Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make a couple of statements on this important bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021 and the related bill. One of the things that we have been doing in this parliament is to have served with some important historical figures, like the minister for Indigenous affairs, Ken Wyatt. I know that he's a good friend to many in this chamber, across the aisle. From our side, I want to acknowledge his significant contribution to Australia and in bringing together this legislation.

Of course, his mother, Mona, was a member of the Stolen Generations. She spent a large part of her life at the Roelands mission. Mr Wyatt himself has talked about the Wiradjuri elder, Isabel Reid, who was born in Wagga Wagga in 1932. The minister said that one afternoon she was walking home from school with her brother and sister when she was taken from her family by the government. Her parents did not know what happened to their children. That is the most harrowing set of words that I can imagine reading or hearing, and it's about our government. It's about historical judgements made by the governments of Australia and of the states of Australia, and it is a great shame. And it's still having a big impact.

It's obvious, when we travel around a state like New South Wales, which has the largest Indigenous population of any of the states, that the intergenerational trauma and impacts of these disgusting policies are real. So the least we can do is to make this small but important gesture at this stage, when many of these people are elderly. But it's an important gesture. No-one is ever going to say that any amount of money is worth a life but, in this case, it's very important that we put in place this financial compensation scheme to acknowledge for all time the wrongness of the policies that were put in place many decades ago but which are still reverberating today.

I want to acknowledge all the work that has been done on this and all the bipartisan support that will come for this important bill. And I acknowledge, again—although I wasn't here for it some 12 years ago—that the apology was a very important moment. But there is still much work to do and I am personally committed to doing whatever I can do while I'm in this place.