Rita Panahi: Adam Goodes’ flora and fauna act story flies in face of truth

Even in the middle of the Voice debate, activists including ex Australian of the Year Adam Goodes are uttering untruths about Indigenous people once being covered by a “flora and fauna act”.

Noel Pearson, Adam Goodes and Dean Parking at the launch of the Qantas 'Yes' Campaign in Sydney. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Once again ‘yes’ advocates have been caught spreading dangerous and divisive disinformation; this time the lie was so brazen that the pro-Voice ABC had to issue a correction.

Former AFL star Adam Goodes – a man given the honour of being named Australian of the Year in 2014 before telling his fellow countrymen “remember whose lands you are on” and smearing footy fans as racists for booing him – claimed at a Qantas ‘yes’ event that his “mother was part of the flora and fauna act when she was born”.

On Friday the ABC issued the following correction under the headline “Flora and Fauna Myth”.

“The Drum: On August 14 the program included a news clip of Adam Goodes stating that stated (sic) Indigenous people were once governed by the flora and fauna act. This is inaccurate – Indigenous people in Australia have never been covered by a flora and fauna act.”

Former AFL star Adam Goodes at the launch of the Qantas ‘Yes’ campaign. Picture: Gaye Gerard

It is remarkable that in 2023, in the midst of a national debate about constitutional change we are still having this ugly untruth uttered, often by activists who should know better and that includes Goodes.

Five years ago I wrote about this urban myth that has been repeated time and time again by politicians and a host of moral posturing sporting stars and celebrities including ABC host Charlie Pickering and actor Aaron Pedersen.

The ABC itself did a fact check debunking the flora and fauna lie.

Shamefully, the Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney is guilty of repeating this myth, and more than once.

It’s not a harmless lie; it’s one designed to shame the country and its history and to push further grievance and division along racial lines.

Earlier this month, a key architect of the Voice, academic and activist Marcia Langton wrote about the public square being “flooded with egregious lies about the referendum proposal.”

What she failed to mention is that many of those lies come from the ‘yes’ camp and not just from random social media trolls with six followers but from prominent people with a significant voice.

Originally published as Rita Panahi: Adam Goodes’ flora and fauna act story flies in face of truth