Tim Blair: KAK is in the driver’s seat on indigenous issues

Kennerley is vastly experienced and tough as hell. She was young, blonde and beautiful back in the distant pre-#MeToo era, and survived that time because she proved stronger and more resilient than even the crudest male TV executive. So Kennerley wasn’t about to cave when Yumi Stynes deployed her racism strategy.

An old friend pursued a motor-racing hobby deep into his 70s. As his reflexes faded, he often found himself beaten by younger competitors.

But only on short tracks, where snappy responses make quick work of relatively slow corners. On larger, faster tracks, with corner speeds beyond 200km/h, my ageing mate’s ­experience and calm left youthful rivals in his wake.

Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s experience and toughness are evident. Picture: Brett Costello

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They weren’t ready for life on a bigger stage, where mistakes have potentially serious consequences.

Something of that generational divide was evident in this week’s television dispute between Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Yumi Stynes.

The pair came to verbal blows on Studio 10 after Kennerley questioned the priorities of anti-Australia Day demonstrators.

“Has any single one of those 5000 people waving flags saying how inappropriate the day is been out to the Outback where children, babies, five-year-olds are being raped, their mothers are being raped, their sisters are being raped, they get no education?” Kennerley asked, reasonably enough.

Yumi Stynes declined the invitation to come back on the show the next day to keep debating the issue. Picture: Studio 10

“You’re sounding quite racist right now,” Stynes replied.

Now, Yumi Stynes is an effective performer on the media equivalent of slow, simple racetracks. She can very quickly lob up some kind of glib social justice talking points to shut down older types with their dreadful conservative ways. But this subject is at a level where the likes of Stynes begin to suffer a little altitude sickness.

It’s way above her comfort zone. Aboriginal violence is a fast track with perilous curves, and Stynes basically froze at the wheel.

The next day, possibly wary of a scheduled appearance by Alice Springs Aboriginal activist Jacinta Price — who shares Kennerley’s concerns over the grievous abuse suffered by Aboriginal women and girls — Stynes couldn’t even bring herself to turn up at Studio 10.

“I decided to give myself the day off,” Stynes announced on Instagram. “This is not because of what happened today between Kerri-Anne and I.”

(She means “me”. Common error among young players.)

“I am feeling stable and calm and like I’m on the right side of history,” Stynes continued, which is the sort of thing you often hear from people who aren’t feeling especially stable and calm. “Everything is OK.”

Sure it is, which is why you feel the need to say so. By contrast to no-show Stynes, Kennerley is vastly experienced and tough as hell.

She was young, blonde and beautiful back in the distant pre-#MeToo era, when Australian television was a brutally sexist arena. Kennerley survived that time because she proved stronger and more resilient than even the crudest male TV executive.

So Kennerley wasn’t about to cave when Stynes deployed her racism strategy. This was a battle between a big girl and a big girl’s blouse.

For Stynes, last Monday’s dispute was a huge event. For Kennerley, it was last Monday. Besides, Kennerley is more interested in the issue than in televised fireworks.

“I am talking about abuse here and now. That issue only,” she wrote in The Sunday Telegraph. “I can let others debate the merits of Australia Day. To me, the much more pressing issue for not only the indigenous community but the nation as a whole is the horrific rape of children, babies and women in indigenous communities as reported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.”

Kerri-Anne is on the right track and driving hard.