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Australian court boosts compensation for Aborigine taken from family when child

1 February 2008 - International Herald Tribune France - An Australian judge increased the compensation that a state government must pay an Aborigine who was taken from his mother as a child in a decision Friday that contrasted with the prime minister's refusal to compensate members of the so-called "stolen generations."

Last year, Bruce Trevorrow became the first Aborigine to successfully sue a government over a past policy of removing mostly mixed-blood Aboriginal children from their parents on the premise that Aborigines were a doomed race and saving the children was a humane alternative.

The South Australia state Supreme Court ordered the state last August to pay Trevorrow 525,000 Australian dollars (US$470,000; €316,000) for damages caused when he was taken from his parents without their knowledge 50 years ago.

The same court on Friday ordered the government to pay an additional A$250,000 (US$224,000; €151,000) in interest on those damages, court official Sharon Moloney said.

Earlier this week, new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that Parliament will apologize for the past policy under which 100,000 children were taken from Aboriginal mothers between 1910 and the 1970s. Rudd, however, ruled out indigenous leaders' demands for compensation.

A national inquiry found in 1997 that many children taken from their families suffered long-term psychological effects from the loss of family and culture, and recommended that Parliament apologize.

Former Prime Minister John Howard had long refused to apologize, arguing his government should not be held responsible for the policies of former officials.

Howard's conservative government lost power after 11 years last November.

The new government plans to fly 70 people from the stolen generations — some of whom live in dilapidated Outback camps or on the outskirts of cities — to witness Parliament's opening ceremony in Canberra, said Barbara Livesey, chief executive of Reconciliation Australia. The agency is tasked with bringing black and white Australians together.

Megan Davis, an Aboriginal lawyer and director of the University of New South Wales' Indigenous Legal Center, described the apology as "a good start."

But she said Rudd was making a mistake by not tying the apology to compensation, as Canada did with its indigenous peoples.

Aborigines account for about 450,000 of the Australian population of 21 million. They are the poorest ethnic group in the country and are most likely to be jailed, unemployed and illiterate.

Source: International Herald Tribune France

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