The Special Inquiry into St Andrew’s Hostel in Katanning was undertaken in 2011-12. The Inquiry was established under Section 24H(2) of the Public Sector Management Act 1994, to examine the conduct and response of public officials and government agencies to allegations of sexual abuse at St Andrew’s and related organisations. The Hon. Peter Blaxell, a…
The ‘Inquiry into Stolen Wages’ was referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee on 13 June 2006 to identify the number of Indigenous workers in each State and Territory ‘whose paid labour was controlled by government’, the measures that were taken to safeguard them, and the mechanisms for ensuring the wages earned were…
A Taskforce with the role of identifying the scope and extent of stolen wages in Western Australia was established in May 2007 by the State Government. The Taskforce found that there was insufficient evidence of wages held in trust being returned to the people who earned them. These people included Aboriginal children who had been…
The ‘Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme WA’ was established in 2012 as the Western Australian Government’s response to investigations by the Stolen Wages Taskforce into the wages earned by Aboriginal people but held by their guardians. The Taskforce’s research and consultations found that there was ‘little or no evidence that these wages were returned’ to the…
An Inquiry into the Welfare of Former British Child Migrants was undertaken by the Parliament of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons Health Committee in 1997-98. In relation to Australia, the Inquiry was most interested in the fate of children who were sent from Britain in the twentieth century. The inquiry and its report (known…
[From the Australian Indigenous Law Reporter] On the 28 November 2001, the Premier of Western Australia, the Honourable Dr Geoff Gallop, announced that the State Government planned to hold a Special Inquiry into the Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities. This was prompted by the coronial…
On 28 May 1997, the Parliament of Western Australia passed a motion to apologise to Aboriginal families in Western Australia ‘for the past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed’ from them and expressed ‘deep regret at the hurt and distress that this caused.’ Many members of Parliament spoke in support of this motion.
On 13 August 1998, the Parliament of Western Australia passed a motion to apologise to former child migrants ‘for the past policies that led to their forced migration and the subsequent maltreatment so many experienced, and express deep regret at the hurt and distress that this caused.’ Many members of Parliament spoke in support of…
The Select Committee into Child Migration was appointed in June 1996 by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. It was established to investigate and report on child migration to Western Australia between the early 1900s and 1967. A major aim of the Select Committee was to inquire into and report on the action necessary to assist…
The Parliament of Western Australia formally apologised for the ‘Removal of Children from Unmarried Mothers’ in 2010. It was the first Australian parliament to do so. The Parliament, on behalf of previous governments, apologised to ‘the mothers, their children and the families who were adversely affected by these past adoption practices’. The apology was heard…
Dec 17, 2025
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024