A revered Aboriginal elder from the Victorian city of Ballarat has criticised the actions of two young men who dressed in blackface to pose as Indigenous Australians before attending an ‘Aussie Icon’ party at the local football club over the weekend.

Ted Lovett says the costumes chosen by the two men were “disappointing and insensitive” because it disrespected the proud heritage of First Nations people across the country.

It doesn't matter which way you look at it, the incident is racism all over again says Mr Lovett and is yet another example that highlights the insidious dangers of “casual racism”.

He says the highly controversial incident, which attracted scorn from around the country after the images of the two men went viral, illustrates just how far Australia still has to go to address racism. 

Image: In recognising that the images and video footage of this incident have the tendency to cause offence, NIRS News has elected not to publish this material on our website out of respect.