Their removal as children and the abuse they experienced at the hands of the authorities or their delegates have permanently scarred their lives. The harm continues in later generations, affecting their children and grandchildren. (Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission)

The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families was commissioned in 1995 by the then Labor Government, in response to lobbying by Indigenous groups communities.

The inquiry was to examine the past and present practices of separating indigenous children from their families. Evidence was taken from 535 Indigenous people throughout Australia concerning their experiences of the removal policies.

The report, at 700 pages long with 54 wide-ranging recommendations, was published in May 1997. Entitled "Bringing Them Home", the report found that in a period of 60 years, from 1910 to 1970:

• at least 1 in 10 children were forcibly removed from their families, although the figure could be as high as 1 in 3.
  
  
• The effects of such removal were, for most victims, negative, multiple and profoundly disabling;
  
  
• Removal laws were racially discriminatory, and genocidal in intent;
  
  
• For many children removed there were breaches of fiduciary duty and duty of care, as well as criminal actions.
  

In response, the Government pledged $63 million, but was criticised for focussing on welfare and essential services (which are considered basic human rights) while neglecting the spiritual reparations that were recommended in the report, including an official apology.

While John Howard maintained that saying "sorry" would leave the Government open to compensation claims, the claims have begun nonetheless, and saying sorry would not have prevented, or caused such cases now or in the future.

Insult was then added to injury when, in 2000, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Senator John Herron denied there was a generation of children taken from their families, as only ten percent of aboriginal children were removed.

The Federal Government also responded unfavourably to recommendations concerning self-determination, and the inclusion of Indigenous Australians in any formal monitoring of the Government's implementation of recommendations.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee will report on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Government's response to the recommendations of the report by 5 October 2000.

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