Ernie Dingo reveals his thoughts on vegan protesters, depression and racism in Australia

TV personality Ernie Dingo has a big beef with racists across Australia and vegan protesters. But he’s not afraid of sticking it to them — he relishes it.

Exclusive: National Living Treasure Ernie Dingo has threatened to take a lump of wood to vegan protesters harassing hardworking Aussie farmers.

The beloved Aboriginal comedian, actor and travel show host told News Corp Australia he was sick of vegan activists making life difficult for Australian farmers, many of whom were already doing it tough.

“I don’t know what vegans are trying to do by going out to these farms,” Dingo said. “They’ve got all this crazy thinking about going to farms to free the animals. I’d love be on the farm with the farmer when a whole bunch of vegans turn up. Two-by-four!”

Australian identity Ernie Dingo is sick of vegan protesters making life tougher for Aussie farmers. Picture: Wayne Quilliam/ SBS

Known as one of Australia’s most loveable larrikins, Dingo, 62, also opened up about his ongoing battle with depression and how he still faced racism, despite his international fame.

In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview, the former Crocodile Dundee II and Bran Nue Dae actor and The Great Outdoors presenter, revealed he often became depressed but tried not to dwell on his unhappiness.

Dingo said he tried to “appear happy”, as a mechanism for coping with depression.

“You just do your job. Chin up (but) depression is a bitch (and) it’s a bit hard to come to terms with a lot of the time,” he said.

The father of six said one of the most important life lessons he had tried to teach his children, aged between 40 and three, was to “appear happy”, even when they were feeling down.

Dingo has three-year-old twin sons Stewart and James, and older children Carleen, Zoe, Wilara and Alyssa.

Ernie Dingo with his three-year-old twin sons Jimmy and Stewie. Picture: Colin Murty

He said he had been open about having depression, in a bid to encourage others to seek help and support, but had a ‘the-show-must-go-on’ type attitude to his own illness.

“(I tell my kids) be happy in the presence of others because they have sadness of their own; unless you want to share their sadness while sharing yours, and then it becomes a competition about who is sadder. So just try to be happy in an outwards way. But there are times I feel down,” he said.

Dingo is currently hosting SBS show Going Places with Ernie Dingo, for which he has visited some of the country’s most remote and beautiful locations, including Victoria’s Grampians, Charlotte Pass and Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales, Yirrkala in the Northern Territory, Hervey Bay, Stradbroke Island and the Gold Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Bruny Island off Tasmania and Ceduna and Port Lincoln in South Australia.

The show, which kicks off on June 12, sees Dingo chew the fat with country folk, in his trademark relaxed Aussie style.

RELATED: Shock link from antidepressants to youth suicide

Ernie Dingo has chewed the fat with locals across Australia as part of filming for the new season of SBS series Going Places With Ernie Dingo. Picture: Wayne Quilliam/ SBS

Despite Dingo’s high profile and status as a National Living Treasure, however, he says he still encounters racism.

“I get it at least once or twice a year. I love ‘em. I can’t wait to meet ‘em,” he said of racists. “I give it back to them if somebody has a crack at me because I’m Aboriginal. It doesn’t matter if you’re well known if somebody has the old anti-black flag up.”

While it appeared he had the dream job, travelling the country and talking to locals, Dingo said this not the case because he missed his family badly when he was away.

He said it made him sad to see sacred sites and Australian monuments defaced with graffiti, and wanted to take “a piece of two-by-four” to vandals as well as vegan activists.

“It’s sad to think there are people who go on holidays with spray cans and who decide to put their signature on a sacred site or a monument,” Dingo said.

“Why do people go on holidays with bloody spray cans? You just want to pick up a piece of two-by-four and take it to them.”

Dingo is no stranger to controversy, being accused in 2010 of slapping a young boy at a school assembly in Carnarvon. The charge was later dropped.

He was linked to a photo sex scandal around the same time.

See the full interview with Ernie Dingo below …

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNIE

Be it 1989’s Fast Forward, 2009’s Bran Nue Dae, 2018’s Mystery Road or any number of films and TV shows from the 1980s until today, actor, television presenter and loveable larrikin Ernie Dingo has proven he is a mainstay of the Australian entertainment industry.

And at 62, the father of six (including twin three-year-old boys) has no plans of slowing down anytime soon, even though his work takes him away from his family for lengths at a time and sometimes to remote locations.

Ernie Dingo tells Stellar that travelling the country is not the dream job many people think it is, as he misses his family. Picture: Steven Chee

Ernie Dingo pictured years earlier.

As Dingo says: “If I get a bit of range, it’s a bit of FaceTime. Otherwise I just try to send messages and photos. They’ve got their little lives to live as well.”

STELLAR: You starred in 1988’s Crocodile Dundee II. The Dundee films are

intrinsically tied to Australian culture, but some chafe at the way it is

represented in them. What’s your reaction to that?

ERNIE: Australia is full of larrikins; we don’t want to become like Americans. We’re Australians! People cringe at Australians being Australian – and it’s true you can bung it on a bit too much, but that’s OK. It’s just people from the city disliking who they are, so they dislike who everyone else is. They need to loosen up!

Ernie Dingo when he was presenting TV show The Great Outdoors. Photo: Supplied

STELLAR: What do you believe is the biggest issue facing indigenous people

today?

ERNIE: They talk about bridging the gap, assimilation, and then they bring in

reconciliation – it’s about coming to terms with your differences. Well, we haven’t

done anything wrong, but yet they give us the program of reconciliation. They

don’t teach Aboriginal studies at school anymore. Why, when it is the oldest

culture in the world? They’d rather learn more about America. And then they

have a crack at the Muslims because they say their system is barbaric because

of young men joining ISIS and whatever, and they don’t realise that their

forefathers were very brutish. There are so many massacre sites around

Australia. Most Australians would be very embarrassed.

A young Ernie Dingo with Kristina Nehm in the 1986 classic film The Fringe Dwellers. Picture: Entertainment/Films

STELLAR: You were involved in the development of Welcome to Country (a ritual

performed at many events to highlight indigenous culture and rights). Did

you ever expect it to become so widely used?

ERNIE: It’s a common practice anyway, in reality. If I come to your place, I’m going to knock on the door. I’m not just going to walk right in. If you go to somebody’s country, you don’t go there to buy it and sell – you have to acknowledge the locals that use it. Coming into the Murchison, where I come from, you don’t come in all hoity-toity or you won’t last

too long.

STELLAR: Given your decades-long work in the film and television industries, what

has been your reaction to the #MeToo movement?

ERNIE: People are entitled to say what they want to say, but they’ve got to have material to back it up. It used to be you were innocent until proven guilty, [but] now everyone’s assumed guilty and you have to prove yourself innocent. But at the same time, some people

need to say things, and when it’s found that it is true, it’s a big relief for them. If

you look at the stolen generations, Aboriginal people were told to forget all about

it – it was like, “For God’s sake, can you people just leave it?”

Ernie Dingo and singer Missy Higgins in a scene from the 2009 film Bran Nue Dae. Picture: Supplied

STELLAR: You’ve been all over Australia with The Great Outdoors and now with

Going Places With Ernie Dingo. Where do you recommend for good

tucker as well as a good time?

ERNIE: There’s a pub called the Walkabout Creek Hotel in McKinlay in Queensland. You know what you’re going to get before you get there and, sure as hell, if it’s a Friday or Saturday night, you’re going to have good colour. The Walkabout Creek Hotel is actually the pub from Crocodile Dundee.

STELLAR: Did being there bring back memories of making the movie?

ERNIE: Yeah, sure did. Standing there next to a cardboard cut-out of Hoges holding a knife!

STELLAR: Everyone thinks a travel show is the dream job. Is the gig really as good

as it seems?

ERNIE: No, there are a lot of drawbacks to it, like being away from family and friends. I’ve got big and little kids at the moment, and that’s hard in a lot of ways. My kids are aged 40 to three. I’ve got grandkids older than my twin three-year-old boys.

Ernie Dingo with three year-old twin sons Jimmy and Stewie. He tries to FaceTime his boys whenever he can, when on the road. Picture: Colin Murty, The Australian

STELLAR: Has there been anything that’s made you sad on your travels?

ERNIE: What’s sad about a lot of those places is to think there are people who go on holidays with spray cans and decide to put their signature on a sacred site or a monument.

Why do people go on holidays with bloody spray cans? You just want to pick up

a piece of two-by-four and take it to them.

STELLAR: Have you ever met anyone in Australia who didn’t know who you were?

ERNIE: I’ve met a lot. A couple of days ago I met a young Spanish lass who didn’t have a

clue who I was. I haven’t had my mug splashed around for a while.

Going Places With Ernie Dingo Season 3 premieres 7.30pm, Wednesday June

12, on SBS, and 7.30pm, Sunday June 16, on NITV.