Inquiry into Stolen Generation compo

Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett today said the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee would hold an inquiry into his Stolen Generation Compensation Bill 2008.

Under the bill, applicants – who could include living descendants of indigenous stolen generation members – would be paid out of a Stolen Generations Fund. Ex-gratia payments would be set at $20,000 as a common experience payment with an additional $3,000 for each year of institutionalisation.

They could be on a winner here; get removed from life threatening situations and be paid thousands of dollars for every year your life has been extended. But wait, there’s more. Applicants don’t even have to have been removed themselves; they simply need to be a descendant of someone who was removed. The mind boggles. Still, $20,000 will never do….wait for the legal attack as lawyers submit ambit claims for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I can see Andrew will be busy in the Senate today. I wonder if he will have time to contemplate his history and Rudd’s 53 million dollar Anti Binge Drinking campaign (otherwise known as ‘Get the oldies carping about allowances off the front page’ campaign). Probably not.