Many of the families and relatives of Aboriginal people who had wages stolen from them decades ago have been condemned to generational poverty and may never be able to build a quality of life their descendents had wished to hand on to them, Greens MLC Ian Cohen said today.
The NSW Government has announced it will repay only $15 million to families and descendents who had wages stolen from them as early as the 1920s and up until the late 1960s, despite earlier estimates being close to $70 million.
“The money owed to thousands of Aboriginal families reflects more than just the interest payments they may have lost.
“These families have been consistently denied the opportunity to participate in a real economy and as a result have always been on the back foot, unable to use those wages to build a foundation for the future.
“This state government is now as guilty as the ones before it for denying some Aboriginal people the chance to break a cycle of poverty. Consistent denial entrenches generational poverty and that is a crime this government will be remembered for.”
“Aboriginal people simply want what they are owed. Instead, the NSW Government has chosen to pay back the bare minimum it had to.”
Mr Cohen said the original payback proposal the government has had since 2001 suggested that $69 million was possible, even before calculations could be made on money also owed but not recorded due to lost or faulty paperwork and records.
“This is not the state's money to bestow or withhold within budget comfort. This is Aboriginal earnings and entitlements that the state as trustee was legally bound to safeguard.
“Aboriginal people have been cheated of their wages, their child endowment entitlements and their inheritances.”
Further Information: Paul Sheridan, 0410 516 656
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