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Stolen Generations Survivors To Receive $73m From Baird Government

A landmark compensation package is set to be unveiled in NSW.
Mike Baird's government set to reveal new funds for the stolen generations.
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Mike Baird's government set to reveal new funds for the stolen generations.

The NSW government is set to offer $73 million worth of compensation to Stolen Generations survivors and their families in acknowledgement of Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families across the state between the 1800s and the 1970s.

The multi-million dollar compensation package will include reparation payments and be used to fund healing centres and to cover funeral costs, NewsCorp Australia reports.

It reports that there is also a $5 million fund included in the compensation that will enable those impacted by the Stolen Generaions to address intergenerational trauma. The package is also on said to include about $75,000 and funding for survivor groups.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Leslie Williams is expected to unveil the landmark arrangements on Friday, which follows recommendations made at a recent state parliamentary inquiry.

"With this response the NSW government officially acknowledges the real and heartbreaking trauma caused by historic government policies and practices of removing Aboriginal children from their kin and country," Ms Williams is quoted as saying.

"It is my sincerest hope that by acknowledging the wrongs of the past and providing enduring and meaningful support for the future, we can avoid such a tragedy ever being repeated."

It has been reported that the number of Stolen Generations survivors in NSW today is just over 700, although there may be as many as 1350.

The announcement comes after warnings from the Australian Greens that the nation is in danger of overseeing "another stolen generation" as the number of Aboriginal children being removed from their families and placed into out of home care outpaces those from non-Indigenous backgrounds.

In October, it was revealed that Indigenous children are still far more likely to be put into care than those who are non-Indigenous.

"We are in danger of having another stolen generation. A number of people have been calling for better programs, for the government to take a different approach," Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, told The Huffington Post Australia at the time.

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