Minister; you are above Aussie bashing
It was a ‘joke’ more suited to early hours in a bar, yet Grant Robertson shared it with a nation – nay, with two nations, each bonded for over a century by the Anzac tradition.
‘‘One of the gags going around was that one of the best things about coronavirus was that the Wallabies would have an unbeaten season,’’ Robertson told All Black hosts Jeff Wilson and Mils Muliaina on Sky Sport on Tuesday.
It has been painted by some commentators as a ‘‘cutting burn’’ but really, was it? Perhaps instead, it was not befitting of him, or us
– those he represents.
Robertson is a senior minister in the New
Zealand Government. His word doubles as international diplomacy.
He would have been seen in that light in Australia, when his quotes landed.
He is not a man guffawing away with his Aussie mate in a dark corner in the pub. He is an important Kiwi speaking on a television show. Lights, camera, action, thousands listening. He is New Zealand embodied. He speaks for us all.
If Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had made a similar TV jibe about how fortunate the Black Caps were to avoid Australia, had bushfires killed off the whole cricket series last summer, just how hilarious would Kiwis have found that?
Let’s guess – ummm, not all that hilarious.
And after we’ve had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s repeated ‘Be Nice’ plea taint our every action since late March, how was it Robertson missed the memo, or considered it applied only to those who could vote for him?
In a manner befitting a wily politician, he distanced himself from the supposed burn to provide himself a bit of wriggle room, by starting ‘‘one of the gags going around was . . .’’
That’s akin to saying it’s not MY gag, you understand. You can, put it in the same box as an interviewer starting a question with ‘‘there are those who say ...’’ when they are actually the one who is saying it.
A Covid-19 pandemic is no time to take cheap shots at our friends, sitting in the Good Ship Coronavirus alongside. And, actually, it’s never a good time for a Sports Minister to wind up countries our athletes compete against.
If he’s in to such things, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie will be printing off the Robertson quote right now, to pin on the dressing room wall.
If the Wallabies are even a tiny bit as prone as NBA basketball great Michael Jordan to using every perceived slight as motivation, then Robertson has done the All Blacks a disservice.
Just as disconcerting was the transformation of Robertson himself. Chatting to two former All Blacks on television, he swiftly turned from senior politician into a chuckling fan boy sitting in the changing rooms quaffing a beer, telling dodgy jokes, and buddying up to the greats.
But let’s take both sides, now. The win and lose. Having the sportsloving Robertson as Finance Minister and Sport Minister, has been a bonus for sport in these trying times.
He understands sport, and how important it is in New Zealand society. He rubber stamped a $265 million relief package to help community sport, which has been widely hailed and lovingly embraced across the sector. So good one, Grant.
He understands New Zealand sport so well, he can fit right in by joking about Australian sport.
A man in his position, shouldn’t. That’s all.