INDIGENOUS leader and former ALP president Warren Mundine has been subjected to racial abuse from Labor members and supporters angry he voted Liberal.

A tirade of racist slurs were directed at Mr Mundine, who will run incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott's indigenous advisory council, after he tweeted how he voted.

He was referred to as a "white a ... kisser," "Uncle Tom," an insulting term about black Americans and a "coconut."

The campaigner for indigenous jobs said that many of the texts and tweets he received with the racist terms were from white ALP members and non-indigenous supporters of the party.

On Saturday, Mr Mundine tweeted: "Like many Australians 2day I voted Liberal for the 1st time. Labor has become a party of spin not workers."

When he replied to one racist text message, Mr Mundine said the Labor supporter who had sent him the slur replied "the shoe fits, wear it."

Mr Mundine said the abuse directed at him from members of his former party - which he quit in August 2012 - could deter future indigenous leaders from aspiring to public life.

He said the Left, which had advocated against racism, had turned on him.

"I copped a fair amount of racial abuse over the weekend," he said.

"Some of the self-righteous people on the Left who attack people for being racist. About 40 per cent of attacks on me have been racial. It is because I voted Liberal and I am working for Tony Abbott."

He said he was "hurt" by the abuse but had tried to "cop it on the chin."

When a person on Twitter called him "Uncle Tom," Mr Mundine tried a lighthearted reply, telling him "yes, my Uncle Tom lives up near Tabulam Northern NSW.'

Another Twitter user told him "YOU ARE an UNCLE TOM Warren ... we will remember. Uncle Tom African American male who kisses the white mans (sic) a.."

Mr Mundine said he believed Labor had a cultural problem and was failing to address the reasons why voters kicked the party from office at the weekend.

"The Labor Party have got to learn the lessons of the weekend, they are just fooling themselves, they are cheering as if they won the election," he said.

"Two million Labor people voted Liberal. That is a massive shift.

"They are in big trouble and they haven't realised it."

Mr Mundine was overlooked for a Senate spot by Julia Gillard in 2012 after she instead chose Bob Carr who was parachuted in to be made Foreign Minister after Kevin Rudd's failed coup.

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