This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

The Victorian government will put $10m into a stolen generations redress scheme that the premier, Daniel Andrews, says is a step to right history’s wrongs.

Announcing scheme with the premier, Victoria’s Aboriginal affairs minister, Gavin Jennings, said on Wednesday that Aboriginal families were historically “torn apart by parliaments like this one”.

The scheme will involve counselling services, a funeral or memorial fund and redress payments for survivors.

The $10m is also expected to assist families and individuals with redress applications and help them tell their stories, with more options to be considered, Andrews said.

Jennings said the plan would help Aboriginal communities heal and move on after so much disadvantage.

Andrews said the plan was designed to right the wrongs from one of Australian history’s most evil chapters.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing,” Andrews said.

Jennings said the apology made by the then prime minister Kevin Rudd to Indigenous Australians in 2008 was significant, but it did not achieve what the new scheme has the potential to do.

The plan was one recommendation of the First People’s Assembly of Victoria and is expected to start in 2021, with consultation to begin this year.