Court approves $180m settlement for unpaid wages

By PETER ROWE 

The Federal Court has approved the WA government’s settlement payment of $180 million to Indigenous workers who had their wages withheld or were underpaid due to discriminatory government policies of the 20th century.

Justice Bernard Murphy ruled about 8,750 claimants would receive a share in the payment, after all legal fees were paid.

The class action was initially brought by Gooniyandi stockman and artist Mervyn Street, 72, who worked on remote stations and was not paid a wage until he was in his 30s.

The government policy between 1936 and 1972 allowed the State government to withhold up to 75 per cent of an Aboriginal person’s wage.

As a result of the action last November the WA government said it would pay up to $180.4 million to thousands of eligible Aboriginal workers, their spouses and children, including the estimated $15 million in legal costs.

Justice Murphy, sitting in Perth, said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the treatment the claimants had received.

“It should also be understood the proposed settlement related to unpaid or underpaid wages and related claims,” he said.

“It does not relate to the disgraceful way First Nations people were treated.”