Heads to roll over Folau saga
THE smiles said it all. Israel Folau and wife, Maria, were beaming as they emerged from court after the conclusion of a mediation session that saw the former Wallaby secure an apology and a substantial multimillion-dollar financial settlement from Rugby Australia.
No one at RA would be smiling, least of all their disaster-prone chief executive Raelene Castle, who should, along with the board, step down immediately.
Whether you’re devout in your religious beliefs, a godless heathen or like most Australians somewhere in between, you should be happy with what happened in the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne last Wednesday.
The usual hyperventilating media hysterics, led by Peter FitzSimons, are predictably beside themselves but, rest assured, the Folau settlement was a significant victory for free speech and religious freedom in Australia. One could write a column on the blind hypocrisy of members of the media who campaign for press freedom but have so little regard for the rights of non-media folk who they endorse sacking an individual for expressing religiously held beliefs on their own social media page.
And, that’s coming from an atheist who was on the list of hell-bound sinners (along with drunks, homosexuals and fornicators) on the infamous Folau Instagram post that saw RA sack one of the game’s best players back in April.
Those who seized on Folau’s recent comments linking natural disasters to God’s wrath as justification for RA’s decision missed the point entirely.
People stood with Folau not because they agreed with him but because they believe in free speech, religious freedom and abhor the overreach that sees employers punish employees for “wrongspeak”.
The modern Left lost its way the moment it abandoned the notion that though “I disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it”.
As the Left has grown more censorious and intolerant of opposing views, it has ceded the principle of free speech to its ideological opponents on the Centre-Right.
It was conservatives, most of whom vehemently disagree with Folau’s beliefs, that made his vindication possible.
Quiet Australians donated more than $700,000 to help Folau fund his legal battle with RA but before he could use the funds, the GoFundMe page was deleted thanks to a campaign by Leftist activists.
But that only increased Folau’s support and after the Australian Christian Lobby hosted a new fundraising page, more than $2.2 million was donated in about two days before the site was closed to further donations.
That thousands of regular folk would put their hands in their pocket to help a millionaire footballer fight for his rights tells you how deeply many Australians feel about the issue of free speech.
As for RA, in their religious-like fervour to be “inclusive” they succeeded in alienating a sizeable portion of their supporter base and significantly their playing group, about a third of whom have Polynesian backgrounds and, like Folau, are devout Christians. The news that a number of Wallabies, current and former, were willing to testify against RA and be interrogated in court probably contributed to Folau securing an undisclosed settlement, rumoured to be in the vicinity of $8 million.
As the architect of this catastrophe, Castle, must step down, but last Thursday she was still claiming that “no, we didn’t get it wrong … we stood up for the values of RA”.
The sport’s peak body is floundering on and off the field. Fresh from the worst World Cup performance in Australian history, it has yet to secure a decent broadcasting deal and now must pay out a settlement it can ill afford.
Rugby’s wounds are self-inflicted and they will continue to haemorrhage money and support until they remove Castle and every single member of the board that was party to this harakiri. The entire episode hasn’t just been disastrous for RA but it’s also been humiliating for the many media commentators who backed the decision to sack Folau and declared that he didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.
Let this serve as a warning to any employers who want to impose their politics or belief systems on employees.