Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander -people who participated in a controversial work for the Dole scheme have launched a Class Action and claims that the program was racial discriminatory.
The Class Action, launched by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers on Monday, is looking for a fee for indigenous people who have undertaken work activities under the Development Program (CDP) community between 2015 and 2021.
Main lawyer Miranda Nagy said that participants in the program, who were disproportionately indigenous people in remote communities, still had to work for many hours to receive the same payments as someone who was working for the Dole payments in the city.
She estimates that people in First Nations have worked under the program for another 30 million hours in remote areas.
“The other aspect of unfairness was that if you did not show up, you were fined 10 percent of your biweekly income,” Mrs. Nagy told AAP.
“In the first three years of CDP, Aboriginals were about 27 times more likely to get a fine than someone who participated in the program in Sydney of Melbourne.”
The main application of the case, Serena Marrkuwatj Bonson, received 17 penalties during the five years that she participated in the CDP in Maningrida in the Northern Territory.
“At different times she took care of children, she also took care of grandchildren,” said Mrs. Nagy.
“She remembers that she had problems and other members of her extensive family had to ask for money or food because she didn’t have enough.
“For people about what is really a very low income … Those people are further creating real difficulties and that kind of feelings of shame and humiliation are that people talk about.”
Mrs. Marrkuwatj Bonson’s Uncle Baru Pascu was made to do the same work, because many younger men under the program, which as a senior traditional owner and elder was not considered culturally suitable.
Mr. Pascoe said that the program caused confusion and stress in his community, with some people who were traumatized by their experiences.
“Many people had nightmares and even got sick,” he said.
“We saw it as Cycloon Tracey, which caused a big storm. The government created a mess in the community and the Blackfellas had cleared the ruins of the government.
“It was shame to do this to our own people.”
Mrs Nagy said that in addition to the compensation of the estimated 20,000 people who have been affected by the program, the case also looks for an apology from the Commonwealth.
“We want to expose what happened and expose a policy and a program that we believe was racial discriminatory,” she said.
“One of our customer’s most important ambitions is to ensure that this type of program is never introduced again.”
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