mr Eggington said that if the government fails to address the historical theft of wages the governments since should be judged as accessories after the fact. "After all, in the eyes of the law, are we not all equal?"
Mr Moncrief said that Aboriginal persons well placed in positions of power are not doing enough for those long gone and for their descendants. He said, "Can you imagine the outcry if Julia Gillard said, 'okay, next Thursday, everybody must go to work, but Treasury will be keeping your wages for that one day.' You would not hear the end of it - that is one day, however our people had this happen to them for twenty years and more."
The National Indigenous Times has emailed questions to the Barnett government, to the federal government and to the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples on their position and the next steps. The Australian Greens Senator, Rachel Siewert, has confirmed to Mr Moncrief she will explore his family's predicament with the WA state government.
"It has been a fruitless task trying to get some support. One can only bare so much. This is not an issue that can be addressed by an Apology and requires payment - in cold hard cash, the cash that was stolen by WA governments off decent Aboriginal workers and which has directly caused the chasm of economic imbalance between black and white people in this state," said Mr Moncrief.
"The Barnett government is holding on to the cash and the detailed report... they are hoping the issue will go away and possibly for all the old workers to finally die off. You cannot pay wages to dead people," he said.
"Our people need the help of those who can help, and they need it soon. They are dying as we speak."