Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy says she will continue to push state governments to take responsibility and provide compensation for Stolen Generations survivors, amid growing frustration over delays and inaction.
Neither Western Australia or Queensland have tailored redress schemes in place for survivors. Asked about this lack of compensation, Minister McCarthy said she would be meeting with her state and territory counterparts in the coming weeks to continue to put pressure on them.
Appearing on ABC Breakfast on National Sorry Day, Ms McCarthy expected the "serious matter" to be front and centre of any discussion, noting: "It is something that our country is still dealing with today and these are very important and very serious matters."
"We still have families today who are very concerned about the removal of their children," she said.
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.
Having spent Sunday with survivors and descendants of the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls and the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home, the Senator acknowledged "there is unfinished business".
"I certainly heard, first hand, some of the stories there," she said.
"And this is something that I hold very closely...even from my own reflections, in terms of where I come from, the families who are still feeling the effects of that."
The government has recently extended the redress scheme in the NT.
Nonetheless, Senator McCarthy reiterated that whilst the Commonwealth has responsibility over the NT and the ACT, it is up to the state governments to meet their obligations and responsibilities.
Her comments come after scathing criticism from Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, who said the government needs to implement all of the recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report, 28 years after they were first released.
"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."
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.
