PM's press manager mocks Aboriginals drunk problems - photo emerges

Photo was captioned “Sorry I’m out having a bender with the locals!”

Presently the press manager of prime minister Turnbull, Nicole Chant, has had a photo emerge of her and a fellow Turnbull staffer, from when Tony Abbott as PM went out to visit Aboriginal communities a while back, as his new press manager. 

Chant and staffer James Hart can be seen in the above picture, with a selfie from a channel 10 cameraman Peter Atkinson. The picture came with the caption "Sorry I’m out having a bender with the locals!"

The photo appears to show the trio drinking at the local pub, with Chant clearly playing up to the camera. BuzzFeed News has obtained the photo, which was sent in an iMessage group chat that included young Indigenous journalists on the former PM’s trip. 

There was also a caption. Along with the photo, Atkinson sent the text: “Sorry I’m out having a bender with the locals!” It’s understood they were not having drinks with members of the local community at the time. 

According to one person on the message thread who spoke to BuzzFeed News, it left people “completely shocked and appalled”. 

“I mean, they were in a dry community with big problems with booze and family violence,” they said. 

“They are supposed to be visiting and listening to Indigenous people and finding out about the problems facing them. It looked like a big joke to them.” 

Chant and Hart worked as part of Abbott’s media team before he was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull. They now work in Turnbull’s press team, Chant as the press manager for his election campaign. Buzzfeed 

 Says a lot about the culture in the prime ministers office I suspect.