Moving Forward - achieving reparations for the stolen generations

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 Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).

During 1995 and 1996, the Commission 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 Deferred 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 - Honourable Philip Ruddock, MP
    Speech delivered by the Honourable 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