Senior government ministers have come to the defence of Tony Abbott after the prime minister suggested indigenous Australians were making “lifestyle choices” to live in remote communities.
Abbott is resisting Opposition calls he apologise for saying taxpayers couldn’t endlessly subsidise people who chose to live far away from schools and jobs.
The prime minister sparked outrage when he backed a West Australian plan to close 150 remote communities, saying governments couldn’t endlessly subsidise people who chose to live far away from schools and jobs.
He told ABC Radio in Kalgoorlie on Tuesday: “It is not the job of the taxpayer to subsidise lifestyle choices.”
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne today dismissed the apology calls as a bizarre and hysterical response to an economic issue.
“There comes a point where the taxpayer has to say how much money can be spent in this community where there is no economic future,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
Malcolm Turnbull said attempts to paint Abbott as insensitive to indigenous Australia was a bridge too far.
It was important the issue be discussed thoughtfully and rationally, he said.
“Rather than – as is often the case with the prime minister – that whenever he opens his mouth his critics swoop on him like a pack of forwards onto a bit of loose balls.”
Treasurer Joe Hockey said Abbott was “absolutely right” because you could not raise an expectation that the the quality of opportunity was available in every part of Australia.
“Some of them say it’s part of their tradition, that is their lifestyle, that is the way they live,” he told ABC radio.
But Abbott’s chief indigenous adviser says living in remote communities is not a lifestyle choice.
“It is not as simple as if someone from Sydney decides to go and have a tree change and live in the bush,” Warren Mundine said.
“This is about their life, it’s about their very essence, it’s about their very culture.”
Abbott, a day after making the comments, insisted he was simply stating a general principle about the difficulties children from remote communities faced going to school and adults in finding work.
“This is where we have to be a little bit realistic,” he said.
“If you or I chose to live in a very remote place, to what extent is the taxpayer obliged to subsidise our services?”
Close the Gap campaign chairman Mick Gooda described Abbott’s comments as “unhelpful”, adding people in remote communities had been living on their homelands for generations.
“We actually don’t have the privilege of making lifestyle choices,” the indigenous social justice commissioner said.
Labor and the Greens have demanded Abbott apologise for the comments they’ve branded as racist and highly offensive.
“He really is a disgrace,” opposition indigenous spokesman Shane Neumann said.
Abbott’s comments also attracted criticism from award-winning film director Rolf de Heer, who told Fairfax Media they were “so inappropriate that it’s laughable”.
He was speaking after his film Charlie’s Country won the best film and best director awards at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards in Sydney.
