Patrick Dodson says Tony Abbott job offer of indigenous envoy is condescending

Tony Abbott says he’s still considering the role of indigenous affairs envoy, but Labor MP Patrick Dodson says the idea is “condescending’’.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is considering Scott Morrison’s offer of the job of indigenous envoy.

The federal Liberal Party’s only ­indigenous MP, Ken Wyatt, has refused to endorse Tony Abbott as the Morrison government’s special indigenous affairs envoy, but an Aboriginal leader who is close to the former prime minister says the job could be worthwhile if he challenges the status quo.

Mr Abbott is still considering whether to accept the role, which he was offered 30 minutes before Scott Morrison announced his ministry on Sunday, but is cautious about stepping on the toes of Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion. A full job proposal has not been given to Mr Abbott, who said he would seek advice from Aboriginal leaders Noel Pearson and Ian Trust as he weighed up whether to take on the role.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said details of the arrangement, such as whether Mr Abbott would gain extra staff or be paid more, were still being finalised.

Mr Trust, executive director of the Wunan Foundation in the East Kimberley, had not spoken to Mr Abbott when The Australian contacted him yesterday, but said it could be a “positive” job if the former prime minister encouraged new voices to come forward and looked after the best interests of children. “The person in there has got to be about challenging the status quo,” Mr Trust said.

Labor Senator Patrick Dodson.

Mr Wyatt, the Indigenous Health Minister, reportedly winced when asked his thoughts on Mr Abbott taking up the position. “Tony has been offered something by the Prime Minister, whether I agree or disagree doesn’t matter,” Mr Wyatt told 6PR radio. “If Tony accepts that then he’s going to have to work with Aboriginal people, listen to them, accept their perspectives and then bring that back (to the government). It’s something I didn’t expect Tony would do.”

Indigenous Labor senator Patrick Dodson said the olive branch to Mr Abbott was “an attempt to buy off a wrecker” and voiced serious concerns about the possible appointment “given his ignorant, hopeless and frankly offensive track record on indigenous issues”.

“The suggestion that Tony ­Abbott could act as some kind of messenger or representative for First Nations people is condescending to the overwhelming number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who support the calls for a ‘voice’ to parliament and a Makarrata commission to oversee truth-telling and agreement-making — both of which Mr Abbott has not supported,” Senator Dodson said.

Jackie Huggins and Rod Little, co-chairs of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, demanded Mr Morrison “abandon the cynical thought” of appointing Mr Abbott as a special envoy “for the sole purpose of attempting to quell the factional divides in your party”.

Mr Abbott, the self-described prime minister for indigenous ­affairs while in the top job, pledged to contest the next election and said he wanted the Morrison government to make a difference in indigenous affairs. But he did not “just want a title without a role”.

“One of the problems that bedevils indigenous policy more than just about any other area of our public life is governance,” Mr Abbott told a Centre for Independent Studies forum.

“I just want to make sure that if I do this I won’t be treading on the toes of people who are already there, given there are so many people already there.”

Mr Morrison said he wanted to use Mr Abbott’s insights as a former prime minister in an area he was “deeply passionate about”.