The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service is working hard to make up for lost time, helping Stolen Generations members work through the state's redress scheme.
Principal Managing Lawyer of the VALS Civil and Human Rights team, Alex Walters, told National Indigenous Times that Victoria was "one of the later jurisdictions" to introduce a scheme - for which applications opened on 31 March last year.
"We have helped almost 100 clients with the scheme, helping them apply," he said.
"It is a suite of measures, including compensation capped at $100,000, available to First Nations people removed from their families before December 1976.
"There have been a couple of challenges. One is people being asked to provide a photo of themselves holding their own photo ID.
"The other is people being asked to confirm their Aboriginality. One of the big problems for people of the Stolen Generations is they were taken away from their community and family, making the three part test more difficult."
Mr Walters said asking people who were separated from their family to provide formal confirmation of their Aboriginality "can be pretty re-traumatising".
"We had hoped the Department of Justice and Community Services would deal with this as they have the records, the records of families and removals, but they have been somewhat obstinate with that," he noted.
Mr Walters said that while no scheme could ever undo what has been done to the Stolen Generations members, it is a positive step that the formal apology by the state has happened and that compensation and access to healing programs has been made available.
"We have had people apply and get payments quite quickly. Even though there are difficulties we are telling clients it is worth applying," he said.
Mr Walters noted that the Yoorrook Justice Commission has pledged to engage specifically with Stolen Generations members in hearings, which was one of the recommendations of the Stolen Generations steering committee report that also led to the creation of the redress scheme.
"I don't know at this stage what Yoorrook propose to do, we hope they make specific provision for the Stolen Generations to engage meaningfully."
National Indigenous Times has contacted Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Services for comment.
In 2022 the VALS Civil and Human Rights team worked on a number of other key issues.
VALS secured around $300,000 in compensation paid to clients across employment, tenancy, discrimination and other civil claims; had more than $400,000 worth of client fines waived through our volunteer run infringement clinic; had over $300,000 worth of client debts waived; and acted for families in four coronial inquests.
The team also provided disaster relief legal services to clients affected by the 2022 floods; helped 21 clients to avoid homelessness (across 2021 - 2022); established a new mental health tribunal practice, and the Lotjpa Legal Service which is helping clients with the Yoorrook Commission; and continued to fight to lower the pension age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
