Ken Wyatt “disappointed” by protest

Member for Hasluck Ken Wyatt.

NATIONAL: Aboriginal MP Ken Wyatt says the Australia Day protest in Canberra that forced the prime minister and opposition leader to flee a restaurant was disappointing.

Mr Wyatt, the first Aboriginal Australian to become a member of the House of Representatives, says the protest did not focus on areas of importance for Indigenous people.

“I was disappointed because I think there are many gains that have been made,” Mr Wyatt told journalists in Darwin.

“Certainly I was disappointed with the misrepresentation of Tony Abbott’s comments,” the Liberal party MP added.

He said the focus should have been on improving Indigenous education, health, housing and incarceration rates.

On Australia Day, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott were forced to flee a Canberra restaurant after it was mobbed by protesters angry at comments attributed to Mr Abbott concerning the Aboriginal tent embassy in the capital.

A media adviser to Ms Gillard quit on Friday after it emerged he told a union official of Mr Abbott’s attendance at an awards ceremony in the restaurant near the tent embassy.

Mr Wyatt said he had no problem with the tent embassy remaining, but it should serve a purpose.

“There is no point in having a site that is not there delivering a key message on those things important in contemporary life,” he said.

AAP