Wage theft from Indigenous Australians explained

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

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), and New South Wales (2004–2011[5]).[6] [7]

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.[8]

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

Lawsuits and compensation schemes

Northern Territory

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.[9] A date has been set for the class action trial, in March 2025.[10]

Queensland

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.[11]

In September 2016 a class action was started by eighty-year-old Hans Pearson, 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.[12] It represented about 10,000 Aboriginal Queenslanders, of whom about 60 percent were already deceased,[13] and was settled in July 2019 with a payout of .[14] This was the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australia, aside from native title claims, the biggest ever payout to Indigenous Australians.

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.[15] 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.

The payout was reduced by about 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.[17]

Western Australia

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]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Collard . Sarah . Class action launched against West Australian Government over Indigenous stolen wages . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . ABC News . 18 October 2020 . 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. . 1 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201101084923/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-19/wa-government-faces-class-action-over-stolen-wages/12737046 . live .
  2. Web site: Inquiry into Stolen Wages (2006) . Find & Connect . 3 November 2020 . 24 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220624231132/https://findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00790b.htm . live .
  3. Web site: Inquiry into Stolen Wages . Australian Human Rights Commission . 3 November 2020 . 2 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201102051143/https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/legal/inquiry-stolen-wages . live .
  4. Web site: Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme WA (2012 - 2012). Find & Connect. 3 November 2020. 9 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210509224426/https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/wa/WE00788. live.
  5. Web site: Returning Stolen Wages . Public Interest Advocacy Centre . 24 August 2016 . 3 November 2020 . 30 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201130134115/https://piac.asn.au/project-highlight/669/ . live .
  6. Web site: Cutcher . Leanne . Tyler . Melissa . Australia's stolen wages: one woman's quest for compensation . The Conversation . 14 May 2018 . 3 November 2020 . 18 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201118170441/https://theconversation.com/australias-stolen-wages-one-womans-quest-for-compensation-95676 . live .
  7. Book: Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages . Parliament of Australia . 7 December 2006 . Commonwealth of Australia 2006 . 0-642-71737-0 . 3 November 2020 . 3 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201103002536/https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/legal_and_constitutional_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/stolen_wages/report/index . live .
  8. Indigenous Stolen Wages and Campaigns for Reparations in Victoria. Indigenous Law Bulletin. May–June 2014. 8. 12. Andrew. Gunstone. 2 November 2020. 10 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210310005117/https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/2014/16.pdf. live.
  9. Web site: 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. Max. Rowley. 1 September 2021. 28 September 2021. 28 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210928034412/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/nt-stolen-wages-class-action-bill-harney/100389890. live.
  10. Web site: Class action listed for trial; Northern Territory Stolen Wages members urged to come forward. . . 26 September 2023 . audio (10 mins) + text . 28 November 2023 . 12 October 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231012234441/https://www.caama.com.au/2023/09/26/class-action-listed-for-trial-northern-territory-stolen-wages-members-urged-to-come-forward/#:~:text=The%20Northern%20Territory%20Stolen%20Wages,People%20in%20the%20Northern%20Territory. . live .
  11. Web site: Queensland Stolen Wages Reparations Taskforce Report: Reconciling Past Injustice. March 2016. 3 November 2020. 3 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201103064232/https://www.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/36312/stolen-wages-taskforce-report-web.pdf. live.
  12. Web site: The Class Action . Stolen Wages Settlement . Grant Thornton Australia Limited . 17 January 2020 . 3 November 2020 . 26 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201026194225/https://www.stolenwages.com.au/the-class-action.html . live .
  13. Web site: Australian Associated Press . Tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians may be eligible for stolen wages class action . The Guardian . 10 July 2019 . 3 November 2020 . 7 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201107232412/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/10/tens-of-thousands-of-indigenous-australians-may-be-eligible-for-stolen-wages-class-action . live .
  14. Web site: Indigenous workers receive $190m stolen wages settlement from Queensland government . The Guardian . 9 July 2019 . 3 November 2020 . 7 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201107235234/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/09/indigenous-workers-receive-190m-stolen-wages-settlement-from-queensland-government . live .
  15. Web site: Wellington . Shahni . 'Ignorant and ill-informed': Prime Minister's slavery comments condemned . NITV . 11 June 2020 . 12 June 2020 . 12 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200612082303/https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/06/11/ignorant-and-ill-informed-prime-ministers-slavery-comments-condemned . live .
  16. Web site: Gordon . Krystal . Adam . Stephen . North Queensland elders say stolen wages entitlements unfair, much lower than expected . ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) . 19 November 2020 . 28 November 2020 . 1 December 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201201073756/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-20/stolen-wage-entitlements-labelled-unfair-less-than-expected/12900200 . live .
  17. Web site: Anthony . Thalia . The new Mabo? $190 million stolen wages settlement is unprecedented, but still limited . The Conversation . 10 July 2019 . 2 November 2020 . 8 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201108001728/https://theconversation.com/the-new-mabo-190-million-stolen-wages-settlement-is-unprecedented-but-still-limited-120162 . live .
  18. Web site: Jenkins . Keira . Collard . Sarah . Class action launched against WA government to recover stolen wages . . 19 October 2020 . 3 November 2020 . 31 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201031235158/https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/10/19/class-action-launched-against-wa-government-recover-stolen-wages . live .
  19. Web site: Weber . David . Indigenous stolen wages at centre of WA class action as dust settles on Queensland case . ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 10 July 2019 . 3 November 2020 . 2 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201102112603/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-10/wa-indigenous-stolen-wages-class-action-follows-queensland-case/11296576 . live .
  20. Web site: Aboriginal Stolen Wages Class Action . Western Australian Government . 15 November 2023 . 28 November 2023 . 14 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231114135200/https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/aboriginal-stolen-wages-class-action . live .

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