Apologise over indigenous comment: Shorten

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Tony Abbott should apologise over his comment about indigenous communities.

Mr Abbott on Tuesday said it was not the taxpayers' job to "subsidise lifestyle choices" if indigenous people lived in remote areas.

"The prime minister should apologise," Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"Tony Abbott is a prime minister stuck in the 1950s. He says he's the prime minister for indigenous Australians but he just wants to move them off their land."