WA Labor has confirmed a major announcement regarding the future of an aged care facility on a prominent Stolen Generations site southeast of Boorloo/Perth.

The National Indigenous Times can reveal the Labor government will make a major multi-million-dollar funding commitment to further develop Sister Kate's aged care facility to include 90-100 beds, if re-elected this month.

The facility would also expand to become a centre of excellence for Aboriginal aged care, the first of its kind in Western Australia, and provide cultural and spiritual care for Indigenous residents.

In 2021 the WA government issued a $10 million loan to help build the facility - operated by Hall and Prior – and National Indigenous Times has been advised another $10 million low-interest loan, as well as a $5 million grant, would form part of the re-elected Cook government's $140 million aged care package.

Both the aged care facility and BKI support agency next door sit on land of significant historic and cultural significance, where Kate Clutterbuck established the Sister Kate's Children's Home in 1934 specifically for Aboriginal children who mostly were Stolen Generations members.

Governance changes in the 1970s led Sister Kate's to also change their operations, with Aboriginal children there relocated to their parents if they were alive, older family members, or siblings who had moved on from the orphanage.

The Uniting Church later committed to discussions with people associated with Sister Kate's home to negotiate ways the Church could assist community healing and redress the trauma for Stolen Generations members there and its continuing consequences for individuals and families.

In 2007 the Church established the Beananing Kwuurt Institute (BKI) as a social services arm for Aboriginal people and Stolen Generations members connected to the site.

BKI sits on two blocks of Sister Kate's land, which the Uniting Church and its 'covenant' partner the United Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress left in disrepair, despite the significant funds available for maintenance.

The original BKI board had $5.5 million from the UC via the sale of part of the site in 2008 to the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, but allegedly squandered most of it despite warnings of financial discrepancies from independent auditors in annual reports on its social services delivery.

A new BKI board was established in 2021 and steered BKI to become a self-sufficient operation, but in June 2024 the Uniting Church suspended the Board and ordered all services to end on December 13.

The Uniting Church has refused to allow services to continue there, but has no immediate plans for the property.

Forced mediation between the Uniting Church, the UAICC and BKI was described as a "sham" by a BKI spokesperson.

Elders, Stolen Generations members and activist groups have peacefully occupied the BKI premises since the Uniting Church requested they vacate the land.

BKI's closure prompted Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe to implore WA Premier Roger Cook, state Aboriginal Affairs minister Tony Buti, and federal Indigenous Affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy intervene and help broker a deal between the church and BKI.

Senator Thorpe's letter to the politicians and Uniting Church confirmed the latter's 1994 Covenanting Statement recognised the "violent dispossession" of First Peoples, and acknowledged its complicity in injustices that continue to this day.

"The statement promised tangible reparations and reaffirmed the Church's responsibility to support Aboriginal self-determination," she said.

"This is a critical moment for both the WA government and the Uniting Church WA to fully embody these commitments … this is not a moment to retreat from them, but to embody them fully."

Senator Thorpe said the eviction of BKI jeopardised essential community services that were a lifeline for Aboriginal people.

"It has been made clear by members of the community there are grave concerns about the decision-making process surrounding this eviction," she wrote.

"If the Church is sincere about its support for self-determination, it must ensure that decisions about this land reflect the voices of all First Peoples with connections to this site."