An Australian newspaper has been accused of "stoking the fire of racism" after publishing a controversial cartoon which depicts a drunken Aboriginal father who cannot remember the name of his son.

Aboriginal groups said the cartoon, which appeared in The Australian, a national daily broadsheet owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, was shameful, insulting and irresponsible.

Roy Ah-See, head of an Aboriginal land council, said the cartoon was unacceptable and showed that "sadly, racism and discrimination is a fact of life for Aboriginal people".

"It was absolutely disgraceful,” he told ABC News.

“I can't believe The Australian, a national newspaper, would be so insulting to us as Aboriginal people … This type of cartoon helps noone; in actual fact it stokes the fire of racism."

Muriel Bamblett, head of an Aboriginal child care agency, said the cartoon maligned Aboriginal people and presented them as "not knowing about their children and not having any role in raising their children".

“It's about profiling us as second-class citizens in our own country," she said.