00:00Northern Territory's stolen generation's children spent years being abused in institutions like the Tiwi Islands Garden Point Catholic Mission.
00:12Just because you don't like religion, they tried to beat it into him.
00:16Brian Long's dad passed down the damage he suffered to his kids.
00:21My dad used to, when we played up or anything, he used to beat us up,
00:26but I don't hold that against him because that's the way that they grew him up.
00:32Stolen generation's descendants jumped at the chance to join a Shine Lawyers class action for compensation
00:39because the federal government's territory redress scheme excluded their parents who'd already died.
00:46But two years after the government settled the action for $50 million,
00:51some claimants have now been told they'll get just $3,000 each.
00:56They've created a mess and we're getting traumatised again just for a lousy couple of thousand dollars.
01:07Some will get nothing.
01:09All this stuff we've been going through and waiting and all that has all been for nothing.
01:15The Shine Lawyers says the scheme it set up for dividing the $50 million mirrors Northern Territory Inheritance Law.
01:22It prioritises a stolen generation person's will executor first, then their spouse, then their children,
01:29meaning some children will miss out.
01:31It says the scheme was approved by the court.
01:34Shine's decision is causing friction between families and that's not any good to our mental health.
01:40The claimants are also angry with the federal government for putting them in this position.
01:45The government responded with a statement that it's not involved in the settlement distribution,
01:51but will closely monitor the matter.
01:53It's a shame that it had to go this way.
01:57$11 million of the settlement went to legal fees and insurance.
02:02Costs Shine Lawyers says were clear up front.
02:06There is a growing concern at the growing dissatisfaction and indeed anger from claimants
02:13who get vacuumed into class actions and then don't get much money.
02:19I think there has to be some form of regulation that ensures that this kind of thing can't occur.
02:25Unhappy claimants also think more federal government regulation of class actions is needed.
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