A Debate Remote from Reason

Back in March, when Prime Minister Tony Abbott referred to remote communities’ preference to remain ‘on country’ as ‘a lifestyle of choice’ it prompted a storm of protest from Aboriginal spokespersons and other interested parties. Abbott’s mentor on all things Indigenous, Noel Pearson, used ‘deranged’ to describe the debate. Abbott’s chairman of the Indigenous Advisory Committee, Warren Mundine, boldly suggested the PM was ‘out of touch’. Aboriginal activist and University of Canberra Chancellor Dr Tom Calma was ‘disappointed’, with many others on radio and TV expressing shock at what Pearson called a ‘very disappointing and hopeless’ statement.

A particularly poignant response to Abbott’s lifestyle choices was that of Warren Mundine, who wrote in the Australian using his clan name, Nyunggai. He regarded as ‘inaccurate and unfair’ the PM’s words, in his view invoking the terrifying memory of forced removal from ancestral lands. Mundine stated…