The report, which documented the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families, labelled these practices as acts of genocide.

• Despite the report’s 54 recommendations, only 6% have been fully implemented over the past 28 years.

• Recent Productivity Commission data shows that First Nations children are being removed from their families at 10 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.

• Nearly 24,000 First Nations children were in out-of-home care last year — constituting over 43% of all children in the system.

• The Productivity Commission’s 2025 Report on Government Services showed the child removal system costs $6.6b per year, and the child prison system costs over $1b annually.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

"Today, kids learn about the Stolen Generations in school, but they’re not taught that these policies never ended. The removal of First Nations children is an ongoing genocidal project being perpetrated through government policy every day.

"The Closing the Gap report shows that, under Labor, a whole new Stolen Generation of children are being subjected to the trauma of removal.

"The Bringing Them Home report, delivered nearly three decades ago, told us what we need to do — implement the recommendations and give our people control over decisions about our children. That report is still sitting on the Minister’s shelf.

"Minister McCarthy and Prime Minister Albanese should be ashamed of what’s happening on their watch. Removals have been rising under Labor, traumatising our families and funnelling our kids into prisons. Labor is doing nothing to stop this system that is deliberately harming our kids.

"We know the government will try to say this is a state issue. But this is a national atrocity unfolding in every jurisdiction. Governments are knowingly placing children in harm’s way, failing to enforce legal protections, and enabling systemic neglect and abuse — including sexual abuse. Many kids have died in state care.

"Child abuse is a crime — so why is there no accountability when the perpetrators are state and territory governments or their contracted service providers?

"First Nations children removed from their families face significantly higher risks of poverty, homelessness, criminalisation, and suicide — outcomes for which governments must be held accountable.

"The federal government has the constitutional power to set standards and hold states and territories accountable. They are choosing not to act.

"This new Parliament must mark the end of excuses. Labor has the numbers. They’ve got a progressive Senate. They’ve got First Peoples willing to work with them. It’s time to stop hiding, start leading, and act on implementing these recommendations.

"If Labor is serious about ending child removals, along with enacting the report’s recommendations, they need to set strong national standards, hold the states to account, and fund culturally safe, community-led programs that keep our kids with family and connected to culture and Country.

"Governments spend billions every year removing and jailing children in this country.

"We could create real positive change if the billions spent harming us were reinvested into our self-determined solutions to keep children in their communities, on their Country.

"There are proven, community-controlled services already doing this work — like Bubup Wilam, Yarrabi Bamirr, and Nelly’s Healing Place. Labor must properly resource these programs and expand them nationally, in full partnership with First Peoples.

"We need a government that is truly committed — not one that holds a morning tea every year to give us crocodile tears and empty apologies while continuing to steal our babies.

"We don’t want cupcakes. We want justice — and our babies brought home.

"I send my love and strength to all the families affected by the child removal and prison systems. I’m fighting with you for truth, justice, and an end to this government-enforced cruelty."