Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has hit out at a dance performance which separates its white audience members from people of colour, labelling it as “ridiculous”.

The Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane is refusing to take a strong stance against the performance which invites white people into the foyer only after people of colour have entered.

The waiting audience is spoken to about white privilege then are asked to sign a piece of paper acknowledging “where they stand”.

Commissioner Soutphommasane tweeted a response and indicated further action won’t be taken.

For the record, here was my response to The Australian yesterday for today’s paper pic.twitter.com/lFpjSwKYGy

— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) June 13, 2018

Mr Abbott says the “idea that you can fight racism with racism is ridiculous”.

“The point I make about the Human Rights Commission generally, but this individual in particular, is that it’s only left-wingers whose rights are protected.

“If you’re a conservative, he’s not interested and this very one-sided, very selective interpretation of rights is one of the reasons why the Human Rights Commission has been so discredited.”

Click PLAY below for the full interview

Mr Abbott is also taking aim at Australia’s “emissions obsession” after the state’s energy grid dissolved into crisis last week.

One of Australia’s largest aluminium smelters, Tomago, was forced to shut down its potlines for an hour at a time to help keep the state’s lights on.

The Member for Warringah says if the government is prepared to spend billions on Snowy 2.0, they should also be investing in “Hazelwood 2.0”.

“No one can understand why a country like ours, which has got a superabundance of available clean coal, is not prepared to use it here.

“It’s one of the many lunacies which political correctness is doing right now.”