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Stolen Wages Queensland Government Announcment

What is the IWSR Scheme?
In 2002, a reparations offer was made by the Queensland Government in the spirit of reconciliation. It recognised the historical injustices suffered by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders through the controls imposed by the successive governments over their wages and savings during the period from the 1890s to the early 1970s.

The package included:
• A monetary amount of $55.4 million
• An apology
• A Parliamentary Acknowledgment – by statement in the House
• Government protocol to acknowledge traditional owners

The Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparations Scheme offered a simple and speedy way to resolve outstanding issues. Under this offer, priority was given to paying elderly people and those who were seriously ill.
The IWSR scheme has been in addition to the over $40 million paid out to Indigenous Queenslanders in under-award wages matters.

The original offer
The Queensland Government set aside $55.4 million for individual reparations payments of $4,000 and $2,000 to Indigenous people still alive whose wages or savings were controlled by the authorities under previous ‘Protection Acts’.

By 2007, payments totaling nearly $20 million had been made to over 5,500 claimants from the Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparations (IWSR) scheme, leaving a residue of $35.87 million.

Under the IWSR scheme, a total of 5,553 people were assessed as eligible. Of these:

4,211 received $4,000
1,342 received $2,000

In March 2008 the Queensland Government agreed that a further $14.64 million be paid out to eligible claimants and the remaining $21.23 million be paid into a new Indigenous Queenslanders Foundation.

Second round payment
The Government will now offer a second payment to successful claimants in the first round of the Reparations Scheme

The payments will be:
$3,000 to people who received a $4,000 reparations payment, or
$1,500 to people who received a $2,000 reparations payment.

These payments will be made from the unspent funds from the first round of IWSR Scheme
payments. The 2nd round IWSR scheme will be administered over an eighteen month period commencing in
April 2008.

Payments are likely to commence from late May 2008, with priority given to elderly people and people who are seriously ill. If you are a person who received a reparations payment Payment will not be made automatically to people, as the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Department of Communities will have to contact people, verify their details and get them to finalise some paperwork, before they can be paid.

People who have not changed their addresses since the first reparations round will be contacted by post in April and provided with further information about this process.

People who have changed their addresses should call 1800 619 505 to provide their new details.

People who wish to make a claim on behalf of a deceased relative who received a reparations payment, will need to provide proof of that person’s birth date as well as proof of when they passed away. Please call 1800 619 505 for advice and to provide contact details.

The Indigenous Queenslanders Foundation

The money left after these payments will be paid into the Indigenous Queenslanders Foundation. This Foundation will provide scholarships to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

Further details:
Until the Indigenous Queenslanders Foundation is established in mid 2008, for further information about this initiative contact the:

Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships: Telephone 1800 619 505

Source: Queensland Government

Further information: Stolen Wages issues page - includes news index and external links