Senator Lidia Thorpe says the Labor Government needs to implement all of the Bringing Them Home recommendations, 28 years after they were released.
On National Sorry Day the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung Senator said that while children in school now learn about the forced removal of Indigenous children as state policy, they don't learn that those practices are ongoing.
"The removal of First Nations children is an ongoing genocidal project being perpetrated through government policy every day," Senator Thorpe said.
"We need a government that is truly committed—not one that holds a morning tea every year to give us crocodile tears and empty apologies while continuing to steal our babies."
The Bringing Them Home report, tabled in Parliament on May 26, 1997, documented the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.
It found: "Indigenous families and communities have endured gross violations of their human rights. These violations continue to affect indigenous people's daily lives."
"They were an act of genocide, aimed at wiping out Indigenous families, communities, and cultures, vital to the precious and inalienable heritage of Australia."
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Senator Thorpe, whose mother, Marjorie Thorpe, played a key role in the report, said it "told us what we need to do".
"Implement the recommendations and give our people control over decisions about our children," she said, arguing the report is "still sitting on the Minister's shelf".
Earlier this year, the Healing Foundation released the Are you waiting for us to die? report, calling for a package of "urgent changes" to allow the remaining elderly survivors to "live out their days with dignity".
It noted only six per cent of recommendations made to support Stolen Generations survivors and their families have been fully implemented.
In February, Foundation chief executive Shannan Dodson said, "Immediate and prioritised action is needed to provide equitable redress for all survivors," as well as "ongoing support for Stolen Generations organisations" and ensuring "there are culturally safe, trauma-informed aged care and health services for survivors".
Senator Thorpe - a long-time critic of Labor and Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy - said she and the Prime Minister should be "ashamed" of the numbers.
She argued the removals - widely criticised by First Nations groups across the country - traumatise children and families, with a lack of action by governments across the board.
Data from both the Productivity Commission and the Closing the Gap report show the number of Indigenous children being removed from homes across the country is increasing, with experts arguing it is leading Australia down the "path of another Stolen Generation".
Almost 43 per cent of children placed in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia are First Nations, with Indigenous children removed at nearly ten times the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts.
"We know the government will try to say this is a state issue. But this is a national atrocity unfolding in every jurisdiction," Senator Thorpe said.
Governments are putting children in harm's way by failing to enforce legal protection, which in turn is enabling systemic neglect and abuse, she added.
The Victorian Senator, whose home state removes more children than anywhere else in the country, but also has the highest kinship rate, said child abuse is a crime, asking: "So why is there no accountability when the perpetrators are state and territory governments or their contracted service providers?"
"First Nations children removed from their families face significantly higher risks of poverty, homelessness, criminalisation, and suicide — outcomes for which governments must be held accountable."
Earlier this year, the government announced a two-year extension to the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme, whilst last year, the Healing Foundation's Chair, Professor Steve Larkin, welcomed the promotion to Cabinet for Senator McCarthy, calling her a "great appointment" with a history of advocacy for survivors of the Stolen Generations.
With a significant 'progressive' majority in the Senate, many organisations and groups say Labor now has no excuse not to pass legislation this term, with the majority of the crossbench, as well as the Greens, strong in their belief of greater protections for First Nations people.
Senator Thorpe argued if Labor are serious about ending child removals, they needed to enact the Bringing Them Home recommendations.
Furthermore, they need to set strong national standards, hold States and Territories to account, and fund culturally-safe, community-led programs that keep Indigenous children with family, culture and Country, she said.
Last week, the Queensland government announced an inquiry into the "broken" child protection system, but, despite several Indigenous groups and Elders calling for it, so far it has not included references to the over-representation of Indigenous children in care in the terms of reference.
"This new Parliament must mark the end of excuses. Labor has the numbers. They've got a progressive Senate. They've got First Peoples willing to work with them," Senator Thorpe said.
"It's time to stop hiding, start leading, and act on implementing these recommendations."
