IAHA Media Release – From Sorry to Action: a roadmap for transformative change 26 May 2026
On National Sorry Day, and every day, Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) stands with Stolen Generations survivors, their families, and communities.
The 29th anniversary of the tabling of the landmark Bringing Them Home report is a day of reflection, on the strengths of survivors, and the impact that their voices, stories and truth telling have on how we understand our shared history. Sadly, it also reminds us of the lack of progress made in honouring their experiences and redressing the ongoing impacts on their lives, and the lives of our families and communities, by supporting collective healing.
The impacts on Stolen Generations survivors are complex, lifelong and intergenerational, and they require transformational change within systems that remain underprepared to respond and unwilling to be accountable. Healing will remain unfinished without sustained action, investment, and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce equipped to deliver culturally safe and responsive services.
IAHA supports the Healing Foundation’s leadership in walking alongside Stolen Generations survivors and families, including today’s launch of From Sorry to Action – A plan to act on Bringing them home (2026- 2028). With only 5 of 83 recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report fully implemented to date, this strategy is essential to finally and tangibly implement the recommendations, nearly 30 years after they were tabled.
With survivors now aged 50 and over, it is imperative that we act now. As the Healing Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Yawuru woman Shannan Dodson, said at the launch of the action plan “sorry signals compassion, but action brings justice”. Failure to act is the deliberate perpetuation of harm.
The allied health workforce plays a critical role in trauma-informed care, social and emotional wellbeing, disability support, aged care, and community-based healing. Yet the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health workforce remain underrepresented across systems, particularly in areas where Stolen Generations survivors most need support, and they are underutilised in addressing the continued systemic harm by the rates. of children in out of home care.
IAHA strongly support timely, strategic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led actions to accelerate progress. This must include targeted investment in social and emotional wellbeing services, and trauma-informed, culturally safe and responsive models of care that are underpinned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health workforce growth and support.
On this important day, IAHA calls on governments to move beyond words and recognition, and to invest in the people, services, and systems needed to support survivors and descendants — now, not later.
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Media enquiries
Paul Gibson
Chief Operating Officer
Indigenous Allied Health Australia
(02) 6285 1010
paul@iaha.com.au
Download the media release HERE.
