National Sorry Day is observed annually on May 26. This year commemorates the 28th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report (1997), which documented the abhorrent experiences of the Stolen Generations. Between 1910 and the 1970s, the Government forcibly removed First Nations children from their homes.
The Bringing Them Home inquiry shed light on the devastating extent of the Stolen Generations and made fifty-four recommendations, including a national apology, compensation for survivors, and changes to child welfare systems to prevent further harm.
Almost thirty years later, many crucial steps have not been taken to close the gap.
A report released earlier this year by the Healing Foundation, titled Are you waiting for us to die? The unfinished business of Bringing Them Home, found that only 6 per cent of the Bringing Them Home report recommendations have been clearly implemented.
This year’s theme, ‘We cannot wait another generation,’ voiced by Amnesty International, highlights the urgency of acting on these recommendations.
Today, one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are descended from Stolen Generations. In some States and Territories, descendants make up more than half of the population.
Many survivors are eligible for aged care but are placed into a Government system that re-triggers the trauma of institutionalisation. WA and QLD are yet to introduce any redress schemes, while other state and territory schemes are viewed as inadequate. Many still lack access to their records.
National Sorry Day is a precursor to National Reconciliation Week which starts on 27 May, and is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum that pioneered addressing inequalities for First Nations people.
Reconciliation week concludes on June 3 with Mabo Day, which commemorates the High Court decision to recognise native title and overturn the legal falsity of terra nullius (no-man’s land) in Australia.
These milestones represent some progress, but they also serve as reminders that Australia still has a long way to go in achieving true reconciliation and justice for First Nations communities.
This Sorry Day, almost thirty years after the landmark report, closing the gap for Stolen Generations survivors and their families is ‘more urgent than ever.’ Without a true reckoning with the current state of Government response to First Nations communities, we will never be equipped to enact meaningful intergenerational change beyond an apology.
