The Commonwealth Government has apologised to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory for Stolen Wages.
In September the government reached a settlement for up to $180 million dollars for up to 10,000 First Nations people who worked in the Northern Territory between 1933 and 1972 for little or no wages.
Lead applicant in the class action Minnie McDonald did not attend the apology, which was delivered by Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy in the senate on behalf of the government.
"We acknowledge a significant wrong in this country, that between 1933 and 1971 under the laws of the Commonwealth that determined how much people got paid in the Northern Territory, First Nations people worked for very low wages and, in some cases, no wages at all," Senator McCarthy said.
"For this, as Minister for Indigenous Australians, I am sorry.
"The Australian Government is sorry."
Senator McCarthy, a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman, read Ms McDonald's statements onto the parliamentary record, about growing up in the bush without any schooling and how Ms McDonald, along with her parents and brothers, worked on stations.
“We had nothing and had to live on bush tucker and a bit of bread," read Ms McDonald's statement.
"A lot of those people we worked with are gone now.
"This is about all the people who were working everywhere and never got paid nothing.”
First Nations people have been harmed by many of the laws and policies created in this country since European settlement, Senator McCarthy said.
"Indigenous people were stolen from their families," she said.
"Indigenous people were used for back-breaking labour, building new communities that often excluded them.
"We know they did gruelling and critical work, particularly in the Northern Territory, toiling on farms and stations, building, tending to stock, cooking and cleaning, gardening, making clothes."
Under Commonwealth laws, until the early 1970s, Aboriginal people in the NT worked for none to very little pay.
"Today, I'm here to say how deeply sorry I am for that," Senator McCarthy said.
"I'm sorry for the suffering and injustice inflicted on First Nations people, my people, through the laws of the Commonwealth that denied them the right to fair pay.
"I hope the Commonwealth's recent settlement of the Northern Territory historical wages class action, bravely led by Minnie MacDonald, can help to bring closure to this shameful chapter in Australia's history.
"I hope it allows for our reconciliation journey to continue, one of truth telling and healing."
The government will also pay litigators Shine Lawyers, who ran the class action on behalf of Ms McDonald and others, separate amounts totalling $22 million for costs.
The Federal Court will determine the reasonableness of deductions at a further hearing on December 17.
Shine Lawyers said they plan to visit more than 100 communities in the NT between September 2024 and August 2025 to help Aboriginal people and their families register for compensation money from the settlement.
If any of the eligible people have passed away, their spouse or their children can register to be considered for compensation money.
There has been a similar class action in Western Australia, where the state agreed to settle the Stolen Wages case, launched by Mervyn Street on behalf of many thousands of Aboriginal people who were paid little or no wages for their work between 1936 and 1972.
On Wednesday, the Federal Court ruled that the state would pay Aboriginal stations workers from WA and their families $144,375,000 in compensation for unpaid wages.
Shine Lawyers registered 8,750 successful claims, meaning the compensation will amount to $16,500 per eligible claimant.
Justice Bernard Murphy approved the $180 million class action settlement on October 30.
Shine Lawyers will receive $27.5 million for costs and Litigation Lending Services, who funded the action, $15.4 million.
The settlement also involved the State delivering a public acknowledgment and apology in the WA Parliament to the surviving and deceased Aboriginal workers on November 28, 2023.
Mervyn Street was there to receive the apology.
