photo of my mum eva creed (on right) and freinds in front of the dormitory on palm island where the girls who wer stolen lived and work for no wages and were requiered to go to Fantome island and do the laundry at the leper colony for no wages - Baganan
To the
Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee
Department of the Senate
Inquiry into Stolen Wages
Submission from Theresa Creed and John Tracey
on behalf of kalkadoon.org
We support the present terms of reference of the Senate enquiry. It is important
that the facts of the matter be established. However we would urge the senators to
also seek solutions to the problem as well as simply analysing it. With this in mind
we refer specifically to reccomendation “I”
“whether there is a need to ’set the record straight’ through a national forum to
publicly air the complexity and the consequences of mandatory controls over
Indigenous labour and finances during most of the 20th century”
We suggest that any future action by the senate or federal government be directed to
finding realistic solutions to the problems identified by the enquiry, not simply public
acknowledgements of the problem.
Our legal advice is that Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed, one of the writers of
this submission, and her family are descendents of the victims of crime who have
passed away have no claim in the courts to the stolen wages, nor a right to claim from
the present Qld. Compensation offer. Yet it is these descendents such as Baganan
who bear the burden and carry the consequences of the systematic impoverishment of
Aboriginal people through the “protection” era.
A simply legalistic response from governments at all levels will not address the real
issues of Aboriginal disadvantage or more importantly strategies of rebuilding
aboriginal prosperity and health.
We suggest that solutions, including realistic compensation for stolen wages lie in
good willed negotiation and creative planning by all range of government and
Aboriginal authorities. The process of inquisition, blame, prosecution, defence and
lawyer-created outcomes will simply be a waste of everyone’s time and the taxpayer’s
money and not advance policy goals such as the advancement of Aboriginal society or
of reconciliation and resolution in the hearts and minds of the victims and their
families.
We acknowledge that state governments are not able to pay proper compensation in
cash terms and we encourage all governments to look to “out of the box” ways to
settle justice for stole wages.
We advocate a compensation package based on a joint venture of federal, state and
local governments.
We suggest that public housing budgets and stolen wages compensation funds be used
to engage in real estate developments that supply private house and land packages to
Aboriginal families as compensation for stolen wages and other tragedies of history.
We suggest that an “average Australian family” would have used money such as that
stolen from Aboriginal people to secure a family home if they had the opportunity to
do so. We see the provision of family homes as being a realistic compensation to all
Aboriginal people who are today living with the consequences of stolen wages and
other systematic obstacles to prosperity.
We refer the senate enquiry to a model of real estate development framework
identified in the attached “Out of the Box” report.
Please find following
“Out of the Box”
Architecture and town planning to facilitate prosperity in remote Aboriginal
communities.
A discussion paper produced by kalkadoon.org
For The “Gunya 21 Link Tank”
July 2006
John Tracey
Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed
On behalf of
kalkadoon.org
contact
kurityityin@yahoo.com
all the written submissions to the enqiry
Posted by kurityityin in HOME - current news, Education