Australia’s social justice commissioner, Mick Gooda, will lead a Queensland government taskforce responsible for paying $21m in damages to Indigenous people who had their wages systematically stolen by the state last century.
Gooda and the taskforce will meet Indigenous communities across the state to determine who is eligible for the compensation scheme before its expected start next year.
It is intended to compensate for the exploitation of Indigenous workers, many of them farm labourers, between 1904 and 1974, when their wages were controlled by the government.
The Queensland treasurer and minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, Curtis Pitt, said Gooda was “one of Australia’s most respected Indigenous leaders and we’re lucky to have him performing this important role”.
“Mick understands the suffering and economic loss caused by previous state governments when they stole wages from Indigenous Queenslanders,” Pitt said.
“This was a shameful period in Queensland’s history and while we can never erase the hurt and sorrow caused by past actions, we can seek to rectify past injustice by properly compensating those affected.”
Pitt said the taskforce would consult over “two key matters – who should be eligible for payments and how the payments should be allocated”.
Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Ros McLennan said the government had been “extremely open” to addressing problems with the last rounds of stolen wages reparations, where many whose records were lost or damaged were ruled ineligible.
“The Palaszczuk government wanted issues like the onus of proof to be addressed by those who are affected by their wages having been stolen,” she said.
McLennan said the QCU was “pleased at how quickly the government is moving, yet it’s not rushed and the issues will be addressed by those who are most affected”.
Previous Queensland stolen wages schemes have been criticised by unions and Indigenous people for their low level of compensation and insistence on government documentation as the standard of proof.
The latest $21m fund was allocated in the Palaszczuk government’s inaugural state budget in June.
Other Indigenous leaders appointed to the taskforce were Pauline Ah Wang, John Anderson, Gail Barry, Rosalind Bourne, Morris Cloudy, Pamela Hegarty, Raymond Sambo, Marshall Saunders, Vivienne Schwartz, Thomas Sebasio and Viola Sheridan.
