Repaying stolen wages

How would you feel if this happened to you?

"Imagine that the government instructs your employer to withhold four-fifths of your pay, over and above the normal tax deducted, ordering the money be forwarded to a government-administered account.

You query this but are told what the government is doing is lawful and that your money is to be spent in ways that will further your welfare.

Where you live, schools are run down and the public health and housing services are low-grade and deteriorating. But despite all the money you and others are handing over, no improvements are made to your services and infrastructure.

It transpires the money is being spent on projects, some public infrastructure, some not, thousands of kilometres away.

Years pass before the government suddenly stops taking your money. It says it got things wrong. It says sorry.

However, it refuses to pay back to you what was taken or even give you back your portion of what's left in the so-called welfare fund.

Instead today's Government offers you a tiny amount in 'reparation' and announces the leftover money is to go into an education scholarship fund that, if your child is one of the lucky few, may assist you to send your child hundreds of kilometres away to school.

You try to take legal action to recover your money, but the Government says, whoops, its records are incomplete, missing, washed away in floods, burned or eaten by the cat and so you can't prove that it really did take your money, or as much as you say it took. So, how would you feel if all this happened to you?" [12]

This happened to Indigenous people all over Australia. It's called the stolen wages.

Stolen Wages repayment schemes in Australia

Some states already have set up repayment schemes for the wages they took from Aboriginal people. Other states are still 'investigating' the issue.

Aboriginal people claim that repayment schemes have not been properly promoted and that administrative processes are inadequate, leading to a low number of successful applicants [14].

New South Wales

The NSW government has apologised for practices of previous governments, and in 2004 established an Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme (ATFRS) to fully reimburse Aboriginal stolen wages to claimants for wages paid between 1900 and 1968, at today's value. The NSW government does not cap repayments or demand to surrender legal rights, and both direct and descendant claimants were eligible to apply for stolen wages repayments until 31 March 2009. The ATFRS will continue to operate until 30 June 2010 to allow claims to be processed [10]. By January 2008 only about 15% of the more than 660 claims had been successful [14].

Taking into account interest and inflation, for every $100 owed in stolen wages the government committed to repay $3,521 in 2005 [4].

The ATFRS registered 1,163 potential claimants [5]. Of these 358 (31%) are direct claimants (living people) and 805 people or 69% who wish to make descendant claims (on behalf of their deceased relatives). Up to December 2007 it had only paid out one-ninth of the estimated debt [6].

In April 2009 the Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme was changed so that a panel can now recommend lump-sum repayments of up to A$11,000 and take into account non-documentary and oral evidence when considering applications.

Queensland

Queensland, by contrast, just offered $2,000 to $4,000 in compensation for a lifetime of work. On top of this it required Aboriginal people to waive their legal right to further compensation.

Many stolen wages victims dismissed the offer out of disgust, while others missed the application deadline. The government established the Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparations Scheme (IWSR) and set aside $55.4 million dollars. Little more than a third of these was distributed, and 37 per cent of claims were rejected because of a lack of evidence or the comparative youth of the applicant [7].

On November 25th, 2008, the government of Queensland launched the Qld Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATISF) which will draw $15 million from the IWSR Scheme, a move strongly opposed by Indigenous organisations, even possible recipients of the foundation's monies [11]. The foundation will support up to 100 scholarships a year.

The submissions to the stolen wages compensation scheme are an historic gold mine. Aboriginal people tell their stories first-hand, and some submissions include copies of historic documents such as applications for exemption under the Aboriginal Protection Act.

Western Australia

In 2008 the government of Western Australia announced an investigation into the nature and extent of the stolen wages and established a taskforce.

Other states

All other state and territory governments are 'looking into the issue' of stolen wages and have not yet taken action at the time of writing.

A typical day started between 6 and 6.30 in the morning and finished between 8 and 8.30 at night. [...] I was expected to work everyday, seven days a week. —Lesley Williams (then aged 17) [9]

[1] 'Rewind' program on ABC, 17 October 2004 [2] Koori Mail 406, 'Stolen Wages lifeline', p.1 [3] 'Under award wages claim', http://www.faira.org.au/lrq/archives/200008/stories/under_award.html [4] Guidelines for the Administration of the NSW Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme, February 2006 [5] Department of Premier and Cabinet, http://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/atfrs/work_with_claimants [6] 'Give us back our money', Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 2007 [7] Koori Mail 406, loc. cit., p.6 [8] Stolen Wages committee submissions, http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Committee/legcon_ctte/stolen_wages/submissions/sublist.htm, submission #61 [9] Stolen Wages committee submissions, loc. cit., submission #82 [10] 'Stolen wages deadline', Koori Mail 430 p.10 [11] 'Rocky start for Qld fund', Koori Mail 440 p.9 [12] 'State Government's dodgy deal', Courier-Mail, 30/11/2008 [13] '$4000 bonus', SMH 6/1/2009 [14] 'Right decision, says NSWALC', Koori Mail 442 p.6