The Make Healing Happen: It’s time to act report

Abstract

The Make Healing Happen: It’s time to act report sets out a plan with recommendations to achieve real and lasting healing for Stolen Generations survivors, their families and communities.
It was launched by The Healing Foundation CEO Fiona Cornforth at the National Press Club of Australia on 2 June 2021, in conjunction with a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) that estimates the number of Stolen Generations survivors has increased from 17,150 in 2014-15 to 33,600 in 2018-19.

Together, these reports signal the urgent need for policy responses from all Australian governments to assist the healing process for Stolen Generations survivors and descendants.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations aged 50 and over: updated analyses for 2018–19

This report, collated by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, provides contemporary evidence of the ‘gap within the gap’. It shows that Stolen Generations survivors aged 50 and over are more likely to be worse off than other Indigenous Australians of the same age on a range of health and socioeconomic outcomes.

We now know that there are more than 30,000 survivors, all of whom will be aged 50 and over in 2022; and that, across the nation, a third of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are descended from Stolen Generations. In some States and Territories, descendants make up more than half of the population.

This represents significant challenges for governments to address the growing needs in health, aged care, education, social justice, and equity.

It also represents a unique opportunity to unite the nation to achieve healing for all Australians.