Former prime minister Tony Abbott has accepted an offer to become Scott Morrison's special envoy on indigenous affairs, saying school attendance and performance will be his major focus.
Mr Morrison offered the Liberal backbencher the envoy role after leaving him out of his new-look cabinet, in an effort to heal the wounds of last week's damaging leadership spill.
Mr Abbott has written to the new prime minister accepting the job, but has made a number of recommendations, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott says he'll focus on remote education in his new role of Indigenous envoy. Source: AAP
"What I expect to be asked to do is to make recommendations on how we can improve remote area education, in particular, how we can improve attendance rates and school performance because this is the absolute key to a better future for indigenous kids and this is the key to reconciliation," he told the paper.
The Warringah MP hesitated about accepting the role because he didn't want to step on the toes of Indigenous Affairs minister Nigel Scullion.
"We've already got a lot of people in this space and I'd like to know exactly what value I could add," he told 2GB Radio on Monday.
Getting things done in indigenous affairs also requires "prime ministerial authority", Mr Abbott said.
"It doesn't need people running around at the margins, it needs someone at the very top to cut through."
As prime minister, Mr Abbott made annual trips to remote Australia to spend time in Indigenous communities, but he's been criticised for cutting funding for Indigenous programs during his term.
