MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is spending a week governing the country from a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory, to learn more about community needs from local people, the BBC reports.
Abbott has described his visit as a chance to "gain a better understanding of the needs of people living and working in those areas".
The prime minister is staying in a tent at a sacred site of the local community near Nhulunbuy on the north-east strip of the Northern Territory. On his arrival at Yirrkala on Sunday he was given a traditional welcome by painted Yolngu dancers.
Abbott started the week visiting an indigenously-run sawmill and the site of a possible new bauxite mine. Local tribal leaders want to gain economic independence. On the first full day of the prime minister in this region of Australia the issue of employment for indigenous people was on the agenda.
Moreover, local indigenous leaders are seeking a renewed focus on a referendum for constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians.
Last year, Australian parliament passed a bill recognizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the country’s first inhabitants, but there is no mention of them in the constitution yet.
"I think we're all in favor of doing the right thing by Aboriginal people," Abbott said. "The important thing now is to set a timetable for this... It's more important that we get it right than we rush it, because the last thing anyone ought to want is to put a proposal of this nature to the people and have it fail."
Indigenous Australians make about 2 percent of the population. Being the country’s most disadvantaged group, they have higher rates of infant mortality, drug abuse, alcoholism and unemployment than the rest of the population.
