Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

13 Grounds for ReparationLots of white kids do get taken away, but that’s for a reason – not like us. We just got takenaway because we was black kids, I suppose – half-caste kids. If they wouldn’t like it, theyshouldn’t do it to Aboriginal families.Confidential evidence 357, South Australia.The Inquiry’s third term of reference requires an examination of ‘the principlesrelevant to determining the justification for compensation for persons or communitiesaffected by such separations’. In any legal consideration of a claim for compensationthere are two steps. First a wrong (or wrongs) is identified. Second the harm to the victimis identified and ‘measured’ to the best of the court’s (or other decision-maker’s) abilityusing established principles.In this section we identify the wrongs involved in the forcible removal of Indigenouschildren from their families. In the following section we define principles which, werecommend, it would be appropriate to employ to remedy the harms caused by thosewrongs.Evaluation of government actionsThe Inquiry has been careful not to evaluate past actions of governments and othersthrough the prism of contemporary values.The Government takes the view that in considering, and ultimately judging, the laws, policies andpractices which led to the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children from theirfamilies, it is appropriate to have regard to the standards and values prevailing at the time of theirenactment and implementation, rather than to the standards and values prevailing today(Commonwealth Government submission page 30).At the same time, it is important to appreciate that there was never only one set ofcommon and shared values in the past. Even predominant values were not alwaysfaithfully reflected in policies and practices. There have always been dissenting voices.There was never universal agreement on what was right and just.Nevertheless, it is appropriate to evaluate the (legislative and administrative) actionsof governments in light of the legal values prevailing at the time those actions were taken.Those legal values can be found in the common law introduced to Australia by the Britishcolonists and progressively developed by Australian Parliaments and courts. Morerecently they can also be found in the international law of human rights to whichAustralia not only voluntarily subscribed but played a leading part in developing andpromoting.