A GROUP that originated in Gunnedah has used the anniversary of the nation's apology to indigenous people to push its campaign against the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Members of Grandmothers Against Removals (GMAR) came from all over the country, including five Gomeroi women from Gunnedah, Moree and Coonabarabran, to protest at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra yesterday the 7th anniversary of then-prime minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations.
The group argues the nation is creating another stolen generation, with an unprecedented increase in the number of Aboriginal children taken from their families in recent years.
Moree woman Debra Swan said despite a government policy that indigenous children taken away from their parents should be placed within their own culture, extended family were being overlooked.
When Ms Swan spoke to The Leader yesterday, she and several hundred other protesters had just completed a march to Parliament House, where they presented a list of their demands to WA Greens senator Rachel Siewart.
She has promised to present it to her senate colleagues on Tuesday.
Ms Swan said the group, which has been at the tent embassy all week, had also had a visit from Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, who made a commitment to get back to the women with a formal response within a fortnight.
She said their demands were still the same: "We want our children back."
Ms Swan said they also wanted changes in government department practices when it came to Aboriginal children considered to be at risk, including advisory committees of indigenous people at the community level.