Indigenous leaders back Kerri-Anne Kennerley in racism row

Indigenous leaders weigh in to support Kerri-Anne Kennerley after she was ­accused of being “racist” during an on-air spat over an “Invasion Day” debate.

Kerri-Ann Kennerley has been backed bu indigenous leaders.

Indigenous leaders have weighed in to support TV veteran Kerri-Anne Kennerley after she was ­accused of being a “racist” during an on-air spat over an “Invasion Day” debate.

“We have reached a point of political correctness in this country where people cannot talk about difficult issues for fear of being ­accused of racism,” Health Minister Ken Wyatt told The Australian last night.

A panellist on the Ten Network’s Studio 10 morning show, Yumi Stynes, labelled Kennerley “racist” after she asked why ­Australia Day protesters weren’t doing more for indigenous communities in the outback.

“Babies and five-year-olds are being raped … their mothers are being raped, their sisters are being raped.

“What have you done? Zippo,” Kennerley said on Monday.

About 30 protesters gathered outside Ten’s Sydney headquarters yesterday to demand the Hall of Fame winner be sacked and brandishing ­derogatory ­banners with slogans such as “KAK is ­racist” and “Kerri-Anne KKKennerley”.

“F..k Kerri-Anne, f..k her ­racist views and anyone that ­supports them," one speaker told the rally.

Mr Wyatt last night defended Kennerley’s comments, saying that while her delivery may have been “clunky”, she was right in saying that not enough was being done for ­Aboriginal women and children in remote communities.

“We have got incidents happening in remote communities and in town camps that should not be happening,’’ he said.

“I’ve seen Aboriginal women bear the scars of domestic abuse,” Mr Wyatt said.

“Let’s tackle those things first before we worry about Invasion Day.”

He said he had not seen mass marches in the streets for the four-year-old Aboriginal girl raped in Tennant Creek last year, nor for the more than 180 Aboriginal children sexually abused in and around the Pilbara town of ­Roebourne.

That child abuse investigation, unprecedented in scale in Western Australia, is ongoing. “I’ve not seen anybody stand up and say it is totally wrong,” Mr Wyatt said.

"You're sounding quite racist right now." @yumichild says to Kerri-Anne as they clash over Australia Day & #ChangeTheDate. #Studio10 pic.twitter.com/qI2qBsiT9t

— Studio 10 (@Studio10au) January 27, 2019

Warren Mundine praised Kennerley for opening up a much-needed discussion about social problems in remote Aboriginal communities, saying it was “stupid” to label her a racist for doing so.

“I know exactly where Kennerley was coming from and many indigenous people are in the same boat,” Mr Mundine told The Daily Telegraph.

“We are sick and tired of all this whingeing when we want to confront the real issues that are being dealt with in communities.”

Mr Mundine said there are “more than a hundred” issues that are more pressing for indigenous communities. “Suicide, jobs, economic development, getting kids to school, health stuff — it all comes well in front of changing the date.”

Alice Springs indigenous councillor Jacinta Price applauded Kennerley for “telling the truth”.

“The really dangerous racism is turning a blind eye to the facts of the matter, so that Aboriginal women, children, yes and even men, continue to suffer horrific lives,” Ms Price says.

Jacinta Price.

“The protesters and virtue-signallers, who are mostly white, claim to have the well being of our people at heart. They all sprout the same rhetoric. They use trigger words like ‘white privilege’ without acknowledging the huge privileges they have in comparison to the most marginalised of Aboriginal people.’’

Ten producers tried to hose down the on-set tensions yesterday by inviting two indigenous commentators on to the show to debate the issues.

Stynes failed to appear on the program yesterday, declaring on her Instagram post she would not be fronting because she had “decided to give myself the day off".

Kennerley and Stynes both declined to comment to The Australian yesterday, opting instead for a live radio “intervention” staged by celebrity hosts Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS radio 1065.

The awkward rapprochement opened with Stynes insisting there was no “bad blood” between the two women.

But she proceeded to hurl insults at Kennerley again. “She’s been around forever right, she’s like a cockroach, she can’t be extinguished,” said Stynes, whose father is a fifth-generation Australian and her mother Japanese. “I don’t think either of us give much of a shit really … it’s more about the ideas.”

Kennerley ended the awkward radio three-way by admitting she was still “highly offended and hurt” by the racist slur, but was “probably way too sensitive”.

But Stynes got in the last dig. saying: “You know what I love? White people telling me about racism.”