The war of words between outspoken boxer Anthony Mundine and Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell has taken another twist, with the pair now seeming to agree that government benefits for people claiming indigenous heritage should be tightened.
Mr Mansell said he accepted Mundine's apology for comments he made about Tasmanian-born Aboriginal boxer Daniel Geale, whom he is due to fight in January for the IBF middleweight title.
In his original comments on Thursday this week, Mundine questioned Geale's Aboriginal heritage, saying: "I thought they wiped all the Aborigines from Tasmania out" and "I don't see (Geale) representing us black people or coloured people. I don't see him out in the community doing what I do with people.
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"He's got a white woman, white kids."
On Friday, Mundine apologised for his comments, saying Australia was one of the most racist countries in the world.
He said there should be a government-enforced cut-off point for Aboriginality, arguing for a scaling system where first-generation Aborigines receive more assistance than those with distant
Mr Mansell said Mundine's apology was shallow and he hadn't "quite got it yet."
A day later, the Aboriginal leader issued a statement saying he had decided to accept Mundine's apology, noting not everything Mundine said about identity was wrong.
Mr Mansell said the number of people claiming to be indigenous in Tasmania had swollen from 10,000 20 years ago to nearly 20,000.
"There are many white Tasmanians who claim to be Aboriginal because of rumour or because they 'feel different,'" Mr Mansell said in a statement.
Schools and state governments got extra Commonwealth funding for "every child that ticks the box on indigenous" and "the financial incentive for attracting public funding in education largely explains why the numbers have doubled in such a short time", he said.
"The processes for authenticating the real from the fanciful are so loose that in reality, anyone can legally claim to be indigenous and be accepted by the federal departments without question."
Mr Mansell said he was concerned about people discovering a distant Aboriginal ancestor then using that information to claim tobe Aboriginal, despite culturally and socially living the life of a white person.
