Aboriginal workers lose payments
When 23 Aboriginal people stopped getting Unemployment Benefit because they had not taken enough steps to find a job, supporters argued that no jobs were open to them.
Booklet instructs people to assimilate to get government payments
Even though social security was a federal responsibility, the Western Australian Department of Native Welfare issued a booklet for Aboriginal people instructing them to access payments through state-based officers.
Aboriginal welfare officer advocates for community
As well as working with communities on government-run reserves in the Northern Territory, Vai Stanton Mimbinggal worked with the government to improve conditions for Aboriginal people nationally.
Officials discuss increasing ‘pocket money’ for people living on missions and stations
Aboriginal people living on stations and missions only received part of their government payment to manage themselves. In 1965, officials met to discuss how much this should be and how to standardise the amount people got.
Government withholds money from pension payments for Aboriginal leprosy patients
Aboriginal leprosy patients in the Northern Territory received only a fraction of their pension payments in the 1960s, while other patients got their benefits in full. Government officials disagreed about how to spend the withheld payments and the money went unaccounted for.
Government restricts access to equal wages and payments
During the 1960s, there was increasing pressure for Aboriginal pastoral workers to get equal wages. The government was reluctant to grant Unemployment Benefit payments to Aboriginal workers who were likely to be affected by changes to wages.
Aboriginal workers forced to accept below-award wages
In 1965, Aboriginal workers paid at below-award rates could not get government payments. The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders raised the issue with government, labelling it ‘coercion’ and ‘discrimination’.
Aboriginal activists write letter of protest to the UN
The Northern Territory Council for Aboriginal Rights, led by Aboriginal activists, tried to draw international attention to their cause by appealing to the United Nations.
