Moving Forward - achieving reparations for the stolen generations
A national conference to facilitate public debate about reparations for the stolen generations was held on 15 & 16 August 2001 in Sydney. The conference was hosted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).
During 1995 and 1996, HREOC conducted the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. The report of the inquiry, Bringing them home, was tabled in the Federal Parliament in 1997, and illustrated the considerable harm and abuse suffered by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and communities as a consequence of their removal.
Four years later, despite litigation and calls to address the trauma and harm caused, there remains a pressing need for reparations for the stolen generations. Moving forward - Achieving reparations for the stolen generations brought together Indigenous peoples of Australia and non-Indigenous Australians to explore models for providing reparations to members of the stolen generations.
The conference addressed topics including:
- the inadequacy of government measures to meet the needs of those affected by forcible removal
- international law and models for dealing with reparations for violations of human rights
- the findings of a national consultation project on a reparations tribunal proposal, conducted by PIAC, ATSIC and the National Sorry Day Committee
- government and church responses to the history and effects of forcible removal
- the importance of reparations in advancing the process of reconciliation
Click on the links below to access documents from the Moving Forward Conference:
- Introduction
to the Moving Forward Conference Report by Dr William Jonas AM,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
Please note that the full report will be made available here shortly.
- An
Issues Paper prepared prior to the Moving Forward Conference
- Recommendations
from the Moving Forward Conference
- Speeches
delivered at the conference:
- Achieving
Reparations for the Stolen Generations
Speech delivered by Ms Andrea Durbach, Director, PIAC - Achieving
Reparations for the Stolen Generations - Healing Ourselves
Speech delivered by Ms Audry Ngingali Kinnear, Co-Chair National Sorry Day Committee and a "Stolen Generation".
- Healing
Ourselves
Speech delivered by Ms Diane Jarrett, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, Research Officer - Setting
the scene: the Australian framework for reparations
Speech delivered by Mr Brian Butler, Commissioner, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission - Moving
forward - from 'practical reconciliation' to social justice
Speech delivered by Dr William Jonas AM, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission - Implementing
reparations: International Perspectives
Speech delivered by Michael DeGagné, Executive Director, The Aboriginal Healing Foundation. - Dream
Deferreed or Fantasy: Reflections on the Current Black Reparations
Movement in the United States
Speech by Ms Taunya Lovell Banks, Univeristy of Maryland, School of Law
- Reparations
and the Waitangi Tribunal
Speech delivered by Chief Judge J V Williams - Moving
Forward with Dignity - The Report of the Law Commission of Canada
and its aftermath
Speech delivered by Nathalie Des Rosiers, President, Law Commission of Canada - The
unfinished business
Speech by Mr. Dumisa Ntsebeza, former Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) - Unfinished
Business - Reparations and Reconciliation
Address delivered by Ms Shelly Reys, Co-Chair, Reconciliation Australia - Reparations
and Reconciliation - A Perspective from the Churches
Speech delivered by Rev David Gill, Secretary-General, National Council of Churches in Australia - Reparations
for the stolen generations - Government responds - Honorable Philip
Ruddock, MP
Speech delivered by the Honorable Philip Ruddock, MP. Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs - Reparations
for the stolen generations - Government responds - Senator Ridgeway
Speech delivered by Senator Aden Ridgeway - Reparations
for the stolen generations - Government responds - Shadow Minister
Bob McMullen
Speech delivered by Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs And Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Reconciliation and the Arts - Bob McMullan -
Reparations for the stolen generations - ATSIC responds
Speech delivered by Commissioner Marion Hansen
- Achieving
Reparations for the Stolen Generations