Stolen Wages Research Needed

5 May 2006

Steve Fielding

Senator for Victoria

255 Blackburn Road

Mount Waverly

Vic 3149

Re: Senate Inquiry: Stolen Aboriginal Wages

Dear Senator

I write seeking your support for a Senate Committee Inquiry into the practice of Australian state and territory governments witholding wages and other payments from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were under their care and protection.

Although the stolen wages issue has received considerable attention recently in Queensland, the practice occurred throughout Australia from 1900 right up to the 1980s. Payments withheld included child endowment, pensions and even soldiers' pay. In Victoria we are currently in the process of submitting a research proposal to Victorian State Government to fund further research into the practices surrounding stolen wages in Victoria.

As a result of the practice of withholding payments, Aboriginal people were condemned to lives of poverty while their money was used as public revenue or disappeared through fraud or negligence.

Historian Dr Ros Kidd has conducted preliminary research for ANTaR on how this practice operated in every state and territory. I would be pleased to share this material with your staff and departmental officers should you require it.

However, while we are aware that the practice occurred in every state and territory, governments and the broader community still need to have a better understanding of its scale and impact on Indigenous families.

For this reason, ANTaR strongly supports a Senate References Committee Inquiry being conducted into these issues along the lines recently proposed by Australian Democrats Indigenous Affairs spokeperson, Senator Andrew Bartlett.

We would therefore welcome your support for Senator Bartlett's motion when it comes before the Senate.

Yours sincerely

Jill Webb

Chairperson

ANTaR Victoria  

Download a copy of this letter here.