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Aboriginal councils and coalition to call on Government to account for stolen process on stolen wages

Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council
MEDIA RELEASE

Government asked to account for itself over the recent "consultations" with communities concerning reparations for a century of missing wages and savings belonging to Aboriginal people.

3 September 2002 - 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.

The ACC, the 15 former mission and reserve or DOGIT (Deeds of Grant in Trust) communities across the state, is having its Full Council Meeting in Townsville this week to coincide with the North Queensland sitting of Parliament.

Historian Dr Ros Kidd (author of 'The Way We Civilise' - a history of the governance of Aboriginal people in Queensland) will tell the ACCs Full Council Meeting recent 'consultation' process carried out on behalf of the Government was full on contradictions.

"Not only was the process itself a contradiction - was it an offer or not?" Dr Kidd said, "but both Premier Beattie and Minister Judy Spence have been consistently inconsistent in their explanation of what the terms and conditions are for the eligible and precisely what kind of legal indemnity the offer involves."

"Mr Beattie may well say there is no time for court cases and litigation over this matter and I know the Councils and the coalition agree with that.

"But if it comes to people taking the matter to Court the blame for that rests fairly and squarely with the Government for making this 'offer' and process so inadequate and confusing as to be completely unacceptable to the people it was intended for.

"Long gone are the days when Aboriginal people will just accept whatever crumbs are tossed from the table at them - this money is theirs, they worked for it and they are simply asking for what is owed - and the Government's own records and legal advice confirm that."

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Further information:

• Stolen wages, missing Trust funds : The fight for justice in Queensland
  Article by Dr Ros Kidd
• Working For the Man: Wages Lost to the Queensland Workers 'Under the Act'
  June 1996 - The Indigenous Law Bulletin - The kindest complexion one might put on the disposition of wages was that the government believed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were unable to manage their own affairs. However, this is not supported by the evidence.
  
  
  
• Media reports:
  • Aboriginal community rejects wages compo offer / Aborigines may walk away from compensation offer
  • Aborigines 'insulted' by lost wages compensation plan
  • ATSIC Stunned by Minister's Comments on Stolen Wages
  • Leak exposes wages 'rip-off' / $500m lost wages claim goes missing

• Money that's black and white and spent all over
  The dollars may appear black, but there are plenty of "grey" areas. Not all native title dollars are being used to Aboriginal advantage. They are being used to help those opposing native title claims. They are being used to help other landholders and the nation deal with the fallout of a High Court decision - the landmark Mabo finding in 1992 that native title exists.
• Secret Country
  October 2002 - Oral history recordings are an inadequate tool in trying to find out what happened to Aboriginal stockmen and their communities on cattle stations in Northern Australia, writes Neale Towart.

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