TONY Abbott’s chief indigenous adviser Warren Mundine has slammed the Prime Minister for comments he made yesterday saying indigenous Australians made a “lifestyle choice” to live in remote communities.

While backing the WA government’s plan to close 150 remote communities, Mr Abbott declared governments couldn’t “endlessly subsidise” people who chose to live far away from schools and jobs.

Mr Mundine, a respected indigenous leader and the head of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council said this morning Mr Abbott had failed to understand the connection indigenous Australians have with the land.

He said it was not a lifestyle choice.

“I think it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Mr Mundine told ABC radio.

“These people are connected to their homeland ... it affects their cultural activities.

“It’s not as if someone has decided to have a sea change in the bush. This is about their life. It’s about their very essence and culture.

“It’s not a lifestyle change for them, it’s actually about their culture.”

Mr Mundine said Mr Abbott needed to display a greater understanding about exactly why Indigenous Australians lived in such remote areas.

“There does need to be a bit more understanding of the connection indigenous Australians have with the land,” he said.

“It is a different connection to the land than European settlers have.”

This morning Mr Abbott defended his comments.

“I was stating a general principle,” the Prime Minister told 2GB’s Alan Jones.

“The general principle is you and I as Australians are free to do what we want to do ... if you or I chose to live in a very remote place to what extent are taxpayers expected to fund our choices?

“We have to be a little realistic.”

Treasurer Joe Hockey also backed up Mr Abbott’s comments saying it was a “lifestyle choice” for people to remain in remote indigenous communities.

“It’s right because it is the lifestyle they want,” Mr Hockey told ABC radio.

“Some of them say they want that lifestyle and that tradition. That is the way they want to live.”

He defended Mr Abbott and his interest in the lives of indigenous Australians.

“No other Prime Minister in Australia’s history has never been more engaged with indigenous communities,” Mr Hockey said.

He said if people did want to remain living in remote Australia the expectation could not be that the gap would be closed everywhere across Australia because it was just not possible to get adequate services out to those areas.

“You can’t raise expectations that you’re going to have quality of opportunity in every corner of Australia,” Mr Hockey said.

Malcolm Turnbull has also leapt to Tony Abbott’s defence, claiming every time the embattled Prime Minister opens his mouth he cops criticism.

In defence of the Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull said he believed there were very few non-Indigenous politicians with a better understanding of Indigenous affairs than Mr Abbott.

“I mean he does spend a week a year in a remote aboriginal community. He’s very, very committed to (Indigenous affairs),” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio. “I think he does have a very good understanding.”

Mr Turnbull called for a sensible public debate on the subject of living in remote communities, without the sustained focus on attacking Mr Abbott.

“I’m not suggesting this is anything other than extremely complex but I think it important we talk about the issue thoughtfully and rationally,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Rather than, as is often the case with the Prime Minster, every time he opens his mouth his critics leap on him – sort of like a pack of (football) forwards onto a loose ball.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Turnbull indicated there were no plans for a leadership change before the next federal election.

“The only thing that can – prior to an election – change the Prime Minister is a decision of the … Liberal Party room,” he said, before continuing: “I think you should assume Tony Abbott will remain the leader of the Liberal Party, and the hence the Prime Minister, all the way up the next election.”

The Prime Minister however has received widespread criticism including from Labor ranks, which labelled the statements “highly offensive”.

Opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Shayne Neumann demanded a public apology to all Australians for the “deeply disturbing and highly offensive” comments.

“This is a prime minister who doesn’t understand the importance of these people to their connectivity to their land,” he said.

Mr Neumann accused Mr Abbott of trying to undo any progress made in closing the gap of indigenous disadvantage.

Mr Neumann said the self-declared prime minister for indigenous affairs had form in this area, referring to Mr Abbott’s claim that Australia was unsettled before British “foreign investment”.

“He has trashed his reputation, he doesn’t deserve that title,” he said.

Australian Greens senator Rachel Siewert also slammed the comments as “unbelievably racist” and completely out of touch with reality.

Abbott’s comments also fired up social media with users taking to Twitter in disgust.

Some of us actually don't have the privilege of making #lifestylechoices. I spoke with Sky News this morning, see http://t.co/oFoL6lZqqp — Mick Gooda (@MickGooda) March 11, 2015

I wonder if rich superannuants should continue to get tax breaks because you know, lifestyle choices. — DeeMadigan (@deemadigan) March 10, 2015

#lifestylechoice has such an arbitrary definition - We are funding the lifestyle choices of Gina Rinehart and Kerry Packer - stop that first — cosmiczorro (@cosmiczorro) March 10, 2015

It was on ABC Radio in Kalgoorlie on Tuesday when Mr Abbott first made the remarks.

“It is not the job of the taxpayer to subsidise lifestyle choices,” Mr Abbott said.

“Fine by all means live in a remote location, but there’s a limit to what you can expect the state to do for you if you want to live there.

“What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have.”

The prime minister said it was reasonable for state governments to stop funding services in remote communities if the costs were out of proportion to the benefits.

Additional reporting from Gold Coast Bulletin journalist Tom Snowdon.