Netball row over Gina Rinehart fueled by Lang Hancock’s racist remarks while Jacinta Price weighs in
Many Indigenous academics and politicians have lined up to support Australian netballers who protested having Gina Rinehart’s company name on their uniform, prompting her company to end its $15 million sponsorship deal.
But outspoken Senator Jacinta Price of the Country Liberal Party argues that Ms Rinehart is a “pioneer” who has spent millions improving the lives of Indigenous Australians and should not be judged for her father’s sins.
At the heart of the rift between the netballers and Mrs Rinehart lies an infamous interview in which her father, Lang Hancock, suggested weeding out “unacceptable” Aboriginal people through sterilization.
Lang Hancock, seen here with his wife Rose Porteous, gave an infamous television interview in which he suggested sterilizing tribal peoples who would not accept white “civilization”.
Hancock’s 1984 television interview was cited as the reason Diamonds netballer Donnell Wallam refused to wear a uniform.
With other squad members joining Wallam in ‘Solidarity’, Ms Rinehart ripped up the deal, albeit with a four-month grace period for the sport to find new sponsors.
NT Country Liberal Senator Jacinta Price broke with other prominent Indigenous speakers to call on Netball Australia to “grow a backbone” and stand up to the “selfish” and “woke” demands of its athletes.
“Unless you’ve got a few million in your back pocket to support your sporting code, your bright self-esteem should be your private opinion and your private opinion only,” she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.
“Sports codes, businesses and society in general need to grow a backbone and stop blaming self-righteous individuals on the basis of ‘no’ to their selfish demands, which could only lead to accusations of racism or bigotry.”
Senator Jacinta Price has urged Netball Australia to “grow a backbone” and stand up to the “bullyers awakened”.
Senator Price said it’s the vulnerable who fare worse.
“While you allow bullies to bully, it is the weak who end up losing. My niece is an aspiring Australian Aboriginal netball player and now those she looks up to have made her future so much more difficult,” she wrote.
Senator Price called Ms Rinehart “a pioneer who had spent millions improving the lives of Indigenous Australians and said she should not be judged on what her father said ‘a few years ago’.
“If we chose to judge others by the actions or words of their family members, we would undoubtedly stare in disgust at everyone we meet if we are to be so judgmental,” she wrote.
“It’s time to grow up.
“Suck it up, get over whatever hurt you want, and move on, especially when you have the choice and privilege to do so!”
Diamonds netballer Donnell Wallam felt uncomfortable wearing a uniform with the Hancock Prospecting logo because of the interview with Lang Hancock
On the other side of the debate, Max Lenoy, an Indigenous lecturer at James Cook University in far north Queensland, said Hancock was proposing his “solution” to the Aboriginal “problem”.
These chilling phrases echo the Nazi terms “the Jewish question” or “the problem,” which were a pretext for the Holocaust’s attempted genocide.
“For those who don’t know why Aboriginal (and other) netball players are concerned about Hancock Mining’s huge sponsorship offer. Just a little reminder of what Lang Hancock’s solution to the “Aboriginal problem” was in 1984,” he tweeted.
Gina Rinehart has accused Netball Australia of signaling virtue after its players questioned their sponsorship deal over offensive comments made by their late father
Outspoken Green Party Senator Lidia Thorpe also agreed with the netballer’s stance.
“Greetings to Noongar wife Donnell Wallam and the Diamonds team,” she tweeted.
“Lang Hancock, the founder of Hancock Prospecting, wanted Aboriginal people to assimilate or ‘self-breed’.
Queensland Indigenous academic Max Lenoy pointed to the loathsome sentiments in Hancock’s interview as the reason behind the netballers’ stance
“Donnell (was) asked to play in a uniform without the Hancock logo, then her teammates joined her in solidarity.”
Former Socceroos captain and committed activist Craig Foster also felt Hancock Prospecting should have denounced its founder’s words.
“For an apology to be made or at least some distance put between Lang Hancock’s genocidal comments and the values of Hancock Prospecting’s current leadership, led by Gina Rinehart,” he tweeted.
‘Surely it must be a requirement of every affiliated sports association.’
Lang Hancock’s offensive comments
In a 1984 television interview, Mr Hancock made a shocking statement about Indigenous Australians.
“The ones who don’t do themselves any good and can’t accept things, the half-breeds — and that’s where most of the problems will arise,” Hancock said in the 1984 documentary Couldn’t Be Fairer.
“I would dose the water high enough that they would be sterile and self-replicating in the future and that would solve the problem.”
Mr Hancock died in 1992 aged 82 and said Indigenous Australians who had been “assimilated” should be left alone.
“Those who have been assimilated, you know, earn a living or earn wages in the civilized areas,” he said.
“Those who have been accepted into society and who have accepted society and can deal with society, I would leave them alone.”
Hancock gave the interview in 1984 for a current affairs program on indigenous issues, which even had a racist pun in the title: “Couldn’t Be Fairer”.
Hancock, an outspoken right-wing extremist who supported conservative politicians and parties, shockingly suggests that so-called “semi-caste” (mixed-race) indigenous peoples should be discouraged from breeding.
“The ones who can’t do themselves any good and can’t accept things, the half-breeds, and that’s where most of the problems are going to arise,” Hancock said.
“I would dose the water high enough to keep them sterile so they would breed in the future and that would solve the problem.”
His interview went back to the Stolen Generation, where indigenous children were taken away from their parents to assimilate into “whites”.
Hancock also stated that indigenous peoples had to accept and be assimilated into “civilization”.
“Those who have become accustomed to making a good living and earning good wages in the civilized areas, who have been accepted into society and who have accepted society and can deal with society, well leave them alone,” he said.
In terminating the sponsorship deal, Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting accused the netballers and administrators of “virtue signaling.”
“Hancock and his CEO Ms. Rinehart believe it is unnecessary for sports organizations to be misused for social or political purposes,” the company said in a statement.
“First, because sport is at its best when it’s focused on good and fair competition with dedicated athletes who strive for excellence to achieve their sporting dreams and represent our country at its best.”
The company said that through its charitable and educational work, it serves the real needs of indigenous people in a “meaningful way, rather than “signaling virtue”.
The $15 million deal should be a lifeline for Netball Australia, which has lost $7 million over the past two years as Super Netball costs soared.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11346807/Gina-Rinehart-netball-row-fuelled-Lang-Hancocks-racist-remarks-Jacinta-Price-weighs-in.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Netball row over Gina Rinehart fueled by Lang Hancock’s racist remarks while Jacinta Price weighs in
