This report understands this aspect of reparations as the financial acknowledgment that recognises the hurt and suffering experienced by Stolen Generations due to separation from family, community, Culture, Country and subsequent loss of identity and sense of belonging. Financial reparations is known as monetary compensation in the Bringing Them Home Report
Reparations Payment
It is recommended that reparations payments be made to Stolen Generations to acknowledge the past wrongs made by the Victorian Government in supporting the policies and practices that allowed Stolen Generations to be separated from family, community, Country and Culture which led to a loss of identity and sense of belonging. It is noted by the Steering Committee that no amount of financial reparations can alleviate the pain and hurt that was inflicted on Stolen Generations. Instead, it is recommended that financial reparations be provided to assist in acknowledging the many and varied impacts experienced by Stolen Generations as a result of separation.
A Stolen Generations consultation participant stated that the most important part of Reparations for them was ‘Some form of compensation for the loss of Culture, the loss of family connection, the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that I had received during my time as a Ward of the State, that led me down the path of becoming an alcoholic at an early age. I know that nothing will ever compensate the memories and trauma that I have, but surely someone needs to pay for my loss for the damage done to me.’ The Stolen Generations Reparations survey indicates 59 of 63 participants who identified as Stolen Generations would benefit from financial Reparations and 24 of 63 stated that it was the most important part of Reparations for them.
With respect to the longstanding advocacy for Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations payments and the many recommendations made nationally and state-wide, including through the Reparations consultation process led by the Steering Committee, the following is recommended on financial reparations for Stolen Generations.179
Recommendation 4
The Steering Committee recommends that the Stolen Generations Reparations package provide $100,000 in individual reparations payments to eligible Victorian Stolen Generations.
It is noted that this recommendation is subject to the guiding principle listed at recommendation 3, Chapter 3, and the eligibility requirements noted in 4.4 Eligibility.
To fulfil this recommendation, it is further recommended by the Steering Committee that reparations payments should not be staggered according to level of abuse/s that may have occurred once a child was separated. The Steering Committee recommends that the Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations payment is made for the act of separation itself not the abuses that occurred as a consequence of removal. Staggered payments have been used in the National Redress Scheme, Western Australia and Queensland Redress Schemes to make payments against level of abuses that occurred in state care, further detailed in Appendix 3. It was found this is not appropriate for Stolen Generations Reparations in Victoria. In consideration of this strategy, is it also recommended that eligible Stolen Generations Reparation applicants will not be limited in making external claims for other abuse/s that occurred once removed and institutionalised within a state or non-government agency. This is also recommended in the Bringing Them Home Report.180
Based on the eligibility recommendations in this report, Finity Consulting have completed research that finds for Stolen Generations Reparations payments in Victoria ‘the participant estimate for financial Reparations is 1,000. There is significant uncertainty around this estimate. This is because there is no data on how many First Nations children were removed under Victorian government policies and how many are still alive. We also do not know how many First Nations people who were removed under Victorian government policies will apply for financial Reparations’.181 Based on this it is estimated the cost of financial reparations payments would be $100 million (assuming recommendation 4 is fulfilled). Finity Consulting state that ‘The estimated cost of Monetary Reparations varies from a low of $65 million to a high of $180 million under the sensitivities considered. This highlights the impact on cost of the uncertainty in the participant estimate.’182 Further information on the participant estimate research and cost modelling of the financial reparations component will be provided in the Finity Consulting final report for the Steering Committee in late June 2021.
Recommendation 5
The Steering Committee recommends that the financial reparations payment provided in the Stolen Generations Reparation package does not impact on social security allowance, taxation, the National Disability Insurance Service or any aged care or public housing income assessments.
It is also recommended that payments are not directed toward paying of ‘state debts’ without the consent of the applicant.
To fulfill this recommendation the following steps are required:
- Regulations will need to be passed within Commonwealth Government legislation to ensure that Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations payments are not defined as ‘ordinary income’ under subsection 8(1) of the Social Security Act 1991 and will not be considered under the Social Security income test and thereby do not impact on pension or other Centrelink payments.183
- An agreement between the Australian Taxation Office and the Victorian Government that Reparations payments are not subject to income tax returns and thereby are not subject to standard taxation.184
- An agreement between the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Victorian Government that NDIS payments are not impacted by a Reparations payment and that NDIS assessment staff are made aware of this throughout Victoria.
- Agreements with the Aboriginal Housing Victoria, Public Housing Victoria and any other public housing body, that Reparations payments do not affect eligibility for new or continued social (public, community or Aboriginal) housing assistance, or rent payable calculations.185
- Agreements with relevant aged care regulators that Reparations payments do not impact eligibility for aged care services.
- Agreement within the Victorian State Debt Collection agency that Reparations payments will not be utilised to pay state debts unless explicitly directed to do so by an applicant.
Funeral Fund
The Steering Committee heard throughout consultation a need to support Stolen Generations with end-of-life requirements including funeral funds. The Stolen Generations Reparations survey indicates 27 of 63 participants who identified as Stolen Generations would benefit from a funeral fund. As such the following recommendation is made to give Stolen Generations a dignity in death that they may have not always had in life.
Recommendation 6
The Steering Committee recommends that the Stolen Generations Interim Funeral Fund model be extended within the Stolen Generations Reparations package to become an ongoing Funeral Fund accessible to eligible applicants.
It is recommended the Funeral Fund amount of $10,000 per eligible applicant be indexed yearly to reflect the increase in funeral costs over time.
It is recommended that the funeral fund be an extension of the interim funeral fund in that applicants to the Stolen Generations Funeral Fund will be provided with individual payments of up to $10,000 to cover the costs of a funeral, headstone or plaque and/or repatriation of deceased Stolen Generations, or a combination of one or more components as requested by next of kin, executor, power of attorney, legal guardian or other relative. This fund should provide cost recovery of funeral costs to the applicant or pay for the required upfront costs to a funeral company, headstone or plaque company, and/or transportation company in consultation with the next of kin, executor, power of attorney, legal guardian, or other relative. It is recommended that this fund remain open for the period of time that Stolen Generations may require this fund, beyond the life of the Reparations package. Eligibility for the Funeral Fund should be assessed against the eligibility finding for the Stolen Generations application to the Stolen Generations Reparations package or through further research if the deceased Stolen Generations person did not apply to the Stolen Generations Reparations package.
As stated above, Finity Consulting have completed research that finds for Stolen Generations Reparations payments in Victoria ‘the participant estimate for financial Reparations is 1,000. There is significant uncertainty around this estimate. This is because there is no data on how many First Nations children were removed under Victorian government policies and how many are still alive. We also do not know how many First Nations people who were removed under Victorian government policies will apply for financial Reparations’.186 Based on this it is expected that there will be 1000 eligible participants for the funeral fund. Further information on the participant estimate research and cost modelling for the funeral fund component of Reparations will be provided in the Finity Consulting final report for the Steering Committee in late June 2021.
In 2008 the Stolen Generations Victoria, Unfinished Business 2008 stated ‘Immediate funding be provided to enable all members of the Stolen Generations who have passed away have a headstone to mark their place of burial.’187 This was also raised consistently throughout the Stolen Generations Reparations consultations led by the Steering Committee. The Stolen Generations Reparations survey indicates 33 out of 94 Stolen Generations and family would benefit from an Unmarked Graves Plaque Fund as part of a Reparations package.
Recommendation 7
The Steering Committee recommends that a fund be established to cover the costs of a plaque for unmarked graves, exhumation, repatriation, and burial on Country for family of deceased Stolen Generations persons removed in Victoria.
It is recommended that this fund be made accessible to the deceased Stolen Generations person’s next of kin, executor, power of attorney, legal guardian or other relative. In this instance the Stolen Generations person must have passed away prior to the commencement of Reparations and have not accessed the Stolen Generations Interim Funeral Fund. This fund should provide cost recovery of unmarked grave costs to the applicant or pay for the required upfront costs, to an exhumation company, headstone or plaque company, transportation company and other associated legal costs in consultation with next of kin, executor, power of attorney, legal guardian, or other relative.
To fulfill this recommendation, it is recommended that a framework and guidelines for this be designed with the Stolen Generations Advisory Committee (detailed in 4.2 Accountability and Evaluations) and include the relevant legal considerations.
End notes
179 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; Stolen Generations Victoria, 2008, Unfinished Business: Reparations, Restitution and Rehabilitation; Healing Foundation, 2017, Bringing Them Home Report – 20 Years On; The Courier, 21 October 2018, ‘Stolen Generation victim calls for Redress’; ABC News, 23 May 2017, Stolen Generations Survivors call for National Compensation Fund
180 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
181 Stolen Generations Reparations: Interim Report - Draft Findings, May 2021, Finity Consulting Pty Ltd
182 Stolen Generations Reparations: Interim Report - Draft Findings, May 2021, Finity Consulting Pty Ltd
183 NSW Government, Aboriginal Affairs NSW, Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme and Funeral Assistance Fund, Fact Sheet 5 – Centrelink, Tax and Social Housing Information
184 NSW Government, Aboriginal Affairs NSW, Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme and Funeral Assistance Fund, Fact Sheet 5 – Centrelink, Tax and Social Housing Information
185 NSW Government, Aboriginal Affairs NSW, Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme and Funeral Assistance Fund, Fact Sheet 5 – Centrelink, Tax and Social Housing Information
186 Stolen Generations Reparations: Interim Report - Draft Findings, May 2021, Finity Consulting Pty Ltd
187 Stolen Generations Victoria, 2008, Unfinished Business: Reparations, Restitution and Rehabilitation
Updated