A leaked federal report labelling 192 remote indigenous communities in Western Australia unsustainable is flawed, the state Aboriginal Affairs minister says.
The document was circulated to the WA Department of Aboriginal Affairs in 2011, and identified 160 unsustainable communities in the Kimberley, 14 in the Pilbara, 11 in the Goldfields, four in the Mid West and three in the Wheatbelt, the ABC reported.
Plans by the state government to close up to 150 remote communities have made international headlines and drawn widespread criticism.
But Aboriginal Affairs minister Peter Collier said there was still no time frame or criteria to determine if a community was unsustainable.
Mr Collier said the criteria according to the commonwealth document was based on population, housing and infrastructure.
"Now, quite frankly, that's appalling," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
"If they're going to use that criteria to close an Aboriginal community, well they need their heads read.
"We had no input into it whatsoever and it was based on a criteria which I feel is flawed."
Mr Collier said there would be a broad investigation and consultation with the communities, and closures would have nothing to do with how many people were living in each community.
"It is evident that that consultation did not take place in the compilation of this federal report," he said. Mr Collier said he understood that there was still a lot of uncertainty and angst among some Aboriginal people about their future.
"These people have a deep connection to the land and a deep connection to their communities, and it is absolutely imperative that they are a part of the decision-making process," he said.
Last week, a woman shoved Premier Colin Barnett and about 800 people booed him as he addressed protesters on the steps of parliament about the issue.
