Whistle blows on morality cops

Illustration: Tom Jellett

The treatment of Israel Folau is a solid-gold lesson in how to create a martyr. From Rugby Australia to GoFundMe, censors have turned a small dispute with Folau into a big one about us.

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle started from a sensible premise when she said diverse views should be respected. In a liberal democracy, we have the freedom to speak, to think for ourselves too, to freely worship different religions and freely gather together also.

Then, money talked. Qantas can direct its sponsorship money wherever it chooses. That is the deal in a free country, too. When Castle chose money, rather than resisting Qantas and making the case that rugby players have the right to express different views, she started the process of making Folau a martyr for a bigger cause than himself.

MORE: Australian Christian Lobby says leaders they “cannot wash their hands’’ of Israel Folau’s case “like Pontius Pilate” | Liz Ellis retreats: My beef is with netball bosses, not Maria | Graham Richardson writes: If Folau has lived a perfect life then he should be in the running to make sainthood

The politicisation of corporate Australia, with chief executives virtue signalling about social causes at shareholder expense, is bad enough. When sport goes the same way, watch the backlash from grassroots Australians.

This is not some harmless exercise designed to make the sporting field more civil. The sporting censors are stifling basic freedoms, be it Folau expressing his religious beliefs about homosexuals, adulterers and thieves, or the right of a bloke watching an AFL match to direct a few choice words at an umpire.

The censors at RA are treating us like knuckleheads, as if we, the people, can’t or won’t confront Folau’s views with better and more tolerant views. The same self-appointed moral guardians at the AFL, who now employ behavioural awareness officers, don’t trust the crowds to tell a loudmouth among them to settle down when he crosses the line.

If sports administrators are genuinely concerned about civility on the sports field and in the stands, they need to take a refresher course on how to empower, rather than neuter, civil society.

The best, most enduring forms of civility and morality come from the voluntary actions of an engaged community, not from haughty sports administrators who assume they have a monopoly over morality.

Rugby Australia’s series of heavy-handed diktats turned a NSW sportsman into a national martyr. Even AFL-crazy Victorians now know how to spell Folau. Australian Rugby League chairman Peter Beattie is normally a bloke with very sound default settings. But he piled on Folau, too, stating that he would not be welcomed back by the NRL.

This, despite the fact NRL has hosted an assortment of accused rapists, drug users and drug dealers.

Those who think they speak for the country by condemning Folau’s right to express his religious beliefs have discovered not to mistake noise for numbers. There was a Folau factor in the re-election of Scott Morrison, whether he wants to recognise that or not. The Coalition government should have learned that culture matters, even if it does not directly create a single job. Though in this case, note that Rugby Australia’s PC culture stripped a man of his living.

The critics who laid into Folau after he set up a GoFundMe page last week boosted his martyrdom status even further.

RA said GoFundMe was a “place where sick people get support”. RA should do its homework, before exploiting emotional images of sick people. The GoFundMe website says it provides “free fundraising for the people and causes you care about”.

It covers everything from funding sick children to spiritual awakenings. Becca Gronski is a “spiritual teacher, life coach, reiki and crystal healer” who is “raising money to support myself on my travels and spiritual journey around the world”. Hunter wants to fund his eight-week stint as a herpetologist, an amphibian and reptile biologist, in a national park in Honduras.

Folau started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a long and expensive legal battle with Rugby Australia after his $4 million contract was terminated last month. The case is more than a contractual biff; it is about the right of a man in his workplace to hold and express religious beliefs. It is about us. If RA is confident of its legal rights to shut down Folau, it should welcome litigation to settle the matter and respect Folau’s right to raise money from the public.

Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses has a few problems with Folau’s crowd-funding campaign, too. He suggests that if a lawyer is paid using the proceeds of crowd-funding, it may expose the lawyer to a claim by a donor concerned about the conduct of the case.

Spare us the self-interest of lawyers. If lawyers open themselves to a claim of mishandling a case, that is on them. Was Moses concerned about GoFundMe donations to Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young for her defamation case?

On Monday morning former rugby player Peter FitzSimons claimed that a greedy Folau had lost support from Australians by setting up the crowd-funding platform. If FitzSimons is the voice of quiet Australians I will become a leader writer for Green Left Weekly. The evidence showed donations pouring in, mostly modest amounts probably from people with modest means, totalling more than $700,000 by the time FitzSimons presumed to know what is in the mind of Australians. Maybe donors understand that, while Folau is no pauper, RA has the power to impoverish him.

Former netballer Liz Ellis grew Folau’s support base further when she claimed that Netball Australia didn’t go hard enough when Folau’s wife tweeted about her husband’s crowd-funding campaign. What did Ellis have in mind? That Maria Folau, a member of the Thunderbirds team, be sacked too? Should his wider family be punished too for supporting him? Friends? Supporters? Where does this witch-hunt stop against a man who wants to express his religious beliefs in a free country?

On Monday morning, GoFundMe pulled Israel Folau’s crowd-funding page, claiming it infringed its terms and conditions about fostering an environment of inclusivity. Is this the final chapter in “how to make a martyr”?

GoFundMe’s sham inclusivity policy excludes many millions of people who share Folau’s Christian beliefs. The actions of the crowdfunding site are both morally hypocritical and potentially contract-breaking. Talk about an own goal. Folau has now raised much, much more than $700,000 in 24-hours through a fund set up by the Australian Christian Lobby. Quiet Australians standing up again.

Which is why the Prime Minister should have stood up for Folau on Monday, instead of trying to handball the issue away.

Morrison, a religious man, need not worry about critics coming after him for defending fundamental values. They will come for him, just as they accused John Howard of harnessing the votes of social conservatives. The attacks were a vote winner for Howard among mainstream Australians.

Speaking for quiet Australians, Morrison could ask whether we are back in the Dark Ages where people are persecuted for religious beliefs by self-appointed cultural dietitians, without recourse to the law.

The legal system and GoFundMe have been used for far worse than testing the rights of a man to speak publicly about his religious beliefs.

Disagreeing with Folau is all the more reason to defend his right to speak freely. After all, defending people you agree with is no test of a genuine commitment to this most basic human right in a liberal democracy.