Recommendations
Recommendation 1
8.23 The
committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government and state governments
facilitate unhindered access to their archives for Indigenous people and their
representatives for the purposes of researching the Indigenous stolen wages
issue as a matter of urgency.
Recommendation 2
8.24 The
committee recommends that the Ministerial Council on Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Affairs agree on joint funding arrangements for:
- an education and awareness campaign in Indigenous communities in
relation to stolen wages issues; and
- preliminary legal research on Indigenous stolen wages matters.
Recommendation 3
8.25 The
committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government provide funding in the
next budget to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies to conduct a national oral history and archival project in
relation to Indigenous stolen wages.
Recommendation 4
8.26 The committee recommends that:
- the Western Australian Government:
- urgently consult with Indigenous people in relation to the stolen
wages issue; and
- establish a compensation scheme in relation to withholding,
underpayment and non-payment of Indigenous wages and welfare entitlements using
the New South Wales scheme as a model, and
- the Commonwealth Government conduct preliminary research of its
archival material in relation to the stolen wages issues in Western Australia.
Recommendation 5
8.27 The
committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government in relation to the
Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, and the state
governments of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria:
- urgently consult with Indigenous people in relation to the stolen
wages issue;
- conduct preliminary research of their archival material; and
- if this consultation and research reveals that similar practices
operated in relation to the withholding, underpayment or non-payment of
Indigenous wages and welfare entitlements in these states, then establish
compensation schemes using the New South Wales scheme as a model.
Recommendation 6
8.28 The
committee recommends that the Queensland Government revise the terms of its
reparations offer so that:
- Indigenous claimants are fully compensated for monies withheld
from them;
- further time is provided for the lodgement of claims;
- claimants are able to rely on oral and other circumstantial
evidence where the records held by the state are incomplete or are allegedly
affected by fraud or forgery;
- new or further payments do not require claimants to indemnify the
Queensland Government; and
- the descendants of claimants who died before 9 May 2002 are
included within the terms of the offer.
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page