The Wire

Queensland’s Stolen Wages Working Group has met in Brisbane to discuss further action surrounding the issue of government reparations. Over the coming months the group plans to approach Members of Parliament and demand answers. The Beattie Government has started to repay Indigenous Queenslanders between two to four thousand dollars to compensate for wages that were withheld by the government over several decades leading up to the 1970s. While thousands have accepted this compensation, twice as many have declined the offer. Unions, action groups and the Indigenous community are outraged, saying the government’s compensation package is an insult to the years of work Indigenous people have put into building Australia. Their slogan says it all – “stolen wages built this state”.