Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records
Joint statement by Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities
Information Access and Privacy regulators from across Australia have issued a joint statement to mark National Sorry Day (26 May).
Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities recognise the important role of historical records in truth telling and sharing history, intergenerational healing, redress and reparations for Stolen Generation survivors and their families.
The Healing Foundation’s Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records will inform ongoing discussions about greater national consistency.
We acknowledge that the Principles support implementation of recommendations about access to records from the Bringing Them Home (1997) and Make Healing Happen: It’s time to act (2021) reports.
We are committed to working together with The Healing Foundation and stakeholders to champion timely, easy access to records through informal access schemes wherever possible, with formal access applications required only as a last resort.
Signed
- Angelene Falk
Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner - Leo Hardiman QC
Australian Freedom of Information Commissioner - Rachael Rangihaeata
Information Commissioner, Queensland - Paxton Booth
Privacy Commissioner, Queensland - Anna Rickard and Katie Shepherd
A/Right to Information Commissioners, Queensland - Catherine Fletcher
Information Commissioner, Western Australia - Richard Connock
Ombudsman, Tasmania - Wayne Lines
Ombudsman, South Australia - Stephanie Coleman
A/Director, State Records, Privacy Committee of South Australia - Sven Bluemmel
Information Commissioner, Victoria - Rachel Dixon
Privacy and Data Protection Deputy Commissioner, Victoria - Joanne Kummrow
Public Access Deputy Commissioner, Victoria - Penny McKay
A/ACT Ombudsman - Elizabeth Tydd
Information Commissioner, New South Wales - Samantha Gavel
Privacy Commissioner, New South Wales - Peter Shoyer
Information Commissioner, Northern Territory - Brenda Monaghan
Deputy Information Commissioner, Northern Territory
Background
On the 26 May 1997 the landmark The Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in federal parliament.
Bringing them Home is the final report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families and was conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now called the Australian Human Rights Commission) between 1995 and 1997.
On 26 May 1998, the first National Sorry Day was held to commemorate the anniversary of the report and remember the grief, suffering and injustice experienced by the Stolen Generations.
For media enquiries contact:
Simone Martin
t: (03) 8684 7585
e: simone.martin@ovic.vic.gov.au or media@ovic.vic.gov.au