source : the age
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NICKY WINMAR
Re ″Statue of Nicky Winmar to be removed after he smashed woman’s head into a door″, 4/7. Having supported the St Kilda Football Club for 60 years, I have endured many sad chapters, both on and off the field. The conviction of Nicky Winmar for assaulting a woman is, however, the saddest I have seen.
Winmar’s famous gesture against racism was rightly seen as a turning point in Australian sporting and social history – worthy, many believed, of being honoured in bronze.
And now he stand convicted of assaulting a woman. There is, justifiably, outrage. The statue has been removed. In my own small way, I have removed a wonderful portrait of him from display in my house. It will be placed in the attic indefinitely.
My first thoughts are with the victim. Nothing in Winmar’s football greatness, or in the importance of his stand against racism, excuses or diminishes what he has done.
How Australia will judge him in the long term, I cannot know. To adapt T.S Eliot’s phrase, we are forced to see him now with all his “vices and virtues”. The virtues cannot erase the vice. The vice cannot erase the whole man. But it must not be minimised.
Mark Cherny, Caulfield North
Removal exposes double standard
The removal of the Nicky Winmar statue exposes double standards.
The statue represents more than one man, it represents a defiant stand against the racism that he and countless other Aboriginal footballers have experienced.
Yes, we should take a stand against violence against women, or anyone for that matter.
However, throughout Australia there are statues that honour men who over the centuries treated Aboriginal people with contempt.
They presided over massacres, they gave away land that was not theirs to give away, they broke up families and took children away, they dictated where people could live, and made it a crime to speak their languages.
And look at the outrage if a group splashes a bit of paint on one of those statues. Look at the debate that ignites.
There should be a consultation about the Nicky Winmar statue and a recognition of what it represents beyond the one man.
One hopes that given more consideration, the statue will be reinstated.
Marg D’Arcy, Rye
Moral eraser strikes swiftly
With one swift stroke of his moral eraser WA Premier Roger Cook deletes the statue of Nicky Winmar. Next time an activist group defaces or damages the statue of some flawed historical or political figure, will he condemn it as vandalism?
Or does he intend to pre-empt any such action by removing all such statues and images?
Trevor Hay, Montmorency
Holding both truths at once
The conviction of Nicky Winmar for assaulting a woman is serious and cannot be minimised.
Violence against women is unacceptable, and public discomfort about honouring a man convicted of such conduct is understandable.
But removing the statue also risks erasing something larger than Winmar himself, while minimising the personal courage it took to make that stand.
The statue commemorates one of the most important anti-racism moments in Australian sport: an Aboriginal footballer publicly refusing to be shamed by racist abuse and forcing the AFL hierarchy, its supporters, and the country to look at itself.
That moment did not stop mattering because of Winmar’s conviction. Condemning his conduct should not require us to dismantle the public record of his courage in confronting racism, or to retreat from what that moment forced Australian football to confront.
We should be capable of holding both truths at once: the conviction is grave, but the anti-racist act the statue represents remains historically and socially important, and still speaks to the personal courage Winmar showed in that moment.
Chris McDonnell, Brunswick East
THE FORUM
Rich pickings
Is anyone surprised to find that Melbourne’s private property developers are funding One Nation in a bid to have their taxes reduced? (″Rich pickings for Hanson″, 6/7) Naked self-interest is the outstanding characteristic of real estate developers.
John Byrne, McKenzie Hill
Power is in middle
It is heartening to read George Brandis’ analysis of Angus Taylor’s and the Liberals’ position somewhere between a hard rock and One Nation (″Angus Taylor must take the fight up to One Nation – or look weak″, 6/7.
Even Labor voters can agree with Brandis, that an opposition made weak by policy ineptitude, factionalism and oratorical shallowness is bound to lose support. It seems many a former Liberal voter has leant into One Nation, but there are even more, arguably, in urban areas who can’t quite bring themselves to vote Labor.
What Taylor and the Liberals seem to have forgotten, as they beaver away flogging One Nation with a wet lettuce leaf, is that Labor holds the middle ground in our politics.
Labor is not a party of raving ″lefties″. If any party is to govern, the middle ground is where the power lies. I have no doubt all politicians know this, so why have the Liberals not faced up to finding a way to be more like Labor?
John Whelen, Box Hill Sth
Not only about potholes
I grew up on the land in the vicinity of Mortlake, the anchor town for your potholes and wind farms story (‴We are not banjo-playing dimwits’: The deep rural resentment that will shape the election″, 6/7).
I can empathise with many of the story’s challenges of rural and farm life which can induce a psychologically depressive state.
However, at a deeper level, psychologists might recognise the universal difficulty of coping with change; this could have been a balancing item to give the story greater perspective.
The south-west of the state, of which Mortlake is part, is fertile, productive land with reasonably reliable rainfall and with opportunities for a diversity of agricultural pursuits not necessarily available in other parts of the state.
Furthermore, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARE) data shows a sustained increase in agricultural land prices in the region in the range of 10 per cent over the past decade, despite some recent softening of prices.
All told, a parcel of agricultural land in the south-west of the state would not be out of place in a superannuation fund. It’s not all a story of potholes.
Implicit in the social contract is that governments and citizens accept validated science such as climate science. Adjusting to the necessary infrastructure renewable energy might take time and negotiation but in the longer term it is not a choice.
David Hickey, Heidelberg
What was he thinking?
Apart from the totally inappropriate and disturbing nature of Prime Minister Albanese’s Kylie Minogue ″shag″ comment made at The Lodge, of
all places, to comedian and Deep Bush podcaster Nikki Osborne, one obvious question must be asked. (″PM apologises unequivocally for Kylie Minogue ‘shag’ comment’ 6/7.)
What on earth were you thinking? Are you caught up in the hubris of your position? You have made yourself a proverbial gift which keeps on giving to a dysfunctional Liberal Party languishing in its death throes and a resurgent One Nation sole bent on creating division and anger.
No wonder voters are so disdainful of party politics.
Jennifer Quigley, Balwyn
Best avoided
Note to prime ministers, politicians and all others: podcasts, influencers, social media are not your friends.
Carmel Boyle, Alfredton
Hidden talent
So we have to choose between Albanese, Taylor and Hanson? Goodness gracious. Where are the Melburnian statesmen and women hiding?
Don Neil Peregian Springs, Qld
Bad apples
Father Kevin Dillon (″Legal tactics leave lives in ruins″, 5/7) raises so many questions about sexual abuse by the Christian Brothers. I worked in a Christian Brothers school with brothers who have been charged or are in jail.
Let’s not forget that there are some great Christian Brothers who dedicated their lives to the order.
Christine Hammett, Richmond
How to save lives
Re ‴Stop the show’: What Murray saw at a crowded theatre set him on a crusade to change the law″ (5/7) by Cassandra Morgan.
With an Ambulance Victoria response time for cardiac arrest at eight minutes, the state needs faster effective bystander responses and better access to defibrillation. Public automated external defibrillators (AED) in higher density will obviously help.
However, a more effective strategy is to increase trained volunteer responders (via the GoodSAM app) and provide an AED for every qualified GoodSAM volunteer. There are retired doctors, paramedics and nurses everywhere across the country that would take up this role if equipped properly.
This gets a qualified individual to the right place with equipment that is absolutely life-saving. A set of hands that can do CPR is helpful – even better, a set of hands with a life-saving AED.
This is possible through the Ambulance Victoria-run GoodSAM program where trained responders are alerted to a nearby event by the GoodSAM (Good Smartphone Activated Medics) app. This will push out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival through the roof.
Saving the life of one 40-year-old saves society around $2 million – this would provide around 1000 AEDs, enough to equip all GoodSAM volunteers and also increase public distributed units. Do the maths!
Dr Marcus Kennedy, Albert Park
Defibrillator tax
It appears the government will need the tax paid on cigarette sales to fund a mandate for defibrillators in all public buildings. Cassandra Morgan worded her article (5/7) particularly carefully I felt.
Michele Callan, South Melbourne
Illegality in Richmond
Every person who is buying illegal tobacco in Richmond is part of the problem. Why are the loud voices that continually oppose the safe injecting rooms in Richmond not raising any concern about the danger to the local community and nearby residents of these illegal tobacco outlets?
Brent Baigent, Richmond
Tim Tam forward
Kudos to opera singer Alexandra Flood for her candid depiction of early motherhood in the recent ″Day on a Plate″. But the headline “Six chocolate biscuits: how a dietician would supercharge a new mum’s joyful snack” (5/7), with an image of her haloed by Tim Tams, reeked of judgment.
Since when is it OK to shame new mums in any shape or form for surviving? They have more than enough on their plate already, without yet another helping of guilt. Not only should we let them eat cake – we should be bringing it to them, along with a warm cup
of tea.
Dr Tess McClure, Kew
Footy justice delayed
Red cards have long been dismissed by the AFL as unnecessary, despite repeated outbreaks of on-field thuggery. Perhaps the events of Saturday’s Collingwood v Gold Coast clash might finally persuade the game’s custodians that prevention is preferable to post-match indignation.
Football supporters have spent the past month watching the FIFA World Cup, where the red card remains an effective deterrent against the most cynical and dangerous acts. A player who crosses the line immediately leaves the field, and, more often than not, tempers cool rather than escalate. The system isn’t perfect– especially if one happens to receive a congratulatory phone call from Donald Trump – but it has stood the test of time.
By contrast, the AFL persists with a curious philosophy: allow the offender to remain on the field, let tensions simmer, and then hand down penalties days later in the comfort of the tribunal. Justice delayed does little for the players who must continue sharing the ground with the instigator.
One can only wonder whether Saturday’s melee might have been avoided altogether had the first serious offender been shown a red card and escorted from the contest.
The AFL is rightly proud of promoting skill, courage and sportsmanship. The introduction of red cards for extreme acts of misconduct would protect all three.
The World Cup has demonstrated that decisive action can prevent greater chaos. Perhaps it is time the AFL stopped deferring the idea and started learning from it.
Darren Grindrod, Glenroy
Al Capone said it
Re the US soccer player getting his red card reversed at the World Cup: in the words of Al Capone, ″the fix is in″.
Peter Heffernan, Balaclava
Skirl of the pipes
As a second generation Scot, I loved the photo of the female pipers of all ages who broke the world record for ladies pipe band performance (″Women blow up a storm to fulfil pipe dream″, 7/7).
And, I was fascinated by the story of the Australian Ladies Pipe Band on tour of the world in the 1920s breaking convention about who could play the pipes. Well done all of them.
It’s hard to beat the skirl of the pipes for raising the hair on the back of your neck, and they certainly did that.
Anne Sgro, Coburg North
AND ANOTHER THING
World Cup
The outrageous overturning of the red-card ban on the USA player in the FIFA World Cup round of 16 against Belgium sets a disgraceful precedent for all future games.
Tim Nolan, Brighton
Is it cynical to think Donald Trump’s close friendship with FIFA President Infantino had anything to do with USA striker Balogun’s red card being suspended, allowing him to play against Belgium.? One wonders if the same ″pardon″ would have been given to a Belgium player.
Christo Krousoratis, Templestowe
Just when you thought Gianni Infantino and FIFA couldn’t go any lower, they did. The jury is now in, it’s a farce.
Mary Wise, Ringwood
Trump
Nearly a million investors lost $5.5billion on Trump’s crypto coin″. What part of that fact do Trump supporters not see?
Graham Fetherstonhaugh, North Fitzroy
What a terrible irony that 250 years after the Americans rid themselves of George III, the celebrations of that achievement are being led and corrupted by his mirror image.
Bruce Prosser, Balwyn North
Rather than asking how the USA will be after another 250 years, what about the next 2 years?
Malcolm McDonald, Burwood
One Nation
John Howard’s ″battlers″ with giant mortgages are now Pauline Hanson’s disciples.
Peter Walker, Black Rock
Apart from anything else, Pauline Hanson’s ″monoculture″ would be boring.
Terry Kelly, Coburg
Your heading ″Rich pickings for Hanson″ (6/7) could be opposite: ″Hanson,why a pick for the rich?″
Bruce Dudon, Woodend
Wealthy donations to One Nation shows us they are no different to the other polities. More than happy to sell influence as the rich move to show up their influence.
Greg Cooper, Mount Martha
Finally
I will add Craig Tiley to the growing list of experts who will guide us safely through our next pandemic (″I was on Novak’s side … ″ 6/7).
Peter McGill, Lancefield
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