Politics

Here’s Tony Abbott Cracking A Joke About “Invasion” In A Classroom Full Of Indigenous Kids

What is wrong with him?

by Tom Clift  3 November 2018
Tony Abbott thank you for putting up with the invasion

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Former Prime Minster Tony Abbott is no stranger to making an arse of himself. There was a the time he winked at an elderly sex worker. There was the time he accused Labor of creating a “holocaust of job losses”. There was the time, just the other week, where he described Nauru as “a very pleasant island”. And let’s not forget the thing with the onion.

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What The Fuck Is Tony Abbott Even Doing In This Video?

Point is, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that he greeted a group of Indigenous students this week by saying something deeply, deeply stupid.

Abbott was visiting a school in Pukatja, a remote Indigenous community in South Australia, as part of his new role as Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs. And for some reason, he thought it might lighten the mood to thank the students “for putting up with the invasion”.

NITV shared footage of the tone deaf remark, and… yeah, it’s not great.

It’s not the first time Abbott’s been caught making tactless comments about Indigenous affairs. He once described colonisation as “a form of foreign investment” and “the defining moment in the history of this continent”. He also famously said taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund the “lifestyle choices” of Indigenous people living in remote communities”.

Which kind of begs the question… why in God’s name did the Prime Minister make him the Special Envoy?

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h/t NITV