Stolen Wages – one step forward, one step back
The furore over wages and savings that were withheld from indigenous workers in New South Wales is growing this week – with news that the state government is unlikely to honour any claims without documentary evidence. The announcement has outraged one claimant who says he oversaw the burning of hundreds of records of monies held in trust – during his employment with the Child Welfare Board in the 1970s. The government panel investigating the disappearance of Aboriginal trust funds says that while they will listen to oral evidence, payments will be hard to justify without proof on paper. 81-year-old Elder Marjorie Woodrow is still fighting for her stolen wages to be returned – after 60 years. Meanwhile in Queensland, there are renewed hopes that the government will rethink the amount of money being offered in reparation for stolen wages. A Labor Party conference on the weekend has moved a resolution seeking another meeting between stolen wages advocates and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy minister Liddy Clark. Christine Powell spoke to the Stolen Wages Campaign Executive Committee’s Tiga Bayles.