The federal government has apologised to Stolen Wages Northern Territory group members and their surviving relatives in the Senate today.
Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said, on behalf of the Australian government, "we acknowledge a significant wrong in this country".
Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who worked in the NT and were paid little or no wages from 1933 to 1971, while they were subject to Commonwealth wage control legislation.
"For this, as Minister for Indigenous Australians, I'm sorry for this. The Australian Government is sorry," Minister McCarthy said.
"We know that First Nations people have been harmed by many of the laws and policies created in this country since European settlement.
"Indigenous people were stolen from their families. Indigenous people were used for back breaking labour; building new communities that often excluded them. We know they did gruelling and critical work, particularly in the Northern Territory, toiling on farms and stations, building, tending to stock, cooking, and cleaning, gardening, making clothes."
The Minister said many First Nations people worked "for very little pay, even in some cases, for no pay at all, often for excruciatingly long hours, often in remote locations and difficult conditions, often away from family".
"During this period of Australia's growth, the knowledge and hard work of First Nations people and in the Northern Territory was heavily relied upon and at times exploited," she said.
"Unfair Commonwealth laws denied indigenous people fair financial reward for their efforts in working to build communities across Australia."
In September, the federal government settled a class action, which was launched by Minnie McDonald in 2021, on behalf of workers and surviving relatives of those who received little or no wages.
"President," Senator McCarthy said, "I thank Ms McDonald."
"Thank you for your courage and strength in leading this class action. Thank you for sharing some of your story."
Ms McDonald, who was not in the Senate for the apology, reflected in September on life under the system which stole the wages of Aboriginal people.
"It was hard when we were growing up," she said. "We lived in the bush and didn't have any school.
"When I was young, I started working on stations. I was working with my family - my father, my mother and my brothers were on the station. I later met my husband when working on stations. We had nothing and had to live on bush tucker and a bit of bread."
She added: "A lot of those people we worked with are gone now. This is about all the people who were working everywhere and never got paid nothing."
Ms McCarthy said she was in Parliament on Wednesday to express "how deeply sorry I am for that".
I'm sorry for the suffering and injustice afflicted inflicted on First Nations people, my people, through the laws of the Commonwealth that denied them the right to fair pay for work done."
The federal government will pay up to $180 million for up to 10,000 First Nations group members who worked in the Northern Territory.
They will also pay separate amounts totalling $22 million for costs.
The court will determine the reasonableness of deductions at a further hearing on 17 December 2024 in the Federal Court.
As part of the historic class action settlement, the Commonwealth will pay up to $202 million to eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers or their surviving spouses and children.
This amount includes up to $15 million towards the legal costs of bringing the claim, and up to $7 million for the costs of administering the settlement, and associated costs.
Wednesday also saw the Federal Court rule eligible Western Australian Aboriginal workers and their families whose wages were stolen under racist government policies throughout much of the 20th century will receive share $144,375,000 in compensation.
The class action was initiated by Gooniyandi stockman and artist Mervyn Street, who worked on stations for most of his life and was not paid a wage until he was in his 30s.
