Uniting Church WA Welcomes Stolen Generations Redress Announcement

The Uniting Church in Western Australia welcomes the announcement on 27 May 2025 by the Western Australian Government to introduce a Stolen Generations Redress Scheme.

The implementation of Reparations Schemes was a recommendation of the Bringing Them Home report, which was tabled in Federal Parliament in 1997. The introduction of Redress scheme for Stolen Generations survivors now brings WA in line with most other states in Australia.

We acknowledge and give thanks for the tireless work of community groups including the Bringing Them Home WA committee and the Western Australian Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation (WASGAC) – Yokai: Healing our Spirit, for their advocacy and support to Stolen Generations survivors and their families. The Uniting Church WA has supported Bringing Them Home WA since its inception in 2001, with Hon Sir Ronald Wilson, Past President of the Uniting Church in Australia, and Past Moderator of the WA Synod as a founding member. Hon Sir Ronald Wilson was co-author of the Bringing Them Home report, in his role at the time as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner.

Rev Dr Ian Tozer, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Western Australia said:

“We thank Bringing Them Home WA and Yokai for their dedicated advocacy for truth, justice and healing for Stolen Generations. We pray that this redress scheme will be an important step in the healing process for survivors and their families. We hope that the processes put in place by the Government to administer the scheme are carried out in a way that leads to healing, and not to further harm and hurt for survivors. We also think of the families of Stolen Generations for whom this announcement comes too late, for the many who have sadly passed while waiting for justice and reparations.”

The Uniting Church WA acknowledges our part in the historical harm done to Stolen Generations survivors and their families. Through our Covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, we commit ourselves to continue to walk together as First and Second Peoples on a journey of reconciliation.