Bob Geldof slams Australia’s treatment of Aborigines
International
oi-Raymond Ronamai
By Raymond Ronamai
Melbourne,
(ANI):
Irish
singer
Sir
Bob
Geldof
has
slammed
Australia
for
its
treatment
of
Aborigines,
saying
that
it
was
'economically
stupid'
and
'absurd'.
Geldof,
58,
was
speaking
at
a
breakfast
for
West
Australian
mining
entrepreneur
Andrew
Forrest"s
nation-touring
Generation
One
movement,
which
aims
to
halt
indigenous
disparity.
He
said
Australia
has
'exiled'
indigenous
Australians
from
the
nation.
“They
were
forced
to
be
exiled
from
themselves
and
that
must
stop," News.com.au
quoted
him
as
saying.
“You
need
to
pull
them
back
into
themselves
because
you"ve
acknowledged
them
as
being.
The
spiritual
core
of
yourselves
will
only
be
filled
when
this
is
done,"
he
stated.
He
urged
the
'rich
bastards'
in
attendance
at
the
breakfast
to
contribute
wholeheartedly
to
Forrest"s
fight
to
end
indigenous
disparity,
and
likened
indigenous
affairs
in
Australia
to
situations
he"d
witnessed
in
third-world
Africa.
“I
said
on
the
radio
back
in
1984
that
to
die
of
want
in
a
world
of
surplus
is
not
only
intellectually
absurd,
it
is
morally
repulsive.
Well
let"s
add
economically
illiterate
to
that," he
said.
“You"ve
removed
from
your
society
of
'having
a
go"
500
thousand
of
your
own.
That
is
absurd.
It"s
economically
stupid.
Just
like
those
44
million
African
children
(given
access
to
education
from
the
Live
Aid
campaign)
will
be
a
massive
driving
force
in
the
world
economy,
so
your
own
Aboriginal
people
require
to
be
allowed
in.
The
access
point
is
education,"
he
added.