WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
WGAR Website: http://wgar.info/
Contents:
Background
Calls for compensation for the Stolen Generations
Compensation and Reparations Petition
Stolen Generation legal action
Stolen Generations Working Partnership announced
BACKGROUND:
NSDC National Sorry Day Committee: http://www.nsdc.org.au/home/
Stolen Generations Alliance: http://www.sgalliance.org.au/
CALLS FOR COMPENSATION FOR THE STOLEN GENERATIONS:
- Radio
666 ABC Canberra: Afternoons with Genevieve Jacobs
Sorry Day
http://blogs.abc.net.au/canberra/2010/05/sorry-day.html
26 May 10: "Wiradjuri woman Helen Moran says the day is incredibly important. "Sorry Day is a day to remember and commemorate the stolen generations. We will walk across bridges all over Australia to acknowledge that. We need more than an apology. We need reparations and compensation.""
- Media Releases
Australian Human Rights Commission:
New partnership with Stolen Generations members welcomed
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/media_releases/2010/50_10.html
26 May 10: "“While I welcome the Stolen Generations’ Working Partnership and its commitment to reviewing the recommendations of the 1997 Bringing them home Report, I urge the Government to introduce, as a matter of urgency, a reparations package that provides monetary compensation, guarantees against repetition and provides restitution and rehabilitation to the Stolen Generations,” he [Commissioner Gooda] said. “The majority of Stolen Generations members are now over 45,” he said. “We have no time to waste and must move quickly to provide the help and support that is needed before Stolen Generations members get too old or die.”"
Greens: Australian Greens call for action to match words on National Sorry Day
http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/australian-greens-call-act...
26 May 10: "The Australian Greens today join with fellow Australians to recognise National Sorry Day, acknowledging the past hurt caused to Aboriginal people and renewing calls for their Stolen Generations Repatriation Bill to receive multilateral support in the Senate. “Today we recognise and remember a tragic part of Australia’s history and hope future Australian Governments will continue to move away from past mistakes,” Australian Greens Indigenous Affairs Spokesperson Rachel Siewert said today. ... "The Greens' Bill to deliver reparations to the Stolen Generations remains available to be acted upon by any Government with the political will to right the wrongs of the past and move forward.""
- News
Australian: Stolen Generations compensation still a sore point
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stolen-generations-compensat...
27 May 10: "Mrs [Kathy] Mills feels, however, that the 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was an empty gesture. "The apology was empty because in the same breath Rudd took all the goodness out of the intention by saying there will be no compensation," Mrs Mills said. ... Stolen Generations Alliance chief executive Rosie Baird says most of the 500 members in the Northern Territory want financial compensation."
ABC: Sorry Day march calls for compensation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/27/2910493.htm
27 May 10: "Indigenous and non-Indigenous people marked National Sorry Day in Canberra yesterday by marching in support of compensation for the Stolen Generations. ... They marched across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge to Parliament House. But the group stopped at the halfway mark and sat down, symbolising their belief that the Federal Government's apology to the Stolen Generations two years ago did not go far enough."
National Indigenous Radio Service:
Stolen Generations Alliance renews call for fair compensation
http://www.nirs.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3690...
26 May 10: "Peak advocacy group for Stolen Generations asks the nation to fully implement recommendations of 'Bringing them home' report ... In a joint statement just released by co-chairs Jim Morrison and Tina Louise the SGA called on the nation to commit to full implementation of the findings of the Royal Commission."
Koori Mail: A step in the right direction, says SGA
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
26 May 10: "THE Stolen Generations Alliance (SGA) has called on Australia to fully implement the recommendations of the 1997 Bringing them Home report in order to bring justice and healing to Stolen Generations survivors 'before it's too late'. The Alliance welcomed a Federal Government commitment to work with advocacy groups on policies, programs and initiatives to meet the needs of Stolen Generations survivors but said it would still pursue fair financial compensation for them."
Koori Mail: Greens call to ‘match words with action’
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
26 May 10: "THE Australian Greens have acknowledged National Sorry Day and urged the Federal Government to match its sentiments around Indigenous disadvantage with action. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said Indigenous people’s basic needs around housing, access to health services and employment opportunities were not being met, and the continuing NT intervention and planned expansion of punitive income management showed the Government lacked vision."
Koori Mail: Full reparation the answer, says Gooda
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
26 May 10: "ABORIGINAL and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has welcomed the new Stolen Generations Working Partnership but says the Federal Government must urgently introduce a reparations package encompassing monetary compensation, guarantees against repetition of past removal practices, and restitution and rehabilitation for the Stolen Generations. Mr Gooda said most survivors were now aged over 45 and couldn’t wait long for help and support."
ABC: Sorry Day a hollow gesture
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/26/2909609.htm
26 May 10: "Zita Wallace from the Central Australian Stolen Generations and Families Aboriginal Corporation says National Sorry Day celebrations feel like a hollow gesture. Ms Wallace told ABC Local Radio that the Prime Minister's apology speech in 2008 and the annual Sorry Day events are not being backed up by progress on compensation for the Northern Territory Stolen Generations."
9 News: Sorry Day brings fresh calls for compo
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1058590/sorry-day-brings-fresh-calls...
26 May 10: "The Rudd government says it wants to work more closely with indigenous people to support members of the stolen generations. But a leading Aboriginal advocate says if Labor is serious about righting past wrongs it needs urgently to pay compensation to people who were forcibly removed from their families."
COMPENSATION AND REPARATIONS PETITION:
NSDC National Sorry Day Committee:
Compensation and Reparations Petition
http://www.nsdc.org.au/home/index.php?option=com_phocaguestbook&view=pho...
"Unfortunately, the Rudd Government's conception of 'Closing the Gap' does not define nor encompass the journey for the members of the Stolen Generations – the ones who the Apology and the Journey of Healing matter most. Their journey is defined in the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report, including the recommendation for reparations which includes ‘monetary compensation’ for damage caused to the lives of individuals and families."
STOLEN GENERATION LEGAL ACTION:
- A previous successful claim
Age: Stolen generation payout
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/stolen-generation-payout/2007/08/...
2 Aug 07: "An aboriginal man who was taken from his mother as a baby has been awarded $525,000 compensation, in Australia's first successful stolen generation court claim. A decade after the Bringing Them Home report elevated the issue of "stolen" Aboriginal children to national prominence, South Australia's Supreme Court has become the first jurisdiction in the country to recognise it as a basis for legal compensation."
- News about a current claim
SMH: WA faces stolen generation legal action
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/wa-faces-stolen-generation...
26 May 10: "An Aboriginal family split up by the West Australian government's past policy of forcibly removing indigenous children has launched legal action in the Supreme Court seeking compensation. A writ was lodged in the court in Perth on Wednesday by Lavan Legal on behalf of nine members of the Collard family."
West Australian: Stolen Generation landmark action launched
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/7298292/stolen-generation-landma...
26 May 10: "Seven siblings who are members of WA's Stolen Generation have launched landmark legal action against the State Government for their forced removal from their parents - who are also plaintiffs in the case. The Aboriginal Legal Service said the writ, lodged in the Supreme Court today by Lavan Legal, could become a test case for thousands of other West Australians who had been forcibly removed."
Koori Mail: Sorry Day launch for landmark writ
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
26 May 10: "A WRIT was issued in the West Australian Supreme Court today seeking damages and compensation on behalf of nine Indigenous people taken from their families as children. Aboriginal Legal Service of WA CEO Dennis Eggington says the case, which Perth firm Lavan Legal has taken on pro bono, could become a test case for thousands of other Western Australians who suffered the same treatment."
STOLEN GENERATIONS WORKING PARTERSHIP ANNOUNCED:
- Media Releases
National Sorry Day Committee Inc.:
Stolen Generations Working Partnership Announced
http://www.nsdc.org.au/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...
26 May 10: "The National Sorry Day Committee welcomes the Australian Government’s invitation to participate in a working partnership to address the needs of the Stolen Generations. ... The NSDC believes the proposed working partnership offers us the opportunity to act together with governments and key stakeholders to address the critical needs of the Stolen Generations now and as they age. It also acknowledges the ongoing effects of the removals on current generations and communities, and the need for action to address those needs, too. “Most importantly, and as the Minister has said, the partnership acknowledges that the Stolen Generations have the capacity to lead the development of their own solutions” said Ms [Helen] Moran."
Australian Human Rights Commission:
New partnership with Stolen Generations members welcomed
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/media_releases/2010/50_10.html
26 May 10: "The Stolen Generations’ Working Partnership announced today by the Federal Government is a welcome move that should go some way towards addressing the immediate and practical needs of Stolen Generations members, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda, said today on National Sorry Day. Commissioner Gooda said this new commitment by Government to engage with Stolen Generations members and to work in partnership with them and service providers had the real potential to improve lives."
- News
Koori Mail: NSDC: Stolen Generations must lead solutions
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
26 May 10: "THE National Sorry Day Committee says it will work with the Federal Government and other non-government organisations to address the critical needs of the Stolen Generations now and as they age. NSDC co-chair Helen Moran said the most important part of a new cooperative approach announced in Canberra this morning was the Government's acknowledgment that Stolen Generations survivors had the capacity to lead the development of their own solutions."
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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)