Warren Mundine has denied that he called Aboriginal ceremonial practice bulls***.
In May, News Corp Australia and the ABC reported that Mr Mundine said ceremonies such as funerals traditionally did not last for weeks, and cultural obligations should not be an excuse to avoid responsibilities like going to school or work.
"It's become almost a bulls*** process to be quite frank," Mr Mundine said at the time.
At the Garma indigenous festival in Arnhem Land on Monday filmmaker Rachel Perkins asked the chair of the prime minister's Indigenous Advisory Council to clarify his position.
"The idea that I said that culture and sorry ceremony is bulls*** I think quite frankly is rubbish," he said.
"One of the things people raise all the time is the money spent - something like $50 billion in the last 11 years in indigenous affairs - and we still have the problems we have today.
"There's a lot of people making a lot of money out of our misery, and we need to change those things.
"That's why I'm pretty blunt when I say things, and I'm pretty happy to live and die by what I say."
Mr Mundine said indigenous culture, languages and history should be part of the curriculum and taught in all schools across northern Australia.
"We need to take ownership of the educational system," he said.
"(We need to) work forward in this battle in regards to aboriginalising the school system for the betterment of us."
