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Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

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Redress for Stolen Generations survivors

Redress (sometimes called reparations) provides some acknowledgement of what survivors experienced and the ongoing impacts. It offers an opportunity to share their experience and receive financial compensation, an apology, and practical support for their healing. 

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What is redress?

Redress (sometimes called reparations) provides some acknowledgement of what Stolen Generations survivors experienced and the ongoing impacts. It offers survivors an opportunity to share their experience and receive financial compensation, an apology, and practical support for their healing.

Redress schemes remain open for applications from Stolen Generations survivors who were forcibly removed from the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Jervis Bay Territory, and from Victoria. Western Australia is currently introducing a redress scheme. Previous schemes in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania have closed. Queensland has never had a redress scheme.

Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory

The Territories Redress Scheme provides support to Stolen Generations survivors who were removed from:

  • the Northern Territory before 1 July 1978
  • the Australian Capital Territory or Jervis Bay Territory before 11 May 1989.

Applications for redress are open until 31 August 2027.  

Learn more and apply

Victoria and Western Australia

The Victorian Government Stolen Generations Reparations Package is open to Stolen Generations survivors who were removed in Victoria before 31 December 1976.  

Applications are open until 31 March 2027. 

Learn more and apply

The Western Australian Government has announced a Stolen Generations redress scheme that is expected to open for applications in late 2025. 

National redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse

There is a national scheme in response to the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Stolen Generations survivors who experienced child sexual abuse may be eligible.

Applications are open until 30 June 2027. 

Learn more and apply 

Legal advice service for survivors considering redress applications

Knowmore is a nationwide, free and confidential legal service that can provide Stolen Generations survivors with legal advice about the redress options available in some states and territories, along with financial counselling support. 

Knowmore has an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement team who can provide culturally safe support.

Learn more

Best practice redress scheme recommendations

The Healing Foundation has built extensive expertise in what best practice redress looks like in Australia. This includes payment benchmarks, wrap-around support requirements, and after-support that meets the needs of Stolen Generations survivors and their families.

Priority issues include advance payments for elderly and sick survivors, and the need to exempt Stolen Generations redress payments from aged care means testing.

The Healing Foundation’s 2025 â€˜Are you waiting for us to die?’ report examined the introduction of redress schemes across states and territories so far, along with the lack of a national reparations scheme for Stolen Generations survivors (see below). 

Summary of redress schemes across Australia

There is no national redress scheme for Stolen Generations survivors across Australia.  See the summaries below of open and past Stolen Generations redress schemes across Australia. 

  • The Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme provided ex-gratia payments to Stolen Generations survivors of up to $75,000. People approved for the scheme were also eligible for the Funeral Fund that included one-off payments of $7,000. The State Government also provided a written apology to every survivor who received a payment. The Scheme closed for new applications on 30 June 2024. 

    Notes:

    Figures as at 2018 showed there had been 1,100 applications out of an estimated 8,400 Stolen Generations survivors in New South Wales. 

  • Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme is administered by the National Indigenous Australians Agency. It opened on 1 March 2022 and applications close 31 August 2027. The Scheme makes available: a redress payment of up to $75,000, a healing assistance payment of $7,000, and a personal acknowledgement. 

    Notes

    Shine Lawyers launched a class action for compensation for Stolen Generations survivors from the Northern Territory. In April 2023 the Supreme Court of New South Wales approved $50.45 million and a Settlement Distribution Scheme which covers more claimants than the Territories Redress Scheme.

  • Queensland has no redress scheme for Stolen Generations.

    Notes

    A Path to Treaty process was underway in Queensland, however bipartisan support was withdrawn by the Liberal National Party, which won the October 2024 state election. It repealed the Path to Treaty legislation and ended the work of the Truth-telling and Justice Commission in late 2024.  

  • The South Australian Government’s Individual Reparations Scheme allocated $6 million for reparations in 2017. The Healing Foundation reported in 2021 that, of 449 applicants, 343 were deemed eligible by the Scheme’s Independent Assessor, including 28 applicants who had been  removed from the Northern Territory and brought to South Australia.

    In total, 312 people were awarded ex gratia payments of $20,000 in 2018, and an additional $10,000 in 2019 when $3 million of unspent community-project funding was diverted.     

  • In 2007-2008, the Tasmanian Government implemented a scheme where 84 Stolen Generations survivors received just over $58,000 each. In addition, 22 eligible children received between $4,000 and $5,000.

    Notes

    This is the only scheme to make payments available to descendants of Stolen Generations survivors.  

  • Victoria’s Stolen Generations Reparations Package opened on 31 March 2022 and applications will close on 31 March 2027. Under the scheme, eligible applicants receive a lump sum payment of $100,000, a personal apology, access to healing programs, family reunions, reconnection to Country and language programs, and an opportunity to record and share their story. Additionally, a Stolen Generations Funeral Fund provides up to $10,000 in assistance. Access to trauma-informed counselling, financial counselling, legal advice and records are facilitated under the package.

    Notes

    In June 2025, the Yoorrook Justice Commission — the first formal truth-telling process into colonisation and its ongoing impacts on First Peoples in Victoria — handed down its final report. It made a number of findings and recommendations on redress for the range of injustices, rights violations and other harms First Peoples in Victoria have experienced and continue to experience.

  • After decades of delay, the Western Australian Government announced in May 2025 that it would deliver a redress scheme for Stolen Generations survivors who were removed prior to 1 July 1972. It said the scheme will deliver individual payments of $85,000 in recognition of the harm and trauma caused. 

    Notes

    The Healing Foundation welcomed the announcement but has urged the State to move quickly on introduction of the scheme, while ensuring appropriate consultation with survivors and their organisations. The scheme should be survivor-centred, build on best practice, and adequately and sustainably support Stolen Generations organisations to provide wrap-around services. 

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.