Antinuclear

Speaking after the Aboriginal drama Charlie’s Country won best film and best director at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards in Sydney, the director of such acclaimed indigenous dramas as The Tracker and Ten Canoes described the comment as “offensive”.

“It’s so inappropriate that it’s laughable,” de Heer told Fairfax Media after the awards. “It shows such ignorance that he has no right to be the prime minister of Australia.” ………

A fired up De Heer said that to make those comments about the residents of remote communities was “profoundly misunderstanding” of Aboriginal culture and economic reality.

“It’s hypocritical that our Prime Minister pretends to be the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and has so little understanding of what it is to be on country and that there is no choice involved,” he said.

“There are no jobs so they earn nothing. So they get welfare and they pay twice as much for their food as we do. Welfare is not enough here, let alone there. So they have a choice to move somewhere else?”

De Heer said David Gulpilil, the acclaimed actor whose struggles with alcohol, drugs and the law inspired the fictional central character in Charlie’s Country, had been forced to live in Murray Bridge outside Adelaide.

“He can’t afford to live in Darwin and somebody will put him up in Murray Bridge. That’s a lifestyle choice? Yeah. Thank you Mr Abbott.” http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/rolf-de-heer-slams-tony-abbott-over-lifestyle-choice-comments-on-remote-aboriginal-communities-20150310-140it3.html#ixzz3U1KMlmDc