SIR Bob Geldof has made an impassioned, off-the-cuff speech in Brisbane this morning, labelling Australia's treatment of Aborigines as "economically stupid" and "absurd".
The Live Aid humanitarian said Australia has "exiled" indigenous Australians from the nation.
"They were forced to be exiled from themselves and that must stop," he said.
"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."
Sir Bob was speaking at a breakfast for West Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest's nation-touring GenerationOne movement, which aims to halt indigenous disparity within this generation
He urged the "rich bastards" in attendance at the breakfast to contribute wholeheartedly to Mr Forrest's fight to end indigenous disparity.Sir Bob also took wry shots at a guest representative of Frank Lowy's Westfield empire and GenerationOne benefactor, casino king James Packer.
"You can build a small shop and then you can build very, very big shops. You can build a casino and then you can build five casinos, you're still building f***king casinos," he said.
He 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," Sir Bob said.
"You've removed from your society of 'having a go' 500,000 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."
But three years after describing Australia's foreign aid budget as "pathetically embarrassing", Sir Bob has praised the Rudd Government's generosity abroad.
In its May Budget the Rudd Government lifted Australia's foreign aid contribution by $500 million to $4.3 billion a year, which equates to 33 cents in every $100 in national income.
The budget shows the proportion of aid has gone from 32 cents in every $100 to 33 cents in the past two years.
At the GenerationOne business breakfast in Brisbane on Wednesday, Sir Bob said Australia was on track to meet its international obligation of contributing 0.7 per cent of gross national income to needy countries by 2015.
"Australia is coming up ... they're on track," Sir Bob said.
"The Prime Minister said they'd get to 0.5 by 2012 which is necessary for the millennium development goals they all signed up to."
In 2007, during a visit to Brisbane, Sir Bob slammed the Howard government's aid budget, of 0.3 per cent of GDP, saying Australia was one of the "meanest" countries on the planet.
Sir Bob has also been a vocal critic of New Zealand's aid contribution, once describing it has a "disgrace".
"I know the economic situation down in NZ and I know the Australian one is a little more rosy, so it's an easier ask," he said.
"Australia is a responsible country, you're a member of the G20, there's a cheque that you write to sit at the top table.
"Co-operation not competition has to be the political paradigm.
"If you're co-operating then you're (helping) poorer countries bring their economy up to a level that their people are educated and you can trade with them."
Aborigines should be helped to reduce the disparity between them and white Australians, And the most appropriate and effective way is to educate them, improves their standard of living.This effort should be implemented and aborigines should help themselves out from this trauma as well. Both sides have to work for it so that fruitful result can be achieved....
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