Part 1: Stolen Generations Reparations Package and Operational Framework
Following consultation with Victorian Stolen Generations and other research the Steering Committee makes the following Reparations recommendations on a Stolen Generations Reparations package to best support and make amends to Stolen Generations in Victoria.
The following recommendations (1 to 11) will outline the Steering Committee recommendations for a Stolen Generations Reparations package in Victoria. These recommendations are made within the Bringing Them Home Report’s Reparations components of financial reparations, apology and acknowledgement and measures of restitution.
Recommendation 1
The Steering Committee recommends that the reparations process be known as ‘Stolen Generations Reparations’ and ‘the Stolen Generations Reparations package’
This is recommended to avoid confusion with the National Redress Scheme which is open until 2027 and to align with national terminology, in that all previous jurisdictions (Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales) used the term Stolen Generations Reparations. Reparations is also the terminology used within the Bringing Them Home Report. Additionally, it is recommended that the word Scheme is not added to the name of Stolen Generations Reparations due to the negative associations that some may have with the term.
Recommendation 2
The Steering Committee recommends that a Stolen Generations Reparations package be provided to eligible Stolen Generations removed in Victoria and that the package include a financial reparations payment, a funeral fund payment, an apology, post reunion support, a copy of personal records and the opportunity to record their story.
Stolen Generations Reparations Guiding Principle (1)
Recommendation 3
The Steering Committee recommends that the Stolen Generations Reparations package be made available to living Stolen Generations based on the principle of separation from family in Victoria. It is recommended that the principle of eligibility for the Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations package is inclusive and considers both the state policy and wider societal practice of assimilation and separation of Aboriginal children from family, community, Culture, and Country.
This principle does not differentiate between the type of removal, such as forced, coerced or relinquishment by either government or non-government organisations, or the consequence of removal, such as legal or informal foster care, adoption or institutionalisation
It is recommended that this guiding principle be used alongside the detailed eligibility recommendations listed in 4.4 Eligibility.
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