Write a letter to Bob Carr on stolen wages in NSW

This page provides information on how you can to do something about justice for Aboriginal people in NSW on stolen wages by writing to Bob Carr to tell him he should negotiate a just solution to the stolen wages issue with appropriate representatives of the Aboriginal community. Tell him why you are interested in the issue, why you think it is important, why a negotiated approach is the right way to go. Ask him to give you details of his process and his timeline.

If you want some ideas for your letter, have a look at the template suggestion below. Bob Carr’s address is Level 40 Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000. You might want to send a similar letter to your local State MP.

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Template letter to NSW Premier, Bob Carr  


The Hon R J Carr, MP
Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship
Level 40 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
Sydney NSW 2000


Dear Premier

I am writing to congratulate you on your statement in Parliament on 11 March 2004 in which you apologised to Aboriginal people affected by the stolen wages issue in NSW.

Your statement conveyed a strong message that those whose monies were held in trust, but never paid out, had been failed by successive NSW Governments.

  • You also made a strong commitment that, despite the “administrative complexities” to which you referred in your statement:
    your Government will work with Aboriginal people to establish a scheme to address this failure
  • as part of this scheme, the Government will in the first place do all it can to help find evidence that will support claimants’ cases
  • where the record is sketchy, it will work with Aboriginal people to develop rules for payment in those circumstances.

However, if this apology is to have meaning for those affected by this issue, your Government also needs to commence the process of developing the scheme as quickly as possible.

Your own statement acknowledges that this will occur over the coming months. However, given the recent media reports indicating that the issue has been receiving attention within government for around six years, many people will be concerned at the vagueness of this time frame.

One way of allaying these concerns would be to convene, immediately, an Aboriginal round table discussion as proposed by Senator Aden Ridgeway – as the first, but not the last, step in the process of negotiating a solution directly with Aboriginal people and communities.

I urge you to take this action now to further the spirit and practice of reconciliation in NSW.

Yours faithfully

Signature