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❓ Hon Robin Chapple questions the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs regarding the denial of Mr. Alec Ungiljung's Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme application and seeks acknowledgement of the scheme's perceived unfairness and the desire for an apology and proper amends.

AnsweredQoN 615Legislative Council

Asked

21 November 2013

Member

Hon Robin Chapple

Portfolio

Aboriginal Affairs

QuestionView source ↗

With regard to the Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme Western Australia, I ask: (a) is the Minister aware of the claim of Mr Alec Ungiljung of Mt Barnett Community and Mt Elizabeth Station in the Kimberley whose application was refused because the properties he worked on, Glenroy Station and Glenroy/Mt House Tablelands, are not within the scope of the scheme; (b) is the Minister also aware that Mr Ungiljung, who is now around 80 years of age, grew up on various central Kimberley Stations and worked on them his entire life from the age of around 15 years, without wages; (c) is the Minister further aware that Mr Ungiljung considers that the Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme is inherently unfair to many Aboriginal station workers, including himself, who never received wages for the work they did and that he now considers it is incumbent upon governments of all persuasions to treat its constituents in a fair and reasonable manner; and (d) is the Minister also aware that Mr Ungiljung and many other Kimberley Aboriginal people want the Government to apologise and make proper amends for presiding over the policies that allowed for the withholding of income from Aboriginal people by institutions, businesses and the Government itself for many years, and that he would like the Minister to imagine what that feels like and what sort of restitution the Minister would seek if the situation were reversed?