Sponsors play ‘moral arbiter of acceptable thinking’ in Folau case: senior researcher
Australian corporates had “really crossed the line” in the Israel Folau furore, a senior research fellow says.
Australian corporates had “really crossed the line” in the Israel Folau furore, shunning people for their religious beliefs while playing the “moral arbiter of socially acceptable thinking”, according to Jeremy Sammut, a senior research fellow with the Centre for Independent Studies.
Dr Sammut’s comments follow the censure of Folau’s netball star wife Maria, by two key women’s netball sponsors, ANZ and health insurance company HCF.
Over the past 24 hours both sponsors have reportedly told Netball Australia they were unhappy with Maria Folau’s decision on Friday to repost a link to her husband’s now defunct GoFundMe page.
HCF told Netball Australia there was an urgent need for “a strong, clear and well enforced social media policy and education amongst its players and staff”.
HCF told Nine Media on Wednesday: “We appreciate the complexities of the Folau matter and acknowledge that views do differ in the community, however, we do not support Maria Folau’s stance on this matter.”
“There is no place in our society for discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of gender, religious belief, age, race or sexual orientation.”
Dr Sammut said the extraordinary community backlash caused by GoFundMe’s decision take down Folau’s funding appeal page on Monday demonstrated what a “tin ear” the big business had when it came to the feelings of ordinary Australians.
“It looks like the community thinks the big end of town has decided to mob up, endlessly posturing about their “right on” politics,” he said.
“Corporates live in a corporate bubble and they have clearly crossed the line in relation to Folau. They are clearly getting into the business of social engineering, making decisions on behalf of the community about what views are socially unacceptable.”
He said the Folau saga had been sparked by Rugby Australia and its major sponsor Qantas seeking to punish the former Wallaby for his fundamentalist Christian views while holding themselves out as a beacon of “progressive ideology and identity politics”
ANZ and HCF, he said, were now climbing on board to chastise Folau’s wife, a star shooter with the Adelaide Thunderbirds, for supporting her husband.
“’I am amazed that HCF and ANZ have doubled down on the same approach given the negative backlash against GoFundMe’s actions,” he said.
‘This is much more dangerous than just corporate virtue signalling. It amounts to an attack on fundamental freedoms in a democratic society, including religious freedom.”