Mundine demands apology from Windsor following ‘bigoted’ comments

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has forced an apology from Tony Windsor, having said the former MP defamed him on Twitter.

Warren Mundine. Picture: AAP.

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has demanded an apology from former politician Tony Windsor, arguing that the previous member for the NSW seat of New England and past rival to Barnaby Joyce had defamed him on Twitter.

Mr Windsor took to the social media platform last night in response to Mr Mundine’s appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program in which Mr Mundine backed-in the Adani mine in Queensland’s Galilee basin because of its potential for job creation.

Sad to watch Warren Mundine raise the issue of token aborigines when he has made himself into a token aborigine as a means of making a living and the media accept him on those terms . I remember a different Warren , not this one .

— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) November 27, 2017

“Sad to watch Warren Mundine raise the issue of token aborigines when has made himself into a token aborigine as a means of making a living and the media accept him on those terms. I remember a different Warren, not this one,” Mr Windsor tweeted.

Hasn't Warren Mundine heard of Fly in Fly out work forces in the mining industry in Qld ...does nothing positive for country communities white or black .
Don't become a token miner on the grounds you are trying to help aboriginal ppl , they never do and you know that .

— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) November 27, 2017

He followed it up with another tweet saying: “Hasn’t Warren Mundine heard of Fly in Fly out work forces in the mining industry in Qld… does nothing positive for country communities white or black. Don’t become a token miner on the grounds you are trying to help aboriginal ppl, they never do and you know that.”

Mr Mundine told The Australian today he thought Mr Windsor’s comments amounted to an “outrageous attack” and that he had used “bigoted language.”

“I just found it totally disgusting that a former politician was just coming out and using that type of language — attacking an aboriginal person who was in a quite civil discussion on Q&A,” he said.

“He also has defamed me by saying I’m in the pocket of all these people. I’m not getting paid a cent by anyone. And I find this whole thing quite disgusting …. I demand an apology from him.”

Mr Windsor later apologised to Mr Mundine on Twitter and tagged him in a message, saying: “Warren we go back along (wic) way. If I have offended you in relation to a tweet I sent last night I apologise and will delete the tweet immediately.”

Mr Windsor deleted the tweet and posted another message saying: “I have sent a message to Warren Mundine apologising for a tweet posted by me last night. If it has offended anyone I apologise. On rereading the tweet I can understand how it could be taken to offend. I have also deleted the tweet.”