Continued call to 'hear us' 15 years after apology

When Kevin Rudd apologised to the stolen generations on February 13, 2008 many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were filled with hope.

Fifteen years later some of those same people and their families are asking what has changed.

'Stolen generations' refers to Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities and placed in institutions or with non-Indigenous families.

Many removals occurred as the result of laws and policies aimed at assimilating the First Nations population into the wider community and were based on the European belief that there was nothing of value in Indigenous cultures.

The 1997 Bringing Them Home report found that up to one third of Indigenous children were taken from their families between 1910 and 1970.

At the age of four, Gamilaroi and Wailwan woman Aunty Lorraine Peeters was taken from her family in Brewarrina and placed in the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, in NSW's Riverina.

Life at the Coota Girls Home was brutal, as survivors explained on their website.

"We were brainwashed to act, speak, dress and think white and we were punished if we didn't," Aunty Lorraine said.  

"We were not allowed to talk in our language or about culture or about our families." 

Aunty Lorraine developed the Marumali – a Gamilaroi word meaning "put back together" – program, which aims to help stolen generations members heal and she runs with her daughter, Shaan Peeters.

"The apology brought about a lot of emotions, a sense of relief, a feeling of pride," Shaan told AAP.

"There was also a sense of loss and grief and sadness at the same time, particularly for those survivors who fought and advocated for this and never got to see it come to fruition.

"I also felt a sense of peace and hope that things would improve, in particular that there be no repetition and they would stop taking our kids."

On Monday, Aboriginal people and allies will march from Sydney's Hyde Park to occupy Martin Place to call for a total overhaul of NSW's child protection system.

Nationally, Indigenous children are more than 10 times likely to be in out-of-home care than other Australian children.

In 2022 Premier Dominic Perrottet said it was a personal priority to pursue Indigenous equality.

He committed $15.3 million over four years to establish memorials at former children's homes including at Cootamundra, plus Bomaderry, Kinchela and Keller House in North Parramatta.

"The gap in basic living standards that First Nations people endure remains completely unacceptable," Mr Perrottet said at the time.

"We must act with urgency to secure all indigenous Australians true equality and true opportunity, economic opportunity, social opportunity and political opportunity."

At a federal level, the government will on Monday outline new measures to be funded under a $424 million scheme as part of the second Closing The Gap Implementation Plan, which will focus on practicable ways to improve quality of life for Indigenous people.

The funding boost is on top of the $1.2 billion set aside in the October budget for tangible solutions, and will include money for family and sexual violence support, greater access to clean drinking water and nutritious food, plus on-country education for remote students.

AbSec (the NSW peak body for Indigenous children and families) CEO John Leha is calling for the creation of an Aboriginal-led child protection system.

"The NSW child protection system needs a top-to-bottom overhaul," he said.

"Self-determination and accountability to the community are at the heart ... we need the NSW government to live up to those principles, as we continue to work together to uphold the rights of Aboriginal children and families." 

Shaan Peeters said she would like to see all of the recommendations implemented from the Bringing Them Home report.

"Particularly the recommendations relating to our young people in care, within the justice system and our social justice for families and mob in prison," she said.

"No-one hears us.

"True self determination is found in our stolen generations organisations around Australia.

"We are our own voice but we want to be heard."