Stolen
Wages Campaign
Resolutions & Statements of Support
ANTaR Community Meeting 'Stolen Wages, Stolen Lives, Government
Payback?', Brisbane, 6 June 2002
This meeting calls on all Queensland institutions and individuals
who are committed to justice and reconciliation to publicly denounce
the injustices imposed through the stolen wages and to denounce
the further injustice proposed by the Beattie Government's insulting
offer of compensation.
Aboriginal Coordinating Council Full Council Meeting
3 September 2002
Given the various contradictory and confusing statements made by
the Minister Judy Spence and Premier Peter Beattie on the stolen
wages issue the Members of the Aboriginal Coordinating Council,
having examined very closely the statements, including the alleged
offer by the Queensland Government to compensate our people for
our stolen wages and savings. It was agreed that:-
- the basis for the offer is inadequate,
- the compensation process is unclear,
- the time line for the compensation has not been clarified,
and
- the so-called consultation was more confusing than beneficial.
Given the above, the Aboriginal Coordinating Council Full Council
resolves
that the Government must establish a dialogue with the elected arm
of the
ACC in order to deliver a just equitable outcome for our people.
Moved: Alfred Lacey (Deputy Chair ACC, Deputy Chair Palm Island)
Seconded: Peter Guivarra (Chair, Old Mapoon)
Passed: Unanimously.
Indigenous Union Conference Statement
11 September 2002
The following Statement was issued at the close of the second annual
Indigenous Union Conference in Brisbane on September 10 & 11, 2002.
Over 65 Indigenous Unionists from across Australia proclaim the Beattie State Labor Government's proposed reparation offer to the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Queensland in regards to stolen wages an affront to the dignity and collective interest of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia.
Delegates call on the Beattie State Labor Government to sit down and negotiate in good faith utilising appropriate and culturally accountable<
consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Queensland to ensure a just and dignified outcome consistent with
the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples affected by the reparation proposals.
This is union business - and to this end delegates call for urgent and immediate action in bringing public pressure to bear in a campaign
declaring support for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Queensland affected by the Beattie State Labor Government's proposed
reparation settlement.
Delegates call for solidarity by the trade union movement and call on the ACTU and all affiliates, in particular the Queensland Council of
Unions, in supporting the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Queensland to ensure a just reparation settlement for wages stolen.
Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) Executive
29 November 2002
General Secretary reported on the stolen wages issue and the reparations offer from the Queensland Government.
Resolved:
"That the following resolution be sent to the Premier, the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and the Secretary of
the Caucus and be issued as part of a media release.
The QCU expresses its strongest concern at the inadequacy of both
the outcomes and process for the Queensland Government Reparations Offer
for Aboriginal Wages and Savings given the massive benefit to the Queensland
and Australian economies from the enforced labour of Aboriginal people.
In particular, QCU believes:
- the amounts of $2,000 to $4,000 offered to individuals bear
no relation to what people earned or had stolen during the periods
of control and enforced labour under the various Protection Acts
throughout the past century
- the process of consultation has been flawed
- as the culmination of a struggle lasting more than 100 years,
the offer as it now stands and the process through which it was
arrived at offers neither dignity nor closure for the people,
families and communities most affected by wages and savings practices
and policies under the Protection Acts
- this payment should be treated as an initial response to the
reparations issue
Accordingly, the QCU demands that the State Government re-enters negotiations with relevant Indigenous representatives and bodies
to formulate a proper consultation process to lead to an outcome which is acceptable to and restores the dignity of the Queensland Indigenous
peoples on their terms.
Executive endorses the General Secretary's actions in providing assistance, including public and media statements, to support a just outcome
for Queensland Indigenous peoples.
The QCU asks affiliates to offer whatever assistance is possible to Indigenous representatives and bodies and to work with such representatives
and bodies in pressing their demands for a fair settlement to this matter.
Moved H.Guille Sec R.Monaghan
CARRIED
Resolution passed by Queensland Independent Education Union Council
November 2002
That Council notes the offer from the Queensland Government, commends the recognition of the Queensland Government to the existing liabilities,
advises the Queensland Government that QIEU believes that these amounts are woefully inadequate and calls on the Queensland Government to enter
into meaningful discussions with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and representatives regarding more adequate compensation
and recognition of monies owed.
Australia Asia Worker Links
Public Meeting 29 April 2003
Resolution regarding the Queensland Government Reparations Offer
for Aboriginal Wages and Savings - also known as the Stolen Wages.
That the following AAWL resolution supports the QCU Executive decision
to campaign expressed in their resolutions of November 2002.
We condemn the Queensland Reparations Offer. We consider any payment
short of full reparation simply an inadequate down payment of the total
that is owed to Aboriginal workers.
Words cannot express our disappointment and disgust in the Queensland Government's refusal to pay what is owed to workers. We note that
such a situation can only exist in a profoundly racist society that has not come to terms with the history of invasion occupation and dispossession
of Aboriginal land.
We remain committed to wages justice for all workers. We will continue to support the struggle for land rights, compensation and justice for
the indigenous people of Australia.
We will ask all unions to support the campaign for the Stolen Wages.
Victorian Trades Hall Council Resolution
2 May 2003
Council notes and endorses the Queensland Council of Unions position on this important issue and expresses our support for the Stolen Wages Campaign
and for the demand for a just outcome for thousands of Aboriginal people who were robbed of wages during much of the last century. We call on
the Queensland Government to withdraw its offer and put in place a fairer package. We urge affiliates to give support to the campaign.
Socialist Alliance National Executive
30 May 2003
The Socialist Alliance supports the struggle of Indigenous workers in Queensland who are organising through the Stolen Wages Campaign
for Justice. For more than 70 years, the wages and savings of Aboriginal workers were controlled under compulsory labour contracts
and the workers only ever received a fraction of what they were entitled.
We are outraged by the pitifully inadequate take-it or leave-it 'reparations offer' made by the Queensland Government which we consider to be
little more than a cynical attempt to induce Aboriginal workers -- who were ripped off
for decades -- to waive future legal claims.
We further consider that Aboriginal workers continue to be underpaid today. Aboriginal workers -- performing vital work for their communities which
should be paid at award wages -- continue to labour for a pittance through the Community Development Employment Scheme which requires them
to work for the dole.
Socialist Alliance considers that this issue is a priority for the trade union movement.
Moved by the Freedom Socialist Party
Carried unanimously, by Socialist Alliance National Executive, 30
May 2003
Statement of support from National Indigenous Postgraduate Association
Aboriginal Corporation (NIPAAC) 24 June 2003
The National Indigenous Postgraduate Association Aboriginal Corporation (NIPAAC) wholeheartedly supports those who are seeking a fair compensation
on their stolen wages.
As an organisation concerned with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, we are constantly reminded of the impact that economic
disadvantage has on Indigenous Peoples' life opportunities. The withholding of the wages of Aboriginal workers has clearly contributed to the
economic disadvantage currently experienced in Aborginal communities.
Past Governments were responsible for collecting these monies, they were responsible for its safe keeping and they have failed in this. These
monies have been disbursed (and now part of the social capital) but not to the benefit of those Indigenous peoples who contributed. The Government needs to accept its responsibility.
State Governments now have an important responsibility to amend for a past injustice by compensating for the full amount of money withheld,
or for an amount considered fair by the claimants. Compensation is one small way that governments can give substance to the reconciliation process, while
addressing a direct cause of poverty among Aboriginal Peoples.
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