It's a step forward: Moneghetti

IT was a week marked by racist comments from surprising sources, prompting public handwringing about how far we still had to go.

IT was a week marked by racist comments from surprising sources, prompting public handwringing about where Australia stood and how far we still had to go.

But Steve Moneghetti is not a man fazed by distance, and feels the extent of racism has been overemphasised by the saturation-level focus on a 13-year-old Collingwood fan, Eddie McGuire's King Kong gaffe and Adam Goodes's bad week.

"We've progressed a lot further than this week has demonstrated," Moneghetti said yesterday as he led 400 people around a lakeside track that bears his name in his hometown of Ballarat.

"People think we've taken a step back but I actually think it's convinced me that we have come a long way by the fact that we've had such a robust discussion."

Dressed for the icy Ballarat drizzle in skintight leggings, beanie and gloves, the Olympian marathon runner slowed his usual training pace to take the Journey to Recognition around Lake Wendouree's 6km shoreline. The Recognise campaign, which started on Sunday in Melbourne, has so far travelled 100km to raise support for a referendum motion recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution within two years. The huge public reaction to the language directed at Goodes on and off the AFL field has prompted an unexpected focus and debate about racism.

The incidents, in which a 13-year-old girl called Goodes an "ape" and McGuire then flippantly suggested the indigenous footballer be used to promote King Kong, have been described as turning points similar to Nicky Winmar's defiant lifting of his St Kilda guernsey to show his black skin to taunting Collingwood supporters.

Jamie Lowe, an Aboriginal Ballarat man on the walk, said another opportunity now existed to revive discussion and educate about diversity. "It's a catalyst to start a discussion for the next phase," he said. "Nicky Winmar was 20 years ago. Having the conversation is the most important thing. I reckon it's good that this is out in the open and people are expressing their opinions."

Moneghetti agreed there had been some positive outcomes from the week's events, like greater awareness and education about racism.

A few hundred metres behind the runner, a young boy illustrated the point as he bounded ahead of his teachers yelling "We support the Aboriginals!"

Mr Lowe welcomed the Recognise campaign to Ballarat with a speech questioning what form reconciliation should take and where constitutional recognition, which has bipartisan support, might fit along side other challenges such as improving Aboriginal health and education standards. "This is definitely the start of something, but what it looks like at the end, I don't know."