Greens push for stolen generation compo

The Australian Greens have taken up the fight for financial compensation for the stolen generations but the federal government remains totally opposed to the idea.

The Greens introduced into parliament a bill to set up a reparations tribunal to
determine compensation, still sought by many members of the stolen generations.
The federal government delivered a long-awaited national apology to the stolen
generations in February, but has ruled out financially compensating victims.
A spokeswoman for Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the government was
building on the apology with practical measures to close the life expectancy gap
between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
"The Australian government's position has always been clear - we will not be
establishing a compensation fund for stolen generations," she said.
The coalition also opposes compensation, a key recommendation of the 1997 Bringing
Them Home report into the stolen generations.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said the government had started the job with the
apology, but compensation was the next part.
"We will continue to push this issue because it was very clearly part of the
Bringing Them Home report," Senator Siewert said.
"The government is not doing justice to that report, is not keeping faith with the
stolen generations by failing to deal with the issue of compensation."
The Greens bill differs from an earlier Australian Democrats bill by providing for
uncapped compensation. The Democrats bill placed a $20,000 cap on payments.
Greens Leader Bob Brown conceded he did not know how much the compensation might
cost the government.
"We don't have a figure on that, but much less than the ongoing suffering that the
stolen generation has had to put up with," he said.