UNSW researcher A/Prof. BJ Newton says that despite the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are being removed from their families at unprecedented and escalating rates, despite national commitments to ensure such injustices never happened again.
Many Australians remember exactly where they were when, on 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stood in parliament and apologised to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly Stolen Generations survivors and their families, for the systematic and forced removal of thousands of Aboriginal children from their families.
The National Apology speech gave Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hope that the era of widespread state-sanctioned child removals would end, and that governments would commit to genuine restorative justice.
Instead, the opposite has occurred.
- At the time of the Apology, 9,070 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children lived in out-of-home care (OOHC).
- As of 30 June 2024, that number has more than doubled to 19,987, not including thousands more placed on guardianship orders.
"This escalation reflects the ongoing failure of governments to confront systemic racism within child protection systems," says A/Prof. Newton. From around 2012, jurisdictions across Australia adopted US-designed Structured Decision Making tools - assessment frameworks now proven to be racially biased. Queensland and New South Wales have since suspended the tools, with other jurisdictions reviewing their use," says A/Prof. Newton.
Despite this, no government has moved to restore the 22,000+ Aboriginal children currently in OOHC who were removed during the period in which these discredited tools were used.
"Once children enter OOHC, legislative and bureaucratic barriers make reunification extremely difficult," says A/Prof. Newton.
A/Prof. Newton notes that even the Apology speeches themselves foreshadowed today's failures. Neither the PM or Opposition leader directly acknowledged the ongoing removal of Aboriginal children, and elements of Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's response reinforced harmful stereotypes and minimised the violence of past policies.
His speech included the following:
"In some cases, government policies evolved from the belief that the Aboriginal race would not survive and should be assimilated; in others, the conviction was that 'half-caste' children in particular should, for their own protection, be removed to government and church run institutions where conditions reflected the standards of the day.
Others were placed with white families whose kindness motivated them to the belief that rescued children deserved a better life …
… Our generation does not own these actions, nor should it feel guilt for what was done in many, but certainly not all, cases with the best of intentions …"
And Rudd's speech included the words, "That is why the parliament is today here assembled: to deal with this unfinished business of the nation, to remove a great stain from the nation's soul and, in a true spirit of reconciliation, to open a new chapter in the history of this great land, Australia."
"Both speeches avoided acknowledging contemporary systemic injustices, and this has set the tone for the years since the speech 18 years ago," says A/Prof. Newton.
"Today, the Closing the Gap Target 12, which aims to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children in OOHC by 45% by 2031, is failing. Governments continue to remove children at high rates, while refusing to address the structural drivers of child removal or restore children currently living in OOHC.
"Aboriginal communities have more than two centuries of evidence that government interventions continue to prioritise control over Aboriginal self-determination. Genuine change requires governments to step aside and support Aboriginal-led, rights-based, anti-colonial systems of care," says A/Prof. Newton.
Key Messages
- The number of Aboriginal children in OOHC has more than doubled since the National Apology. Governments must stop unnecessary removals and restore children to their families.
- The Apology failed to acknowledge that child protection systems continued to remove children without justification - and still do today.
- The National Apology speeches included harmful stereotypes and minimisation of past injustices, reflecting broader systemic racism that persists in contemporary policies.
- Despite recognising the importance of Aboriginal community control in principle, governments have not acted on genuine self-determination or community-led decision making.
