Paul Lewis: Aussie netball saga shows why New Zealand sport is years ahead

Donnell Wallam of the Australian Diamonds. Photo / Getty

OPINION:

You wonder about the Aussies sometimes — and the last week or so has made it clear that New Zealand, while far from perfect, might be about five years ahead of our transtasman neighbours when it comes to issues of race, faith and tolerance in sport.

Witness the fiery controversy swirling around two women — one often labelled as Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart. She pulled her A$15m sponsorship of the Australian Diamonds netball team after an indigenous player raised the issue of feeling uncomfortable wearing the logo of Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

Donnell Wallam was discomforted by comments made by Rinehart’s long-dead father, who founded the company. In 1984, he talked about sterilising indigenous people who didn’t fit into Australian society, so they “breed themselves out in future…that would solve the problem.” Pretty grim stuff, even nearly 40 years later and knowing things have moved on a touch from such dismal views.

So how do we arrive at New Zealand being about five years ahead of the Aussies? In 2017, Sonny Bill Williams caused a brief stir by taping over sponsor logos of his Blues rugby jersey. Williams always polarised opinion and this was no exception. He explained: “My objection to wearing clothing that markets banks, alcohol and gambling companies is central to my religious beliefs.”

All the interested parties, including sponsors, went into a clinch, emerging with the common sense solution that Williams would be granted an exemption from team commitments in those areas. There was brief harrumphing by some fans but… that was it.

Surely that was all that was needed in the Wallam-Rinehart furore. Why it didn’t happen is unknown. Rinehart, a major sponsor of Australian sport, hasn’t spoken and Wallam was said to be ready to wear the logo after feeling the pressure.

Part of the reason, perhaps, is that Australia draws a much bolder line between Right and Left than New Zealand, not to mention that recognition of racism is often a little more, well, blurred there than here.

During this controversy, there has been little focus on the continuing plight of indigenous people in Australia. Instead it has all been finger-pointing, blame-shaming and political point-scoring, with a heavy tide of opinion arriving only at the conclusion that the Diamonds had fouled their own sponsorship nest.

There was little mention of how Australia’s 700,000 indigenous people represent 30 per cent of the prison population in a land of 25 million people; how they have a 10-year gap in life expectancy compared to other Australians; and rather a lot die in police custody in spite of a Royal Commission examining the problem since 1991.

Polls show things are changing — but Australia has still not written its first people into its constitution. New Zealand, Canada and the US have all done so. New Zealand can’t be too holier-than-thou; we have socio-economic, health, life expectancy, prison and police problems involving Māori and Pasifika people too.

The naysayers, woke-haters and those who can’t bear that “Aotearoa” is sometimes added to the name of this country are kicking back; they may even be a political force by the next election. But at least we are moving in the right direction — and sport has been an inclusive leader for decades.

Look at the sea of poi in the Black Ferns’ opening game of the World Cup — a spectacular, cultural, signal of the pleasure of inclusivity and the ability to join together. It’s still difficult to imagine a similar thing in Australia.

With political division and entrenched views, you wonder how long it will be before Australia’s first people catch up to the US, Canada and New Zealand. We can only hope that sport will be more of a catalyst than the Wallam-Rinehart business.