Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with NT Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Eileen Cummings and CEO Maisie Austin

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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Eileen Cummings and CEO Maisie Austin · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We learned a little bit earlier this morning that thousands
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of Stolen Generation survivors could see repatriation payments as early
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: as next year under a multi million dollar scheme announced
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: by the federal government. The federal government has announced that
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  Speaker 1: it's going to fund three hundred and seventy eight point
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  Speaker 1: six million dollar redress scheme for the Stolen Generation survivors
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  Speaker 1: of the Act and the Northern Territory as well as
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  Speaker 1: in Jervis Bay Territory in New South Wales. Now joining
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  Speaker 1: me in the studio right now to talk further about
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  Speaker 1: this situation. I have got Maizie Austin, who is the
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  Speaker 1: CEO of the NT Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Maizie, Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm also joined by Eileen Cummens who is the
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  Speaker 1: chairperson and Eileen you, Good morning to you. Good morning now, Eileen,
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  Speaker 1: I understand that you have been well a real really
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  Speaker 1: very passionately fighting for this to happen for for a
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  Speaker 1: very long period of time, haven't you. Yes, I have
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  Speaker 1: Iilean talk us through that fight and how long it's taken.
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  Speaker 3: Well, this year we actually got we ended up getting
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  Speaker 3: some lawyers to put our case forward for a class action,
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  Speaker 3: so that was going through, but it hasn't gone anywhere yet.
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  Speaker 3: But we've been fighting for thirty odd years, all the
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  Speaker 3: people of the Northern Territory trying to get some sort
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  Speaker 3: of compensation or reparation from the federal government because every
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  Speaker 3: other state in Australia have been given funds through their
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  Speaker 3: state states, but the Northern Territory has always been under
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  Speaker 3: the federal government.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, the reality of it, I'm assuming is
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  Speaker 1: that here in the Northern Territory we would have a
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  Speaker 1: lot of territory. And so who've been who've been impacted?
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  Speaker 2: Are we talking?
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  Speaker 3: Do you know? Well, when we think about the children
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  Speaker 3: that were removed in the nineteen hundreds to nineteen fifty seven,
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  Speaker 3: there was two thousand children from every part of the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory and out of that we probably only got
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  Speaker 3: about two hundred people left. I was the first generation. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I was.
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  Speaker 1: Going to ask that I know that it's you know,
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  Speaker 1: while while you probably both were pleased to hear this
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  Speaker 1: announcement this morning, I'm assuming that it's it's also probably
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  Speaker 1: pretty bittersweet given the fact that they're you know, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of those who were impacted have passed away.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we seem to be burying somebody every week, and
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  Speaker 3: that's why we keep telling each other, come on, we
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  Speaker 3: have to stay strong. We have to keep pushing and
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  Speaker 3: make sure that we get to this. And one of
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  Speaker 3: the things I always wanted the federal government to do
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  Speaker 3: was to acknowledge that they did it to us, to
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  Speaker 3: all us children in the Northern Territory, and give us
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  Speaker 3: some sort of compensation or reparation out of that.
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  Speaker 1: Eileen, do you feel as though the announcement today by
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister goes far enough?
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  Speaker 3: Some people think it hasn't. But for me, who's been
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  Speaker 3: there for a long long time, and I said to
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  Speaker 3: my children just recently, I'm going to give up working
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  Speaker 3: for the stolen generation, but I'll keep on fighting for compensation.
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  Speaker 3: And my children and my grannies were getting a little
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  Speaker 3: bit thing because they're saying, none, are you getting too
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  Speaker 3: old now? But I was going to keep on going
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  Speaker 3: until I've got some sort of outcome from the federal government. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And were either of you aware that this announcement was
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  Speaker 1: going to come today or was it a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a surprise to you? Boys?
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  Speaker 3: Now they Healing Foundation Rang Macy yesterday and asked that
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  Speaker 3: we the his announcement today, but didn't tell us what
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  Speaker 3: it was, so we went. I was thinking to him
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  Speaker 3: and all I said to amazing when she said, Eileen, I
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  Speaker 3: want to pick you up up, I say it in
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  Speaker 3: the morning. And all I said to her is, oh,
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  Speaker 3: what he's making more promises.
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  Speaker 1: So you're probably I guess you're probably both when you
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  Speaker 1: actually realize then this is happening, you're both a bit surprised. Well.
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  Speaker 2: I had a phone call yesterday sort of a heads
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  Speaker 2: up from the CEO of the Healing Foundation. I'm on
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  Speaker 2: this Stolen Generation's reference group of the Healing Foundation and
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  Speaker 2: also be in helping Eileen with all the compensation stuff.
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  Speaker 2: And the CEO said, you know, to I need to
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  Speaker 2: just let you know to watch the Prime Minister tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: He's got an announcement to make and she said it
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  Speaker 2: was just about closing the gap, and I said, oh, okay,
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  Speaker 2: you know, so I thought I'll ring Eileen and make
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  Speaker 2: sure that we're both watching the TV. And then on
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  Speaker 2: the radio this morning at seven o'clock news, as I
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  Speaker 2: was waking up, I had this announcement and I thought,
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  Speaker 2: oh my god, you know wow. So and the phones
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  Speaker 2: haven't stopped ringing since then. But I must pay tribute
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  Speaker 2: to the number of Stolen Generations people over the years
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  Speaker 2: who have fought very hard for this moment, who have
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  Speaker 2: advocated for Stolen Generations peoples, not just for compensation, but
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  Speaker 2: for recognition, for reparations, for socials services and health services,
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  Speaker 2: everything to do with helping the Stolen Generations peoples through
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  Speaker 2: their trauma and you know, during their lives. And I
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  Speaker 2: must pay tribute to them. But I also pay tribute
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  Speaker 2: to the Healing Foundation, the Stolen Generation's Reference group, who
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  Speaker 2: behind the scenes have been advocating fiercely for compensation for
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  Speaker 2: us as well. And you know, I take my head
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  Speaker 2: off to Eileen and the people behind her that had
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  Speaker 2: been working for years and years. You know, they started
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  Speaker 2: off under a mango tree somewhere and then they ended
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  Speaker 2: up on somebody's verandah before they were able to get
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  Speaker 2: any sort of funding to even just have a link
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  Speaker 2: up service where we could reunite our families, the children
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  Speaker 2: of the Stolen Generations with their families, country and culture.
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  Speaker 1: Eileen, what does today mean for you?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? When the news came this morning and the fans
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  Speaker 3: never stopped ringing. My granddaughter was still homeby she hadn't
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  Speaker 3: gone to work, and I was crying and I was laughing,
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  Speaker 3: and I was so excited. But she was trying to
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  Speaker 3: calm me down because she's saying, no, no, I have
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  Speaker 3: to go to work. You know, you got to calm down.
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  Speaker 3: But I couldn't come down, and I'm trying to ring
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  Speaker 3: Maizie and she was getting the same phone calls. So
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  Speaker 3: she and I have been really busy this morning. And
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  Speaker 3: then I was trying to let the eldest know, so
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  Speaker 3: I was ringing the eldest to tell them about it.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm old, I'm seventy eight, but the eldest
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  Speaker 3: some of the our people are in the eighties and nineties,
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  Speaker 3: and I wanted them to know because they've been behind
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  Speaker 3: me all the way trying to fight for this to happen.
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  Speaker 3: And I wanted the federal government to acknowledge that this
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  Speaker 3: thing actually happened to us as children, and I want
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  Speaker 3: them to pay tribute to all our people, but at
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  Speaker 3: the same time acknowledge it and give us something in return.
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  Speaker 1: How does it feel now to see that the Prime
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  Speaker 1: Minister has acknowledged it? How does that feel for you
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  Speaker 1: after everything that you've been through.
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  Speaker 3: I told you, I cried and I was so excited.
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  Speaker 3: But to think that after all the backlash we got.
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  Speaker 3: We sent so many letters to the Prime ministers, to
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  Speaker 3: the Senators, to the ministers, and all the time they
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  Speaker 3: were saying they couldn't do anything, you know, and for
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  Speaker 3: him and he even said that at one stage he said,
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  Speaker 3: we put the money into Healing Foundation Aileen, and I said,
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  Speaker 3: why are you waiting for us to all die because
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  Speaker 3: we're all getting very old And he said no. And
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  Speaker 3: I always felt in the back of my mind they
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  Speaker 3: weren't going to do anything. But for this to happen today,
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  Speaker 3: it's I'm so excited about it and I'm so happy
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  Speaker 3: that it has happened. But at the same time, I
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  Speaker 3: acknowledge all Austyle and generation people of the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll ask you both this question, what you know,
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  Speaker 1: What do you think that this means for us as
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  Speaker 1: Australians in terms of closing that gap and into reconciliation.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I always said that you can never do reconciliation
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  Speaker 3: if you don't acknowledge your history of this country. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we are after all of the first nations of this country,
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  Speaker 3: and they've never really acknowledged us. And I've always said,
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  Speaker 3: until you to get reconciliation, you have to acknowledge our history,
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  Speaker 3: and you never have. And that was something that we
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  Speaker 3: always passed on to all the ministers, to all the
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  Speaker 3: Prime ministers. We've had some help through the Northern Territory government,
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  Speaker 3: but nothing to this extent.
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  Speaker 2: Now there are a number of people still who don't
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  Speaker 2: believe that the Stolen Generations actually happened. And I always
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  Speaker 2: say to them, whoever's listening out there, speak to some
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  Speaker 2: of the children who were actually removed, because the trauma
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  Speaker 2: is still there. The trauma has been passed on to
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  Speaker 2: the generations.
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  Speaker 1: We have.
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  Speaker 2: All that intergenerational trauma. That's why our children are suffering today.
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  Speaker 2: Started from way back when, and the children who were
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  Speaker 2: removed weren't taught any life skills or social skills. And
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  Speaker 2: when they were able to leave the institutions, they had
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  Speaker 2: no money, nowhere to live, no country, no family, and
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  Speaker 2: some of them were living in the in the gardens,
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  Speaker 2: in the long grass, and some of the guys were
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  Speaker 2: fortunate to get employment on cattle stations. The girls were
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  Speaker 2: only taught to do domestic work. And we also pay
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  Speaker 2: tribute to the Greek and the Chinese communities in Darwin
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  Speaker 2: at the time, who took a lot of the Stolen
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  Speaker 2: Generations children under their wings, gave them accommodation, gave them jobs,
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  Speaker 2: and helped them to fit into societ. And the fact
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  Speaker 2: that the children at the time were told these skills.
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  Speaker 2: When they became parents themselves, they didn't have any parenting skills.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't know how to hug and to love, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, we always say now that those people,
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  Speaker 2: those children are better grandparents than they were parents because
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  Speaker 2: they just didn't have those skills. But they all adore
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  Speaker 2: their grandchildren today. And this compensation. I've talked to a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the stolen gen people. It wasn't about money
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  Speaker 2: for them. It was for their children to pay to
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  Speaker 2: cater for their funeral and just have a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of money to enjoy life for whatever years they've got left.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just unfortunate. As you mentioned before, it's a
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  Speaker 2: bittersweet because a lot of our stolen generations, people who
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  Speaker 2: were fighting over those years, have actually asked away and
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  Speaker 2: never to see this day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really appreciate you both coming in this morning.
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  Speaker 1: And talking us through you know, today's announcement, the significance
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  Speaker 1: of it and also what it means for our Stolen
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  Speaker 1: Generation people here in the Northern Territory. Eileen, Maisie, thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for having a discussion with us and
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  Speaker 1: we will talk to you both again soon.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That was Maizie Austin, the CEO of the NT Stolen
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  Speaker 1: Generation Aboriginal Corporation, and Eileen Cummins, the chairperson of the
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  Speaker 1: corporate