Tuesday is National Sorry Day, held annually on May 26 to remember and honour the many thousands of Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families from 1910 to 1970.
On February 13, 2008, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly the Stolen Generations.
The apology followed the landmark 1997 Bringing Them Home report - the findings of an inquiry instigated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1995.
Shannan Dodson, chief executive of The Healing Foundation which supports Stolen Generations survivors, said 29 years after the report was tabled in federal parliament, only six per cent of its 83 recommendations had been implemented.
With the 30th anniversary of the report coming up, a whole-of-government approach was needed in the coming year to make real progress before the milestone, she told AAP.
Under various state and territory schemes, Stolen Generations survivors have been able to access one-off financial payments up to $100,000, with Queensland the only hold-out, providing no compensation.
But Ms Dodson said redress was not just about the monetary validation of a survivor's experience.
"It's also acknowledgement and recognition of what has been inflicted upon them ... due to racist policies," she said.
"It was purposeful. The intention was essentially to assimilate Aboriginal people."
Survivors in their late 40s and older were still going through healing journeys and experiencing the impact of trauma, Ms Dodson said.
Support groups were assisting survivors in finding their identities and helping separated families rebuild connections.
With many survivors eligible for aged care, it was important to ensure they were not traumatised, such as by being put back into institutions.
Healing Foundation chair Steve Larkin said survivors were over‑represented among older Australians with poorer health, lower incomes and greater need for support.
Those outcomes were directly linked to disrupted childhoods, lack of education and removal from family life, he said.
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