Rolf Harris in Race Row Over 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport' after Slamming "Lazy Abos"

Mr Harris had initially sought to make amends for the lyrics: 'Let me Abos go loose, Lou… They're of no further use, Lou.'

He said he had tried to replace 'Abo' with 'emu' in recordings over the years but with limited success. 'It was a mark of the times, done innocently with no realisation that you would offend at all,' he said.

The Australian entertainer playing the didgeridoo. The new racial controversy erupted as Rolf launched a book of illustrations in Melbourne during a visit from his base in London

'I just trying to create a fun song for a bunch of Aussies who were drinking themselves stupid on Swan Lager in London at the time.'

The new controversy erupted as Mr Harris launched a book of illustrations in Melbourne during a visit from his base in London. He turned the grievances of many Aborigines back on to the people themselves.

'You sit at home watching the television and you think to yourself, "Get up off your arse and clean up the streets your bloody self" and why would you expect somebody to come in and clean up your garbage, which you've dumped everywhere? 'But then you have to think that it's a different attitude to life.'

He said Aboriginal children were never disciplined or expected to adhere to rules until adulthood. 'Till then, they have a totally carefree life to do what they want and that quite often involves smashing everything that they have,' he told The Age newspaper.

Mr Harris blamed Aboriginal traditional values for the appalling conditions in many communities.

He added: 'The attitude is that, in their original way of life, they would really wreck the surrounding countryside that they lived in and they would leave all the garbage and they would go walkabout to the next place.

'The traditional attitude is still there and I wish there was a simple solution – but I'm not certain.'