Wage theft from Indigenous Australians

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Wage theft from Indigenous Australians was a frequent occurrence in Australia from the late 19th century through to the late 20th century. It was particularly prevalent on pastoral leases.

Under the system of Aboriginal Protection Boards established by state and federal legislation, Indigenous Australian workers' wages were paid into government-owned trust accounts. Their access to the bank accounts was severely restricted and in some cases governments illegally expropriated the trust funds for other purposes. Additionally, employers frequently underpaid Indigenous workers or made illegal withholdings.

In the early 21st century several class action lawsuits were instituted by Indigenous workers, leading to the establishment of compensation schemes by state and territory governments.

Inquiries[edit]

In 2006 a parliamentary inquiry tried to find out how much in wages had been withheld from Indigenous workers across Australia, but found the practice was so extensive that it could not reach a figure.[1][2] Known officially as the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Inquiry into Stolen Wages, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission made a submission to it.[3] The Inquiry recommended that state governments must open their archives to improve access, fund awareness campaigns, and provide legal assistance to potential claimants. Stolen wages commissions were set up in Western Australia (March–November 2012[4]), Queensland (2015[5]), and New South Wales (2004–2011[6]).[7][8]

Political campaigns led by trade unions and community groups have been advocating strongly for reparations, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales, and somewhat less strongly in Western Australia and Victoria, but there has been much research conducted on the topic of stolen wages in Victoria. The Wampan Wages Victorian Stolen Wages Working Group has been the peak body in that state. As of 2014, there was still no reparation scheme in Victoria.[9]

Recent estimates have suggested that up to A$500 million may have been withheld in just Queensland from 1920 to 1970.[1]

Lawsuits and compensation schemes[edit]

Northern Territory[edit]

As of September 2021 more than 770 former stockmen, farmhands, domestic workers and labourers in the Northern Territory have joined in a class action to recover stolen wages, as well as other forms of reparations, such as truth telling.[10] A date has been set for the class action trial, in March 2025.[11]

Queensland[edit]

In 2015 the Stolen Wages Reparations Task Force was established by the Queensland Government to provide advice and recommendations relating to "The Reparations Scheme –Stolen Wages and Savings", which was due to conclude in 2018. Mick Gooda was appointed as chair.[5]

In September 2016 a class action was started by eighty-year-old Hans Pearson,[12] in the Federal Court of Australia against the Queensland Government. Known as “The Stolen Wages Class Action”, the case was known as Pearson v State of Queensland. It concerns payment for work done from 1939 to 1972 by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland.[13] It represented about 10,000 Aboriginal Queenslanders, of whom about 60 percent were already deceased,[12] and was settled in July 2019 with a payout of A$190,000,000.[14][15] This was the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australia, aside from native title claims, the biggest ever payout to Indigenous Australians.[16]

The lawsuit claimed that the legislation in force from 1939 to 1972 allowed the wages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers to be stolen.[17] The payout represented wages that had been withheld by the state government, which often deposited it into trust funds inaccessible to Indigenous people, which was enabled under the legislation described above. This settlement, based on the legal claim that the government "breached its duty as a trustee and fiduciary in not paying out wages that were held in trust", and based on archived records, was the first recognition that claims for stolen wages have some legal and ethical justification. Previous actions by claimants in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland had not been successful.[14]

The payout was reduced by about A$53 million in the costs of litigation. Because of the lack of records, the court relied on anthropological evidence to determine the entitlements, grouping people based on age; it was not intended to be a precise calculation of what was owed because this was impossible to determine. Moneys were not paid out to grandchildren, and men received more than women as it was calculated that more was withheld from them.[16]

However, the legal justification under which this settlement was awarded does not necessarily apply across all sectors and jurisdictions; different issues arise where private employers are involved. Historically, the majority of Aboriginal workers were employed on cattle stations across northern Australia, from Queensland, across the Northern Territory to Western Australia, numbering tens of thousands between the 1880s and 1970s. Indigenous labour kept the industry afloat during the Great Depression in Australia. The law allowed wages of two-thirds that of non-Indigenous workers, but employers could get away with paying less, and unlike Queensland government archives, few records of these transactions exist.[14]

Western Australia[edit]

In October 2020 a class action was started against the Western Australian Government, with more than a thousand people registered for the claim.[1][18][19] In November 2023 the WA Government agreed a settlement with Shine Lawyers, acting for the claimants. According to an announcement on the government website: "The WA Government will pay into an administered fund a sum of $16,500 in respect of each eligible claimant, up to a total of $165 million". The maximum total will only be paid if the number of eligible claimants reaches 10,000. The Federal Court will determine how much each claimant will receive.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Collard, Sarah (18 October 2020). "Class action launched against West Australian Government over Indigenous stolen wages". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020. Up until the late 1970s, all Indigenous Australians were governed under various protection acts which controlled every aspect of their lives — from whether they could buy a new pair of shoes to whether they could marry. It was these acts that allowed Aboriginal people's wages to be held in trust by state and territory governments.
  2. ^ "Inquiry into Stolen Wages (2006)". Find & Connect. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Inquiry into Stolen Wages". Australian Human Rights Commission. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme WA (2012 - 2012)". Find & Connect. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Queensland Stolen Wages Reparations Taskforce Report: Reconciling Past Injustice" (PDF). March 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Returning Stolen Wages". Public Interest Advocacy Centre. 24 August 2016. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  7. ^ Cutcher, Leanne; Tyler, Melissa (14 May 2018). "Australia's stolen wages: one woman's quest for compensation". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. ^ Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages. Commonwealth of Australia 2006. 7 December 2006. ISBN 0-642-71737-0. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Gunstone, Andrew (May–June 2014). "Indigenous Stolen Wages and Campaigns for Reparations in Victoria" (PDF). Indigenous Law Bulletin. 8 (12). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  10. ^ Rowley, Max (1 September 2021). "It's 55 years since the Wave Hill walk-off, and Aboriginal workers are still fighting for their stolen wages". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Class action listed for trial; Northern Territory Stolen Wages members urged to come forward" (audio (10 mins) + text). CAAMA. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  12. ^ a b Australian Associated Press (10 July 2019). "Tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians may be eligible for stolen wages class action". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  13. ^ "The Class Action". Stolen Wages Settlement. Grant Thornton Australia Limited. 17 January 2020. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Anthony, Thalia (10 July 2019). "The new Mabo? $190 million stolen wages settlement is unprecedented, but still limited". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Indigenous workers receive $190m stolen wages settlement from Queensland government". The Guardian. 9 July 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  16. ^ a b Gordon, Krystal; Stephen, Adam (19 November 2020). "North Queensland elders say stolen wages entitlements unfair, much lower than expected". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  17. ^ Wellington, Shahni (11 June 2020). "'Ignorant and ill-informed': Prime Minister's slavery comments condemned". NITV. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  18. ^ Jenkins, Keira; Collard, Sarah (19 October 2020). "Class action launched against WA government to recover stolen wages". NITV. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  19. ^ Weber, David (10 July 2019). "Indigenous stolen wages at centre of WA class action as dust settles on Queensland case". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Aboriginal Stolen Wages Class Action". Western Australian Government. 15 November 2023. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
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