Almost three decades on from the landmark Bringing Them Home report on Stolen Generations, the government has implemented just six per cent of recommendations. This National Sorry Day, advocates are calling for government action to better support survivors and their families.
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TRANSCRIPT
In 1997, the landmark Bringing Them Home report on the Stolen Generations was handed down.
Almost three decades on, only six percent of its 83 recommendations have been implemented.
May 26 marks National Sorry Day, to remember and honour the Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families between 1910 and 1970.
Yawuru woman Shannan Dodson is the Chief Executive of the Healing Foundation.
"It is the one day each year when this nation is asked again to face a simple, devastating truth that governments in this country took our babies and our children from their families, their communities, their culture, and their country, that they did this over generations, and that they did this on purpose. This is not history. The people who lived through these policies are our aunties, our uncles, our parents, our grandparents, our cousins. They are sitting beside you."
She says that after all these years, there is no excuse for inaction.
"29 years ago the Bring Them Home report carried those truths into parliament. Survivors sat in front of strangers and did one of the hardest things a person can do. They reopened their deepest wounds, often for the first time believing that by putting their pain on the public record this country would change the report that followed made 83 recommendations. It was not just a list, it was a road map for healing, for justice, for reparations, a set of concrete steps to say this is how we begin to make this right."
Back in 2008, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.
"As Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry, and I offer you this apology without qualification."
But, with the 30th anniversary of the report coming up and only 5 of the recommendations implemented, advocates say that saying sorry without action isn't enough.
This National Sorry Day, the Healing Foundation has delivered a 2-year action plan for the federal government, calling on leaders to follow through on their apology.
Shannan Dodson says the plan is a practical tool for the government to advance healing and justice.
"Sadly what we've seen with not seeing this implementation over 30 years, an entire generation, is that we've seen another generation of trauma passed down. And some of the things we see in our communities is a symptom of that trauma. And we really need to address this from a systematic and holistic approach, and that is what the research has shown is that there hasn't been that approach."
Under various state and territory schemes, Stolen Generations survivors have been given access to one-off financial payments of $100,000.
Queensland, however, remains the only holdout state in Australia, offering no compensation.
This National Sorry Day, the Federal Government has announced an additional $2.6 million in funding to support survivors of the Stolen Generations.
But Senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, says redress is about more than funding.
"Sorry means you don't do it again, but what do you know? We have 24,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out of home care in 2026 It is still happening. It is still real, and babies are still being ripped out of their mother's arms."
The Healing Foundation says survivors are over-represented among older Australians with poorer health and lower incomes.
Ms Dodson says that with many survivors reaching old age, action on the recommendations is becoming time critical.
"Most survivors are now eligible for aged care, and we still need to see a better, trauma-informed and culturally safe approach for survivors, particularly for example that they have fully subsidised co-payments so that they're not having to be out of pocket for costs to support them as they age with dignity at home."
Marion Scrymgour is the federal M-P for the seat of Lingiari in the Northern Territory.
Her father was forcibly removed as a child in Central Australia.
She says all members of the Stolen Generation should be provided with additional support to ensure their aged care journeys don't create more trauma.
"It is also proposed that there be a Stolen Generations Access and Prioritisation Cart and a formal escalation pathway for survivors, aged care complaints, delays, and inquiries, and that Stolen Generation organisations be provided with additional dedicated funding over four years to assist our remaining survivors in navigating their respective aged care journeys."
Shannan Dodson says that, by next year, she hopes real progress will have been made.
"The sorry signals compassion, but action creates justice. My hope is that when we gather again next year for the 30th anniversary, we will not just be marking another date. We will be able to point to real changes to every survivor and family here today. We see you, we hear you, we carry your stories with us. Actions speak louder than words. It's time to move from sorry to action."
