New national plan demands progress for Stolen Generations survivors, 29 years on from Bringing them home

A new national plan calling on Australian leaders to act on apologies and deliver meaningful change for Stolen Generations survivors has been released today.

The Healing Foundation’s ‘From Sorry to Action – A plan to act on Bringing them home (2026-2028)’ defines policy gaps, priorities and practical steps to progress on the long outstanding recommendations of the 1997 Bringing them home report over a two-year period. 

The action plan asks for firm commitments by governments to specific actions and for progress to be demonstrated leading up to the 30th anniversary of the Bringing them home report in May 2027 and the year immediately following. It’s a practical tool for Ministers, Department secretaries and other agencies and organisations, outlining their roles to advance healing and justice. 

It doesn’t aim to address every Bringing them home recommendation, but takes the voices of survivors, descendants, and organisations that support them and puts them into tangible policy actions.

It covers five broad policy areas:

• health, social and emotional wellbeing and ageing
• records, redress and acknowledgement
• education, research and data
• sector support
•  governance and accountability

Some key priority outcomes include:

• access to culturally safe, fully subsidised and equitable aged care, health and community services
• prioritised access to and protection of Stolen Generations records for survivors and descendants, including fee waivers, expedited timeframes, legislative review and preserving survivor stories
• equitable access to redress for all survivors including the implementation of a redress scheme in Queensland
•  a strong network of Stolen Generation organisations are adequately funded to provide localised supports on the ground
• strengthened accountability for the delivery of the Bringing them home report recommendations through the Joint Council on Closing the Gap.

Only one year remains

The Healing Foundation CEO Shannan Dodson and survivors will be handing the plan directly to government today – on National Sorry Day – in Parliament House to further highlight the urgency. Only one year remains before the three-decade milestone has been reached since the Bringing them home report was first tabled in Federal Parliament. As outlined in our Are you waiting for us to die? report last year, just 5 of the 83 recommendations – six percent – have been clearly implemented. 

Ms Dodson said it is clear a systematic approach is needed; this is not the responsibility of one, but many. It requires coordinated action from all political parties, all governments, organisations and anyone in contact with Stolen Generations survivors.

“Every year of inaction is a failure for Stolen Generations survivors – too many are gone, without action, without ever seeing justice,” she said.  

“The devastating impacts of racist policies that tore apart our families and removed babies and children away from their culture are still deeply felt today. We can turn that around by driving real reform that supports healing – not only for survivors and their families, but for the nation as a whole.

Decades of delay

The Healing Foundation Chair Professor Steve Larkin said decades of delay and ignored evidence had made the urgency for Stolen Generations survivors impossible to deny.

“We’ve known for so many years from all the research that survivors are over‑represented among older Australians with poorer health, lower incomes and greater need for support – outcomes directly linked to disrupted childhoods, lack of education and removal from family life,” he said.

“There have been decades of reports, research and inquiries, but too little action. With only one year until the 30‑year anniversary of Bringing them home, there is no excuse left for inactivity.

"Survivors have already done the hard work by sharing their truths – leaders now need to do their part and move from sorry to action.

“Government has committed itself to Closing the Gap. Its inaction causes further harm and widens the gap for survivors as they age – they deserve dignity and to be treated with respect, not layers of red tape, bureaucratic inertia and indecisiveness from leaders.”

While apologies and acknowledgement matter, The Healing Foundation says leaders must move beyond words, take accountability and progress real action. 

A generation on, sorry without action is not enough.

Media contact: Dylan De Jong – 0409 867 747 or HFmedia@healingfoundation.org.au