Former Prime Minister John Howard has caused controversy by describing colonisation as the "the luckiest thing that happened" in an interview with The Australian on Wednesday.
In comments that were picked up the New York Times and the BBC, Howard, 84, also slammed the Yes vote for the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum, saying that no one had explained how it will improve the lives of First Nations people in the country.
"I am affronted that there's such deceit and there's such an unwillingness to roll up your sleeves and explain what's involved, "Mr Howard said, slamming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
On colonisation, the second longest serving Prime Minister in the nation's history, who was being interviewed to celebrate his 84th birthday, did not hold back.
"You have to understand that in the 17th, 18th century, colonisation of the land mass of Australia was next to inevitable," he said.
"I do hold the view that the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British.
"Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonisers than other European countries."
Mr Howard also attacked the idea of treaties and reparations with Indigenous Australians. He described the idea of treaties as "constitutionally repugnant" and something that is made between sovereign states, not between a sovereign state and part of a state.
Howard predicted that the referendum would fail. He stated that this would leave a "new cockpit of conflict" over how Indigenous people in communities were helped.
The legacy of the Howard governments relationship with Indigenous people remains controversial.
His government weakened First Nations land rights, at one time suspended the racial discrimination act and refused on multiple occasions to apologise to the Stolen Generation.
In 2007 he was the architect of "the intervention." This policy saw the military deployed to seize control of many aspects of daily life in 73 remote communities across the Northern Territory. With little warning or consultation, the government implemented measures that have been described as "coercive" and "unthinkable in non-Indigenous communities."
On Wednesday Mr Howard fully defended the policy, calling it "a good old-fashioned dose of proper governance."
He further stated that if the Voice is to get up, it would stop federal governments intervening in Indigenous communities in the future.
Mr Howard's remarks come in the wake of a controversial period for the official No campaign.
This week, former Labor MP Gary Johns doubled down on his comments that Indigenous Australians should undergo blood tests to prove their Aboriginality before receiving Centrelink payments.
He had previously defended the Stolen Generation, saying that "taking children was a necessary instrument, because saving Aboriginal society was thought at the time to be a forlorn hope," and called colonisation a gift to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Earlier this month the No campaign was accused of a "racist trope" by taking out a full-page advertisement in the Australian Financial Review depicting Indigenous Voice Campaigner Thomas Mayo dancing for money.
This week, Dr Hannah McGlade, a Kurin Minang academic told National Indigenous Times: "It is a great shame that the Constitutional referendum process is being used to air such horribly outdated and racist views."
