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Stolen Wages Postcards Launched From Cairns

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30 September 2003 - Aboriginal Coordinating Council - Media Release - Thousands of stolen wages postcards will be distributed between the communities most affected by the issue following a launch of the public awareness campaign from the Aboriginal Coordinating Council meeting in Cairns this morning.

The set of three cards, which tell the story of the missing, unpaid and underpaid wages belonging to Aboriginal people who were forced to work over the past century, will be taken back to the communities by more than 60 Community Councillors expected to be present at today's launch.

Union and community groups including the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Queensland Council of Unions, Victoria Trades Hall Council and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) have generated and endorsed the campaign with an undertaking to help with distribution of up to 50,000 of the postcards.

The ACC executive also welcomed the presence of Normanton elder Fred Edwards to the Cairns launch.

ACC Deputy Chair Alf Lacey said it was important to ensure elders and their families across all the communities were properly paid and given due recognition for their work over the past century.

"We're talking about wages money here, it¹s not welfare money, and it is an industrial issue," he said.

Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Grace Grace thanked both the ACC and people like Fred Edwards for their support and commitment to the postcard campaign.

"The commitment of these people, some of whom have fought for more than 20 years for these wages, is very important and serves as a reminder of how much the loss of these wages has affected Aboriginal lives at community level," she said.

"From the unions point of view the postcard campaign has so far been extremely successful with demand for the cards from QCU members outweighing supply despite an initial print run of 30,000 cards.

"We all wish the ACC and Mr Edwards well with their launch today and look forward to continuing our support for this very important campaign."

ANTaR National Coordinator David Cooper said the postcard campaign both in Sydney and nationally had raised a strong level of interest from many different quarters.

"It's also great to see Queensland communities at grassroots level backing the campaign and ANTaR will definitely continue to work at a national level to offer as much support as we can," he said.

ANTaR Qld President Jenny Tannoch-Bland said the postcard campaign had also attracted widespread interest from across the state.

"We are hearing from people and organisations all the time wanting to know where they can get the postcards," she said.

"Once people hear about it, it's not hard to get them on board because this is such a glaring instance of basic injustice.

"Congratulations to the ACC and Fred Edwards for maintaining the momentum through their continuing commitment to this issue, it's fantastic to see Queensland communities at grassroots level backing this campaign."

Source: Aboriginal Coordinating Council

Further information: stolen wages issues page - includes news index and external links

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