Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight an injustice which is occurring among Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, which the minister is refusing to address. The Northern Territory stolen wages class action was brought against the Commonwealth government on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who worked in the Northern Territory between 1933 and 1971 and were paid little or no wages. The Commonwealth agreed to pay up to $202 million, including costs, to settle the class action, with up to $18,000 for each eligible claimant who registered by August 2025. The problem is that many of the people who were possibly eligible were not informed of the opportunity to claim.

I accept this is a long way from Gippsland, but one of my constituents volunteers as a lawyer who works in the East Arnhem area, and he became aware of hundreds of community members who had not been informed of the opportunity provided by the court ruling. On 12 December 2025, I wrote to the minister and pointed out that many community members living remotely may not have had the opportunity to register at all and injustice was being done. I received no response. On 19 February of this year, I again wrote to the minister and explained that there was a steady flow of inquiries about stolen wages to the local Aboriginal corporation. Again, these people had not been informed.

My constituent told me of one Yolngu elder who had just left his office. He wrote:

He is a local elder and revered traditional owner.

…   …   …

He is more importantly a fine man and friend.

He attended my office to complain about the lack of any notification regarding the stolen wages.

…   …   …

It is only now that a few people are getting money that the cat is out of the bag. He states many Yolngu know nothing of the scheme.

As an aside the two he wished to claim for personally are his father who rescued a USA pilot shot down on a remote Island. His father Jacky rescued the pilot and canoed him to civilisation. He then worked for the airforce at Gove airport for no pay and latter in jobs detrimental to indigenous workers.

His mother was a nurse delivering babies in remote areas. She received an AOM for her services but again compromised pay.

And he goes on to say,

Old Geoff this is not closing the gap but opening a gap of more sorrow.

I'm sure those who conducted this fiasco will say they did a terrific job of notifying applicants but let me reassure you they didn't.

Again, there was no response from the minister to that letter. So I wrote again on 1 April of this year and provided more details on this flawed process and failure to notify people who may have been eligible to receive funding under the stolen wages claim. My letter of 1 April received no response again.

Despite several attempts to then seek a meeting with the minister or her adviser, my request was bounced around between the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Attorney-General, with no-one seeming to know who was responsible for looking into this serious situation. On 28 April, I wrote again to the minister. Finally, on 29 April, I received a response from the Minister of Indigenous Australians, except it wasn't from the minister herself. It was an email from her chief of staff. The email says:

The Class Action and the Settlement Distribution Scheme are administered independently of the Government. The Federal Court of Australia appointed independent Administrators to administer the Settlement.

Given the independence of the Settlement, the Commonwealth is unable to influence the way the Administrators administer the settlement, including to extend the registration date. The settlement of the Class Action was reached by agreement of several parties and this agreement cannot be altered without the approval of the Federal Court.

It is simply saying, 'Not my problem.' It's a fancy way of saying, 'Not my problem.'

The minister herself couldn't be bothered to respond to multiple letters on behalf of hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were never told that they may be eligible to receive a payment under this scheme. The government has simply given up on this injustice. It took the minister five months to respond to my multiple letters—and even then, the minister herself couldn't be bothered writing a letter; we got an email from the chief of staff. I urge the minister: please listen to the people on the ground and help them find a way to fix this injustice. If you can't fix it, at least try. At least speak to the Aboriginal corporation on the ground, and understand that there are now hundreds of people who were never informed of their capacity to seek a payment under this scheme.

What frustrates me the most is this media release from the minister on 6 September 2024, where she wrote:

It is my hope that … the settlement will bring closure to many First Nations people impacted by these Commonwealth laws.

The minister was happy to bask in the glory with a media release welcoming the court ruling but was not prepared to do the hard work and address this injustice, which has been presented to her multiple times.

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