Today, on National Sorry Day, First Nations advocates urged the public to stand alongside survivors of the Stolen Generations and push governments to act on the unmet recommendations of the landmark Bringing Them Home report. 

Nearly 30 years ago, that report gave governments a roadmap to justice, but survivors are ageing and dying while governments delay, Julie Tongs OAM, CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services, argued.

“Saying sorry was the beginning. It was never meant to be the end.”

Bringing Them Home found that between one-third and 10 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970 under assimilation policies. 

The report described their forcible removal as “an act of genocide, aimed at wiping out Indigenous families, communities, and cultures”, and called the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people “a gross violation of human rights” that breached Australian legal standards.

Many of the children were abused at the hands of authorities — including in the notorious Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home, an NSW Government facility that housed between 400 and 600 boys from the 1920s to 1970s. Survivors of that institution spoke at a Sorry Day gathering at Winnunga Nimmityjah this morning.

“Across Australia there are still families carrying unanswered questions about loved ones who never came home; children who disappeared from records; and deaths linked to missions, settlements, and institutions,” Ms Tongs said. “Communities have spoken for decades about missing children, unmarked burial sites, and stories that were never properly recorded…

“That hurt walks through our doors at Winnunga every day. As Aboriginal people, we all know someone who has been stolen or impacted by Stolen Generations policies – or we have been impacted ourselves.”

To this day, Stolen Generations survivors face poorer health, economic, and social outcomes than other First Nations people their age, according to the Healing Foundation, the national organisation supporting Stolen Generations survivors and communities. 

Most survivors are now aged over 50; many are elderly and in pain – but they cannot afford treatment, while others do not access services they worry could retraumatise them.

Bringing Them Home made 83 recommendations and sub-recommendations – but the Healing Foundation’s 2025 report entitled Are You Waiting For Us To Die? found that only 6 per cent of them had been implemented.

“That is not progress – it’s a national disgrace,” Ms Tongs said. “Survivors told their stories. They relived their trauma. They sat through inquiries and gave governments the roadmap. Yet the goal posts keep moving. Why are survivors still ageing and passing away while governments move at a pace that suggests this can wait? It cannot wait.”

Winnunga Nimmityjah and the Healing Foundation are calling for culturally safe and affordable aged care and health services for survivors; easier access to family records, so survivors can know their history and reconnect with family; redress for all survivors, including in Queensland, the only jurisdiction without a Stolen Generations redress scheme; fairer and more accessible state and territory redress schemes; stronger survivor-led organisations providing culturally appropriate, trauma-informed services; and clear accountability mechanisms so recommendations are delivered, not shelved.

“We’ve had seven Prime Ministers since Bringing Them Home,” Ms Tongs said. “Seven. Governments have come and gone, ministers have come and gone, departments have been renamed and restructured. This can’t keep falling to the government of the day.

“The broader community needs to get behind this. We need to stand together and put pressure on states and territories. Survivors have done their part. Now the rest of us have to do ours.

“Showing up matters. Stand with survivors. Come to community events. Listen to truth-telling. Speak to your children and families about our shared history. Write to your local members and ask them to prioritise action. Prioritise truth. Prioritise justice. Prioritise the voices of Stolen Generations survivors while they are still here to be heard.”

Independent Senator David Pocock said National Sorry Day was a day to remember, acknowledge, and reflect on the impact of the Stolen Generations. 

“Sorry is an important word,” Senator Pocock said. “But words are not enough. Action is needed.”

Senator Pocock said Winnunga Nimmityjah’s work providing culturally safe health and community services was vital, but a holistic and systemic approach was needed to embed those services in a national framework.

“Nearly a generation since the Bringing Them Home report was tabled, a shockingly low number of the 83 recommendations it put forward have been implemented. Stolen Generations survivors are passing away before they see meaningful change or redress. This unmet need three decades later is a failure that needs to be remedied.”