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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lStolen Wages in NSW17 April 2004 - ANTaR - Media Release - For decades the NSW Government literally stole the money of Aboriginal people who it said were under its care and protection.
Background Many Aboriginal people in NSW have known all along about stolen wages because it was part of the official apparatus which controlled their lives for much of the 20th Century. The Government took people¹s wages, their lump sum entitlements, their child endowment and social security cheques and their savings. But the details on the public record about how the Government controlled people¹s labour and money are sketchy. Bob Carr says that most of the individual records no longer exist. Between 1900 and 1969 Aboriginal people were forced to put their wages, pensions, inheritances, lump sum entitlements and child endowment payments into trust funds set up by the NSW Government. They had to ask permission to withdraw any sums. Usually it was refused. Many people never saw their money again, after the trust funds were closed down by the government in 1969. In State Parliament on 11 March 2004 Bob Carr apologised to the people affected and said State Cabinet is committed to developing a scheme to identify and reimburse those who are owed money. He said the government will consult on the details of a repayment scheme. This followed campaigns by community figures like Marjorie Woodrow and Les Ridgeway and freedom of information requests by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a community legal centre acting on the behalf of individual claimants. It also came soon after the 4 February 2004 edition of the National Indigenous Times, which reported a leaked government proposal for a repayment scheme from 2001 which never quite made it to Cabinet. The Upper House of the NSW Parliament has been debating a motion from Mr Ian Cohen that the leaked draft should be tabled. People interested in the issue are trying to unearth more details. Keep checking ANTaR¹s website for more information about stolen wages in NSW in the coming weeks. There is already a lot of detail about similar controls and government abuse in Queensland on the ANTaR website here. You can also check out the March media release from Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which following Premier Carr¹s statement to Parliament. Premier Carr's statement and apology is a good start and he deserves some credit for finally tackling the issue, but the critical issues now are:
If you want to do something about justice for Aboriginal people in NSW on stolen wages write to Premier Morris Iemma:
If you want some ideas for your letter, have a look at the template below. Premier Morris Iemma address is:
You might want to send a similar letter to your local MP. Template letter to NSW Premier, Morris Iemma Hon. Morris Iemma MP Dear Premier I am writing to congratulate you on your statement in Parliament on 11 March 2004 in which you apologised to Aboriginal people affected by the stolen wages issue in NSW. Your statement conveyed a strong message that those whose monies were held in trust, but never paid out, had been failed by successive NSW Governments. You also made a strong commitment that, despite the “administrative complexities” to which you referred in your statement:
However, if this apology is to have meaning for those affected by this issue, your Government also needs to commence the process of developing the scheme as quickly as possible. Your own statement acknowledges that this will occur over the coming months. However, given the recent media reports indicating that the issue has been receiving attention within government for around six years, many people will be concerned at the vagueness of this time frame. One way of allaying these concerns would be to convene, immediately, an Aboriginal round table discussion as proposed by Senator Aden Ridgeway last month – as the first, but not the last, step in the process of negotiating a solution directly with Aboriginal people and communities. I urge you to take action this action now to further the spirit and practice of reconciliation in NSW. Yours faithfully Signature Source: Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation related links:
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