Charisa Bossinakis
Aboriginal and Torres Strait readers are advised that this article may contain images of the deceased.
The Australian Greens want to dedicate billions of taxpayer money to victims of the Stolen Generation.
Ahead of the Federal election on May 21, the party has proposed that if they acquire the balance of power, they promise to make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax.
The Greens will then use a portion of that billionaires tax to give every Stolen Generation member $200,000 each, according to their website.
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They have also proposed a range of emotional and mental health services as part of compensation and a $7,000 one-off payment for funeral expenses.
Victorian Greens Senator and Djabwurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe first introduced the scheme last year and hopes it gives some form of justice the Indigenous community.
She said: “It has been 24 years since the Bringing Them Home Report which recommended a number of solutions for our Stolen Generation peoples across this country. Twenty-four years and an apology and still no peace, still no justice.
“It’s with a heavy heart that 24 years later, I am announcing on behalf of the Australian Greens a compensation package of $200,000 per Stolen Generation member.”
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In 1997, the Bringing Them Home report recommended a national compensation package for survivors; however, no government has proposed a scheme of this kind until now.
Senator Thorpe added that due to the slow roll-out of reparations, justice never came for many deceased victims of the Stolen Generation.
She said: “I have seen so many of our people pass away waiting for justice, waiting for peace. This is my community, this is our community, and our people continue to live in poverty.
"They continue to feel the effects of being taken away from their families and their communities.”
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Following the proposal, First Nations people in Victoria who were part of the Stolen Generations before 1977 could apply for payments of up to $100,000 as part of the state government's redress scheme for survivors.
Although Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the redress scheme was ‘long overdue’, the ABC reports he said he hopes it will help Indigenous Victorians impacted by the racist government policy to build a better future.
He said: “Healing and reconciliation for Aboriginal Victorians doesn’t just mean talking about what we can do – it means taking action,”
“While we’re on a pathway to Treaty, and truth telling is underway, more can be done.”
The Stolen Generations was a government policy passed down through several administrations on both state and federal levels that saw Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from their families and placed into church missions and caucasian households.
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Experts reckon between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families from 1910 and 1970
In some cases, babies were taken from their parents at the hospital shortly after birth.