Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is sorry for “no slavery in Australia” remarks

Scott Morrison has walked back his comments that there was no slavery in and tried to distance himself from ‘history wars’.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media following a meeting of the National Cabinet. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has walked back his comments that there was no slavery in Australia, declaring his remarks were “not intended to give offence” as he conceded “all sorts of hideous practices” have taken place in the nation’s history.

The Prime Minister on Friday tried to distance himself from the “history wars” and said his comments on breakfast radio on Thursday were in reference to how the colony of New South Wales had been founded on principles including that slavery would not be allowed.

Asked whether he supported the removal of Captain James Cook statues on Thursday, Mr Morrison had said that the British explorer was “one of the most enlightened persons on these issues, you could imagine”.

“Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as New South Wales, was on the basis that there’d be no slavery,” he told 2GB host Ben Fordham. “My forefathers and foremothers were on the First and Second Fleets. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.”

Mr Morrison apologised for the remarks on Friday and acknowledged there were “issues” in Australian history.

“My comments were not intended to give offence and if they did, I deeply regret that and apologise for that,” he said. “In Australia we know we have had problems in our past. We have acknowledged those.”

“This is not about getting into the history wars. They were simply trying to make the point that Australia, yes, we have had issues in our history. We have acknowledged them. I have acknowledged them and we need to address them and, particularly those who work closely within this area would know that.”

Mr Morrison said he was personally heavily invested in indigenous issues and would continue to be. Asked about high rates of indigenous incarceration – the issue that sparked Black Lives Matter protests in cities across the nation last weekend – Mr Morrison said such problems required multiple areas of public policy to manage an effective response.

“It’s health policy, it’s youth policy, it’s a suicide policy, it’s employment policy, it’s welfare policy – this is an incredibly complicated area and not all indigenous experiences are the same.

“There is no shortage of funds being thrown at this issue, but clearly the application of funds by governments over decades and decades and decades is not getting the results we want.

“I can assure you it’s not through a lack of will, it’s an admission of the complexity and the difficulty of the task.”

Mr Morrison said that stories of abuse, sexual violence, alcoholism and drug abuse in indigenous communities were heartbreaking and “enough to bring any Australian to their knees in tears.”

It comes after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Friday lashed out at an apparent rush of “cancel culture” in response to the protest movement.

Netflix has pulled four shows featuring controversial Australian performer Chris Lilley and there are calls to topple statues of Captain Cook.

“I don't think ripping pages out of history books and brushing over parts of history you don't agree with or you don't like is really some thing the Australian public is going to embrace," Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today show. “There are good and bad parts of our history. You learn from that.”