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news issues 'Stolen Wages' news From 1904 to 1987, the Queensland Government
withheld or underpaid wages earned by Aboriginal workers. The State Government
has offered a settlement totalling $55million but this is only a fraction of the
stolen wages. ANTaR is currently running a "Stolen Wages" Campaign
in support of Indigenous Queensland workers who have not received wages for which
they are entitled - which ENIAR is supporting. Your assistance would be
greatly appreciated. - NSW Govt
Must Make All Stolen Wages Records Available
6 May, 2004 - Senator Aden
Ridgeway - The Australian Democrats have welcomed the beginning of the process
to bring justice to NSW Aboriginal people over stolen wages and welfare benefits,
but say the Government must make all of its records fully available to any potential
claimants. - NSW stolen wages response 'outstrips'
Queensland
5 May 2004 - Stolen Wages Campaign Working Group Executive -
The offer by NSW Premier Bob Carr to set up a process for paying back stolen wages,
savings and money owed to Aboriginal people across that state far outstrips the
equivalent process in Queensland say executive members of the Stolen Wages Working
Group. - Press conference excerpt on Aboriginal trust
funds
5 May 2004 - Premier Bob Carr, Minister for Community Services, Carmel
Tebbutt and Terri Janke - Money was stolen from Aboriginal people. We're seeking
a criteria to have it returned to them with interest, without the loss of their
right to sue, and without being capped. I think it's a fair outcome. - Aborigines
seek lost wages worth $350m
May 5 2004 - Aboriginal leaders are preparing
to launch a class action against the NSW government to recoup what they believe
could be as much as $350 million in stolen wages. The move follows the government's
declaration that potential claimants will have to provide evidence the money is
owed to them, despite a secret ministerial report saying they shouldn't have to.
Who, how and how much - panel to assess return of
Aborigines' stolen wages - Stolen Wages in NSW
April
17, 2004 - Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation - For decades the NSW
Government literally stole the money of Aboriginal people who it said were under
its care and protection. The sums run to millions of dollars. Nothing yet has
been done to fix this scandal. Bob Carr recently said he will find a solution. - Aborigines
fight for their money back / In pictures: Victims
and campaigners
7 April, 2004 - BBC News - Over the past 15 years, Australian
Aborigines have fought to receive official title to their ancestral lands and
for governments to acknowledge the sad history of the removal of their children.
Now they have a new target in their sights: the state-sanctioned confiscation
of the wages earned by tens of thousands of Aboriginal workers for much of the
20th century. - Where are the stolen wages?
March
1, 2004 - Something stopped the NSW Government from paying back money it took
from the earnings of Aboriginal workers for 70 years. Debra Jopson exposes the
mystery. Aborigines treated like Nazi slaves,
says report - Qld and NSW governments promote theft
from Indigenous communities
March 1, 2004 - ATSIC - First it was our lands
that governments stole with no intention of ever returning them, then our cultures
and identities now its our hard-earned wages. Reports today that
the governments in Queensland and New South Wales have had long-standing and detailed
knowledge of the wages withheld by welfare bodies show they regard theft from
Indigenous people as being acceptable. NSW
Premier should act on the return of stolen wages without delay - ATSIC - Busker
set to battle Beattie
February 26, 2004 - An indigenous rights campaigner
and renowned inner-city busker today announced he would stand for Premier Peter
Beattie's seat in the Queensland election. Queensland
Premier meets his match Mall busker plays
new tune Queensland
candidates stand for stolen wages - Give back stolen
wages!
February 11, 2004 - Calls for a national levy from former governor-generals
and prime ministers, headlines in two states Sunday papers, supportive candidates
in the Queensland state election, renewed grassroots support in Townsville and
a furore over missing, unpaid and underpaid wages in New South Wales have all
given a boost to the stolen wages campaign in the last month. - 'Stolen
wage' case sparks court protest
6 February, 2004 - Relatives of a leading
Aboriginal boxer of the 1940s and 50s will find out next week if they can sue
the State Government for $18 million in allegedly "stolen wages". - Marjorie
awaits her back pay, 62 years late
5 February, 2004 - All Marjorie Woodrow
ever got back from the NSW Government trust fund holding four years' worth of
her wages was £5. "It was for the material for my wedding dress,"
said Mrs Woodrow, one of more than 11,000 former state wards who could be owed
a total of up to $69 million by the Government. - Aboriginal
Australians owed millions
4 February , 2004 - A leaked New South Wales
Government report shows that Aboriginal people in the state are owed tens of millions
of dollars. There are also fears that some of the money has been rorted by public
servants and employers for many years. It's estimated that more than 11,000 indigenous
Australians could be entitled to a share of the funds, amounting to as much as
$70 million. - Invasion Day rally demands `repay stolen
wages'
4 February, 2004 - The demand to repay the stolen wages of Aborigines
who worked under successive Queensland governments from the 1890s to the 1970s
was the central focus of this years Invasion Day rally, held at Emma Miller
Place (Roma Street Forum) on January 26. - Stolen
Wages - a campaign for justice / Interview with
Lanora Jackson
2003 - National Tertiary Education Union (Queensland) -
The National Tertiary Education Union (Queensland) is supporting a public campaign
for justice for the generations of Aboriginal workers whose wages were stolen
by the Queensland government. - Lanora Jackson tells of the injustice inflicted
on generations of Aboriginal workers from the 1890s until the 1970s in Queensland.
Her father Henry's story is just one of thousands. - Tales
from the working life of Des Donley
November 5, 2003 - The following summarises
the hard and eventful early years and working life of Melrose Desmond (Des) Donley
who is now retired and lives at Summerland Point in NSW. Des has kindly made his
written recollections available to the Guardian and has been interviewed by on
several occasions. - Stolen Wages Postcards Launched From
Cairns
30 September 2003 - Aboriginal Coordinating Council - Thousands
of stolen wages postcards will be distributed between the communities most affected
by the issue following a launch of the public awareness campaign from the Aboriginal
Coordinating Council meeting in Cairns this morning. - Queensland
government rejects 1 in 4 stolen wages claims
September 3, 2003 - One in
four Aborigines who applied for compensation under Queensland's "stolen wages"
scheme has been knocked back by the state Government. The high rejection rate
for the $55 million reparations scheme has concerned Aboriginal lawyers, who want
the rules relaxed. - Stolen Wages an industrial issue
13 August, 2003 - On August 8, 300 protesters defied rain to hear Aboriginal leaders
and union representatives launch the stolen wages postcard campaign. Chair of
the rally, 4AAA Aboriginal community radio manager Tiger Bayles set the scene
by stating, "Stolen wages in an industrial issue not a welfare issue".
- Stolen Wages Update
June 2003 - Produced for
the (Queensland) Aboriginal Coordinating Council. - Be
fair on wages - Ridgeway
18 June 2003 - The Australian Democrats have
called on the NSW Government to reach a just solution - not a politically expedient
- solution when considering its compensation package, for the stolen wages of
NSW Aboriginal people. - Former stockman 'saddles up'
for lousy offer
2 June 2003 - In his 64th year with a heart condition,
asthma and diabetes, former Gulf Country cattleman and ranger Fred Edwards has
to 'saddle up the horse again' in 2003 if he hopes to keep his car on the road
to enjoy during his retirement. He figured he had some money owing to him, in
fact he's been waiting for this money for quite some time and living on its promise
since he placed a claim for it in the late 1990s. But things just haven¹t
quite turned out as he'd hoped. - Democrats:
"Beattie still treating Aboriginal workers like charity cases"
1 June 2003 - The Beattie Government is repeating the paternalistic mistakes of
past generations in not offering full reparation to the thousands of Queensland
Aboriginal workers whose wages were stolen by successive Labor and Country-Liberal
Queensland Governments, according to the Australian Democrats. - Stolen
Wages National Situation Round-up
May 2003 - Strong anecdotal evidence
exists that wages and savings were controlled and are now missing.
Stolen Wages Update ANTaR Qld Newsletter March 2003 - Our struggle is now
being fought on several fronts as well as nationally. - 'Stolen
Wages, Stolen Lives'
29 April 2003 - Speech by Alfred Lacey, Deputy Chair
Palm Island Council. When I was a young man on Palm Island in the early 1980s
the phrase 'stolen wages', was used in my community by those who knew they had
worked, knew they had been paid and wanted to know where it had gone ... My people
want ... an honest settlement which acknowledges the value of their work and the
pain of their deprivation. - Lost and stolen wages compensation
offer a "sick joke": O'Gorman
8 April 2003 - The President of
the Australian Council of Civil Liberties has labelled the Queensland Government's
offer to Indigenous people for lost and stolen wages a "sick joke" compared
to compensation payouts to Jews who were persecuted during the Second World War.
- Work and Wages - National Perspectives
Dr
Rosalind Kidd, Delivered at the University of Adelaide, April 2003 During
most of the twentieth century, in every Australian state and territory, one group
of people has been subjected to physical confinement and bureaucratic supervision
on a scale otherwise applied only to the criminally culpable or the mentally deficient.
Yet in almost every case these people had committed no crime. Without due process
and without right of appeal they, and too often their children and grandchildren,
were sentenced in perpetuity. For most people escape from this internment was
conditional on walking away from family, country and culture. This was your reality
if you were of Aboriginal descent. - Stolen wages activist
accepts Government reparations offer
31 March 2003 - "They've given
me up to 12 months to live, I have a death sentence and that was the thing that
made me decide ... To put it bluntly I don't have the extra time to go and fight
it in court but my heart is there and if I had that time I would be there fighting.
- Boxer fights from grave for prize purses
12 March 2003 - Relatives of an Aboriginal boxer of the 1940s and 50s are
suing the State Government for $18 million in stolen wages. They claim
Elley Bennett, who won 40 fights by knockout, earned a fortune as a boxer but
died a pauper after his money was apparently dissipated by a government agency
supposedly protecting him. - Laywers warned on wages
advice
6 March 2003 - Lawyers who advise claimants accepting the Queensland
governments reparations offer who do not recommend claimants obtain other
independent legal advice could risk charges of negligence according to a Brisbane
Lawyer. - Qld offer adds insult to injury
5
March 2003 - Although campaigns have taken years to engage the Government it is
now attempting to expedite resolution - quite unfairly. Despite the importance
of the decision to be made, claimants have only 24 hours to consider the advice
they have been given. Although the terms for delivering advice say that claimants
are not to be rushed or pressured - this is clearly not the case. - Black
Lives Government Lies
13 February 2003 -The launch of the second edition
of 'Black lives, government lies' by Dr Rosalind Kidd. - Investigators
to report on national stolen wages case
22 January 2003 - A national team
of investigators have commenced work on a report into the lost and stolen wages
and savings issue. But the probe will go much further than the Queensland border,
with the team setting its sights on determining whether Governments controlled
and then lost or stole Indigenous money in all states and territories. - Unions
back workers over Stolen Wages
20 January 2003 - National Tertiary Education
Union - An online petition, critical of the Queensland Government¹s handling
of the stolen wages issue, will be launched tomorrow at the Queensland Council
of Unions. The petition, posted a week ago under the sponsorship of Member for
South Brisbane Anna Bligh, has already drawn well over 100 signatures.
- The
Price of Reconciliation
December 5, 2002 - We stole their land. We stole
their children. Now we admit to stealing their money too. Is there anything left
to take? Only the souls of a proud and defiant people have been spared and I think
they would too have been taken if our governments knew how.
- First the wages were stolen, now justice has been lost
4 December 2002 - National Indigenous Times - by Dr William Jonas AM - What would
you do if the government decided that after you had paid tax you could only have
30% of your income and they would look after the rest for you? What if thirty
years later they offered you $4000 or $2000 as compensation and said that if you
accept it and promise not to take them to court they will also say sorry for any
harm caused? - Stolen wage group turns back on Peter
Beattie in Parliament
27 November 2002 - Grassroots Murri Action Group
(GMAG) - A small but determined group of protesters today turned their backs on
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie from the Gallery in Parliament to show how insulted
they were by the government's offer of reparations for the wages and savings issue.
- Not 'in the spirit of reconciliation'
22 November
2002 - Reconciliation QLD Inc (RQI) has objected to the repeated reference by
the Queensland Government, to its offer of compensation to the victims of the
"stolen wages" case as being "in the spirit of reconciliation."
- Beattie stolen wages offer perpetuates injustice
22 November 2002 - ANTaR ~ Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation - The
Queensland Government's decision to press ahead with its grossly unfair stolen
wages offer is regrettable and will only serve to perpetuate injustice against
Indigenous people, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) said
today. - Queensland Government Reparations Offer: Wages
and Savings
20 November 2002 - Dept of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Policy - In the spirit of reconciliation, the Queensland Government has made an
offer to people whose lives were affected by past Government policies which resulted
in controls being exercised over the wages and savings of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples. - Historic Reparation Offer
To Indigenous Queenslanders To Proceed
20 November 2002 - Premier &
Trade: The Hon. Peter Beattie MP - The Beattie Government's historic offer of
reparation to Indigenous Queenslanders who had their wages and savings controlled
by former Queensland governments has been approved by State Cabinet and will now
proceed. - Unions fight for payouts
11 November
2002 - The union movement has thrown its weight behind indigenous organisations
fighting the Beattie Government over its $55.4 million offer to settle the stolen
wages. - Statement by Dr William Jonas AM on the Qld
'stolen wages' issue
8 November 2002 - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr William Jonas AM, today called on the
Queensland government to delay plans to seek Cabinet approval for their proposed
resolution of the Aboriginal 'stolen wages' issue until they have negotiated further
with Indigenous groups. - Stolen Wages Campaign:
UPDATE
9 October , 2002 - Robbed
Generation Seeks Stolen Wages
13 September 2002 - State governments
face the largest back-pay claim in Australian history as indigenous Australians
seek redress for more than 70 years of systematic under-payment. - ATSIC
Stunned by Minister's Comments on Stolen Wages
9 September 2002 - A senior
ATSIC official has expressed outrage at comments by Queensland Aboriginal Affairs
Minister Judy Spence that monies stolen from Indigenous workers by previous Qld
Governments hadbeen paid back in full by the 1990s. - Aboriginal
councils and coalition to call on Government to account for stolen process on
stolen wages
3 September 2002 - Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council - Representatives
from the Aboriginal Coordinating Council, FAIRA and historian Dr Ros Kidd will
call on the government today to account for itself over the recent "consultations"
with communities concerning reparations for a century of missing wages and savings
belonging to Aboriginal people. - Leak exposes wages
'rip-off'
20 June, 2002 - A leaked document on the 'stolen wages' issue
proved Aboriginal people were being ripped off in the Queensland Government's
current offer of compensation, the Aboriginal Coordinating Council said yesterday.
- Aborigines 'insulted' by lost wages compensation
plan
13 June, 2002 - Developing Australia's frontiers was often a back-breaking
task that helped forge our national identity. Yet the thousands of indigenous
workers who did their bit building the infrastructure and working the land were
rarely paid the same as their white workmates. - Aboriginal
community rejects wages compo offer
24 May 2002 - Aboriginal communities
were unlikely to accept the Queensland government's compensation offer for wages
and savings withheld by previous state policies, an indigenous leader said today.
Related information: | |
Support
the Stolen
Wages campaign. From 1904 to 1987, the Queensland Government withheld
or underpaid wages earned by Aboriginal workers; a fraction has been offered as
a settlement. Your
assistance would be greatly appreciated. ENIAR
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