With former PM to be government’s special envoy on Indigenous affairs, we look at his comments on the issue

'In 1788 it was nothing but bush': Tony Abbott on Indigenous Australia

Tony Abbott has accepted a role as Scott Morrison’s special envoy on Indigenous affairs and will use his new position to raise school attendance and performance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The appointment has attracted some criticism from Indigenous activists, who said when Abbott was prime minister he did not consult enough with communities about policies.

Tony Abbott as Indigenous affairs envoy? Be disturbed. Be very disturbed | Jack Latimore Read more

Initially, few could fail to be impressed by the energy with which he approached his role as “the prime minister for Indigenous affairs”.

Abbott publicly disagreed with John Howard over the stolen generations. He supported Australia’s adoption of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

His promises were bold and enthusiastic. “I will continue to spend a week a year in a remote Indigenous community as I have done over the past decade,” he said on election night in 2013. He was prepared to “sweat blood” to see constitutional recognition come to pass. Then a leadership challenge interrupted his plans.

But over time Abbott has also angered some Indigenous people with his comments on cultural and historic issues.



His track record on the issue is seen as being mixed. Here are some of his comments:

As we look around this glorious city, as we see the extraordinary development, it’s hard to think that back in 1788 it was nothing but bush.

– addressing a breakfast in Sydney to mark a visit by then British prime minister, David Cameron, in 2014





Good on him for having a go.

– on land rights champion Eddie Mabo





The arrival of the First Fleet was the defining moment in the history of this continent. Let me repeat that – it was the defining moment in the history of this continent. It was the moment this continent became part of the modern world.

– launching the Defining Moments in Australian History project in 2014





It was a mistake for us not to apologise to Aboriginal people. And I’m pleased when Kevin Rudd did decide to apologise that he was strongly supported by the Coalition.

– in 2009, speaking as the then-Labor government officially adopted the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, reversing the decision of the previous government, which voted against it in 2007





I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British government in the then-unsettled or scarcely settled great south land.

– at the Melbourne Institute economic conference, 2014





This is a deregulatory government and the last thing I want to do is to have a Vegemite watch ... because Vegemite, quite properly, is for most people a reasonably nutritious spread on your morning toast or on your sandwiches. What’s important is that we ensure that remote communities, all communities, are being properly policed.

– following baseless allegations in 2015 that people in remote communities were using Vegemite to make alcohol





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.

– following a Western Australian government announcement that it was going to close remote communities in the north of the state

