The lawyer for the first member of the Stolen Generations to successfully sue a state government says setting up compensation schemes would be a cheaper and easier way to achieve justice.
Bruce Trevorrow was a baby when he went to hospital in Adelaide in the 1950s with stomach pain, and once he was recovered he was placed in state care without his parents' knowledge.
Last August he was awarded $500,000 in damages and yesterday the South Australian Supreme Court granted another $250,000 in interest.
The state is also responsible for paying the bills of Mr Trevorrow's legal team, which could run into the millions.
Mr Trevorrow's lawyer Claire O'Connor says the expense could have been avoided.
"There would have been, on any day, eight or nine lawyers tied up, for months on end, plus the judge and two or three associates and all the staff it involved," she said.
"I just think there's got to be a better way. Now that we have this judgement which explains liability and explains practice, it would be preferable to set up a compensation scheme. It's got to be cheaper."
Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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