Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott raised eyebrows for saying indigenous people in the country’s remote areas are making a lifestyle choice as opposed to preserving cultural heritage, the Australian Broadcasting Network (ABC) reported Wednesday.
Abbott’s comments came Tuesday as he voiced support for a plan to shut down over 100 Aboriginal communities and relocate some 1,000 Aboriginal Australians closer to more populated areas with more accessible public services.
“I think it is a very disappointing and hopeless statement by the Prime Minister,” Noel Pearson, an Aboriginal Australian lawyer and land rights activist, told the broadcaster.
According to Pearson, the Australian government’s proposal is part of a policy “thought bubble” that has not been expressed in writing and does not contain a sustainable plan for the community’s future.
“There was time in our history when they kicked us out of town and now they want to bring us back in just by a flick of the policy switch,” Pearson said.
Although Aboriginal Australians retain unique status in the country, they remain unacknowledged by the Australian constitution and Canberra does not recognize the legal force of the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Source: Sputnik News