Australia to pay reparations to ‘stolen generation’ indigenous children

‘This is a long called-for step, recognising the bond between healing, dignity and the health and well-being of members of the Stolen Generations, their families and their communities’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (AAP Image)

Australia has announced reparations for the members of the “Stolen Generations” – indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the country’s Parliament on Thursday that it will make one-off payments of A$75,000 (around £40,000) to victims, as part of an almost A$400 million reparations fund.

More than 100,000 children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin were taken from their families and communities between the early 1900s and about 1970 and put in foster care with white families under an official assimilation policy.

It was described by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as a “great stain on our nation’s soul” during a formal apology to the “Stolen Generation” in 2008.

“This is a long called-for step, recognising the bond between healing, dignity and the health and well-being of members of the Stolen Generations, their families and their communities,” Mr Morrison said in the parliament on Thursday.

“To say formally, not just that we’re deeply sorry for what happened, but that we will take responsibility for it,” he added.

The reparations will cover people who are still alive and were under 18 and removed from their families while living in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. Most Australian states have their own compensation schemes.

Indigenous groups welcomed the payments but cautioned more work needs to be done.

“It’s something, but it’s not everything. It won’t provide that end state of a healed nation, but there is hope,” Fiona Cornfort, CEO of the Healing Foundation, a representative group for some members of the Stolen Generation.

The move comes amid mounting criticism and actions to seek compensation through the courts.

It is also part of a one-billion Australian dollar federal government initiative announced last year that aims to address the serious disadvantages faced by the Indigenous people in the country. The country’s 700,000 indigenous people rank near the bottom of nearly every economic and social indicator in comparison with other Australians.

Additional reporting by agencies