"Absurd and contemptuous"

Fred Chaney, now a Board member of Reconciliation Australia, is a former Aboriginal Affairs Minister in the Fraser Government.

Interviewed on ABC Radio National' Breakfast program, he described the NT Emergency Response laws as "contemptuous".

"Absurd and contemptuous -- that's the view of the federal government's Northern Territory Emergency Response laws from a former Liberal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.

Fred Chaney made the comments in his Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture on the weekend. He's the director of Reconciliation Australia and former Fraser government minister."

Hear the interview, by Fran Kelly, with Chaney here.

UPDATE: Chaney has an op-ed piece in The Age today on this vexed subject.

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