Aussie PM shifts office to tent

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott shifted his office to a tent in an isolated Aboriginal community yesterday, keeping a promise made when he came to power despite having just committed troops to the fight against Islamic State militants.

Abbott vowed to spend a week each year in a remote indigenous location when he was sworn in 12 months ago, seeking to be the "prime minister for Aboriginal affairs".

He made good on his commitment by moving the hub of government to a tent compound on the outskirts of Nhulunbuy on the northern tip of Australia, nearly 1,000km east of Darwin.

"Obviously, if there are dramatic new developments, I can move if need be," he said during a round of morning radio and television interviews, a day after committing 600 troops to a multinational strike force against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Aborigines, who number about 500,000 of a total population of 23 million, are the most disadvantaged Australians, suffering disproportionate levels of disease, imprisonment and social problems as well as lower educational attainment, employment and life expectancy.

They are believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement two centuries ago.