Stolen Generations survivors and the services supporting them are set to receive additional federal government funding.
Announced on National Sorry Day, the Healing Foundation — an organisation amplifying the voices of Stolen Generations survivors and their families — will receive up to an additional $1 million to support its work, including community-led and trauma-informed programs.
A further one-off funding boost of up to $1.6 million will also be provided to the eight Link-Up service providers.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the Healing Foundation and Link-Up services across the country "continue to play a critical role in supporting Stolen Generations survivors and their families".
"On this National Sorry Day, we reflect on the pain and harm caused to Stolen Generations by past policies of forced removal," she said.
"This investment recognises that next year marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark Bringing Them Home report and will underpin a range of community-led programs to support the healing of our Stolen Generations."
Released in 1997, the 680-page Bringing Them Home report traced the laws and policies that led to the forced removal of Aboriginal children, finding that between one in three and one in 10 Indigenous children were taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.
The report made 83 recommendations aimed at supporting healing and reconciliation for the Stolen Generations, their families and the broader Australian community.
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Action, not just sorry
On Tuesday, the Healing Foundation launched Sorry to Action: A Plan to Act on Bringing Them Home (2026-2028), aimed at holding governments and departments accountable for failing to implement the Bringing Them Home recommendations.
Twenty-nine years after the landmark inquiry, only five recommendations have been fully implemented.
Healing Foundation CEO Shannan Dodson said the lack of progress leaves many survivors feeling sad, frustrated, invalidated and undervalued.
"This is not the responsibility of one or of [the] current government. It's also the responsibility of successive governments and past governments that haven't acted in the last 30 years," she said.
The action plan calls for "decisive action" between now and May 2028, focusing on five key areas, including equitable access to redress schemes, public education, service delivery and prioritised access to records.
Ms Dodson told National Indigenous Times one of the most critical areas for reform is aged care.
"We know that most survivors now eligible for aged care and are aging, and there's some real risk of re-traumatisation through the aged care system, as well as what that sort of holistic support looks like in terms of social-emotional well-being and health," she said.
Ms Dodson, whose father Mick Dodson co-chaired the Bringing Them Home report, said that with many survivors growing older, "unfortunately, we're at a point now where we have to really accelerate [the reforms]".
"There's a really time-critical nature here where we don't have a lot of time to actually put some of these things into place."
Earlier this month, the government announced the 2026-27 budget would exempt survivors' redress payments from means testing in residential aged care.
