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    Stolen Generations payout challenged




    THE Rann Government's appeal in the Bruce Trevorrow case over the Stolen Generations seeks to challenge the size of the damages award, despite government assurances that it would never take away Mr Trevorrow's payout.

    In a notice of appeal lodged in the South Australian Supreme Court registry, the Rann Government challenges Mr Trevorrow's payout of $525,000, awarded to him last August for being separated from his family as a child. And it challenges a $250,000 payout for interest, awarded this month.

    The decision by judge Thomas Gray was the first successful legal action for damages by a member of the Stolen Generations.

    In launching the challenge on Thursday, the Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said the Government sought clarification on "points of law" rather than Mr Trevorrow's payout or the facts of the case, which were "resolved by the trial judge".

    However, in the notice of appeal the Government sets out the $775,000 damages that were awarded to Mr Trevorrow and says: "This appeal is against the whole of the judgments."

    According to the document, the Government wants every order made by Justice Gray in the Trevorrow case set aside, including in relation to the size of the damages.

    And it sets out more than 25 disputes on the facts of the case, including disputing the judge's finding that Mr Trevorrow's parents did not consent to their son's removal in 1957.

    The Government has paid Mr Trevorrow the damages award in full, as it is required to under the Supreme Court Act. Premier Mike Rann and Mr Atkinson have maintained that the Government would not seek to recover any money from Mr Trevorrow, irrespective of the outcome of an appeal.

    But a spokesman for the Attorney-General said yesterday the promise would "probably not" apply to any future state government.

    Asked if the Government had signed any legal undertaking guaranteeing Mr Trevorrow's payout, the spokesman said he was not aware of any.

    The Government's decision to appeal the case was attacked yesterday by general counsel for Perth law firm Lavan Legal, Martin Bennett.

    He said the appeal presented a "significant obstacle" to the finalising of hundreds of Stolen Generations cases in Western Australia and other states.

    Mr Bennett suggested that the Rann Government's position - that it would never seek to recover any of the damages from Mr Trevorrow - created grounds for the South Australian Supreme Court to reject the appeal.

    "Mr Rann has already said he is not interested in recovering any money from Mr Trevorrow," Mr Bennett said. "Supreme Courts take a dim view of being asked to rule on academic points."

    A senior Adelaide barrister, who declined to be named, said the Government's promise to Mr Trevorrow nullified its appeal on the size of the damages. "It is asking the Supreme Court to give an advisory opinion, which courts do not do, " he said.



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