Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, and I ask that he provide this chamber with an update on the Stolen Generation's Reparations Scheme, both the individual reparations and the community reparations.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for her question and her ongoing interest in this area. Certainly this issue is a multipartisan issue. I know the honourable member has had a very long association and advocacy in this area, and others, including the member for Morphett, the Hon. Terry Stephens and also the Hon. Tung Ngo in particular have been very consistent in recent times pushing for these issues.

Certainly the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, which occurred in every state and territory in this country over many, many decades, was a shameful part of our collective history. It broke apart families. It broke apart history. It broke apart culture in Australia. As a government in South Australia we have acknowledged that. I think the former premier at the time, rather than Aboriginal affairs minister, Dean Brown, at the end of May 1997, when the Bringing Them Home report was tabled, became the first person to acknowledge that. I saw Dean Brown only last week I think and talked to him about how the scheme is now going.

In 2008, the prime minister at the time, on behalf of the federal parliament of the Australian people, similarly said 'Sorry' and last year we in South Australia took those next steps on from saying 'Sorry'. We became the second jurisdiction in Australia to have a Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme. Tasmania was the first and I congratulate them for doing that. I am very proud that South Australia became the second state in the nation to put in place an $11 million reparation fund for members of the stolen generations.

The scheme officially opened for applications on 31 March 2016, and will remain open for 12 months. I know the independent assessor under the scheme has held 15 meetings with Aboriginal community groups since the scheme began. I know the Department for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, I am not sure of the exact number, has written to dozens and dozens of individuals, groups, community councils, right across South Australia. I have had a number of meetings with groups, including the Circle of Hope and the South Australian Stolen Generations Alliance, as well as the ALRM and others, who have been strong advocates in this area and represent many members of the stolen generations in South Australia.

There have been some dozens of applications lodged already and more phone calls and inquiries about lodging applications. I am happy to inform the honourable member in the chamber of one slight change we have made in the scheme in the last week as a result of feedback. The scheme, as it was announced, provided individual reparation payments of up to $50,000 based on an individual's experience, so the reparation payments would be different for different individuals, depending on the effect it had had on the rest of their lives. The very strong feedback from individuals and groups representing members of the stolen generations was that they preferred a flat rate rather than differing payments.

Some of the reasons given were that, if people are to receive different payments, you are necessarily creating an incentive for people to put forward just how damaged their lives were and opening that all up can provide extra trauma, and unnecessary trauma, rather than just meeting the criteria of being a member of the stolen generations. Another significant reason was that there might be members of the same family who, from the same set of circumstances, were removed as Aboriginal children from their parents but had different experiences in growing up, who might receive very, very different sums, and that could lead to very significant conflict, not just within families but within communities.

Based on a lot of feedback and my discussions with the Circle of Hope, the Stolen Generations Alliance and other groups, we have taken the decision to change that one aspect of the scheme, so it is no longer a variable rate up to $50,000. It will be a flat rate for everyone who qualifies for payments under the Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme.

I think that change was outlined on the weekend to the healing camp that was held at Wirrina. I think there were 40 to 50 members of the stolen generations there who, as a group, warmly welcomed the change we had made in relation to that particular aspect of the scheme. The scheme is open for 12 months, so on 31 March next year all applications will close. There will be assessments made as we go along up to that time and payments made as efficiently as possible.

One of the other things that has become apparent as we have developed this scheme is that there are some members of our stolen generations who are getting old. There has been a concern that there are some members of our stolen generations who, by the time the scheme closes and assessments are made, may not still be around. So, there is a triaging process now for those who have medical and other conditions to make sure they can be assessed quickly and some sort of part payment made while they are still alive as a recognition for these past wrongs. That's part of the individual payments.

An equally as important part and, certainly in my consultations, in some cases an even more important part is community reparations. These are not payments for individuals but a recognition that it wasn't just individuals, it was whole families and, in large cases, whole communities who suffered from the forced removal of Aboriginal children in the past. Consultation has now started about what form whole-of-community reparations might take. Some of the initial ideas that have come up are things like healing places, educational scholarships, further counselling and other services to be provided to members of not just first-generation members but the consequent effects to family members of the stolen generations, and some sort of public way for remembering—exhibitions or telling the stories of members of the stolen generations.