ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Respected Manly community elder Tony Abbott told media in Canberra this morning that he’s just received his first Operating A Motor Vehicle While Aboriginal ticket since being made Scott Morrison’s special envoy on Indigenous Affairs earlier this week.
Mr Abbott, who was once the prime minister, described to journalists how he was just going about his business in his predominantly white suburb when all of a sudden, the police pulled him over.
“I was going well under the speed limit,” said Abbott.
“All I was doing was driving about the Northern Beaches with a carload of my mates. We might’ve had an open container of Light Ice or something but everybody does that, don’t they? Well, they did when I was a young man!”
“Anyway, the police were actually very hostile toward me and my friends. They drug and breath tested me – twice – and it turns out, one of the boys had an unpaid jaywalking ticket and they arrested him. After the shakedown, the cops defected my car because one tire was a little bit worn. What the hell is going on?”
However, in his capacity as special envoy, Abbott says he’s come to understand that it’s not an uncommon occurrence for Indigenous Australians.
“Terrible,” he said.
“No reason at all. There was no logical explanation for it. You know what? I bet I get pulled over again when I go visit friends in Red Hill this afternoon or try to get into a pub in Kingston or Manuka tonight,”
“If only there was something we could do about it – or somebody to voice my concerns to.”
More to come.
