Australia will create a reparations fund of 380 million Australian dollars ($280 million) for members of its Indigenous population who were forcibly removed from their families, months after 800 survivors filed a class action lawsuit. The program will be announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt as part of a 1 billion Australian dollar ($738.5 million) boost to measures to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The program will cover Australia's three internal territories: the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Jervis Bay Territory. Those who were under 18 and removed from their families while living in these territories before the granting of self-government will be eligible for the fund. Under the compensation scheme, survivors will receive a one-off 75,000 Australian dollar ($55,387) payment for the harm caused by their forced removal, plus a further 7,000 Australian dollars ($5,169) to support their healing
Since Australia's colonization began in 1788, thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by governments, churches and welfare bodies. They were instead raised in institutions or adopted by non-Indigenous families, and stripped of their culture and language. More than 100,000 children were affected, and are known as the Stolen Generations. The removal of children devastated the community, with lasting intergenerational trauma that is still felt today through broken family ties, fragmented identity and a large number of Indigenous children in state care.
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