Cricket Australia hits back at PM Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has lashed out at Cricket Australia’s decision to not refer to Australia Day in games around the holiday weekend.

The Australian cricket team with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Kirribilli House

Cricket Australia is standing firm in the face of criticism by Scott Morrison over the celebration of Australia Day, saying it is determined to be sensitive to the feelings of Indigenous players and fans.

The Prime Minister attacked Cricket Australia on Thursday after it was revealed it had issued advice to Big Bash League clubs that the head body would not use Australia Day branding to promote the triple-header on January 26 and encouraging those teams to do the same.

Many Indigenous groups and white Australians feel uncomfortable celebrating the date of the British convict landing at Port Jackson in 1788, but the Prime Minister attacked cricket for its advice.

“I think a bit more focus on cricket and a little less focus on politics would be my message to Cricket Australia,” Morrison said on radio station 4RO in Rockhampton.

“I think that’s pretty ordinary. That’s what they’re putting on their press releases — that would be my view.”

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The Prime Minister went on to call for consideration of the plight of convicts who arrived in the boats on January 26, 1788.

“When those 12 ships turned up in Sydney all those years ago, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either,” he said.

The First Fleet consisted of nine vessels not 12.

Australian cricketer Megan Schutt hit back at Morrison on social media yesterday.

“My word, this is embarrassing as well as insensitive and divisive, maybe you should focus more on politics and less on cricket?” Schutt wrote.

Cricket Australia has worked hard to correct the lack of Indigenous participation in cricket, and it accepted advice from its National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee that the Australia Day celebration was problematic for Indigenous people.

CA board member Mel Jones, who sits on the committee, defended the advice to BBL sides, which she said was not binding.

“The conversation happened at my first NATSICAC meeting, it was really interesting,” Jones said on Thursday. “It started around Big Bash being on January 26 and none of it was around change the date or anything like that, but about how do we make Big Bash games as fun and enjoyable for everyone but also a chance to elevate Indigenous voices and making it less traumatic for players or people coming to the cricket.

“We thought it was a nice way of saying to Indigenous people ‘we hear you, we understand the trauma it causes for you, we can take a little bit of that away and still give you a day of cricket and celebrate your culture’.”

Jones rejected the PM’s instruction for the sport to stay out of politics.

“There’s no politics in it, the discussions we had were about cricket and cricket people,” she said. “If it was about politics we’d be talking about things like changing the date and things out of our remit. Our remit as an organisation is about looking after people who play the game.”

The Melbourne Stars, one of the teams playing on January 26, have said they will be ignoring the advice from head office, with general manager Nick Cummin saying he thought the process was rushed and “arbitrary”.

“We are referring to it as Australia Day. We believe there’s a broader conversation that needs to be had about Australia Day and the date but that needs to be had in conjunction with all stakeholders in Victorian Cricket and done in a timely and constructive manner and not rushed through and done arbitrarily,” Cummins told News Corp.

However, the Sydney Sixers playing and coaching squad have embraced the change in language and will on Friday be addressed by an Aboriginal elder who will provide an insight into why January 26 is a day of mourning for Indigenous people. The Sixers have said they will follow CA’s recommendations and limit all references to January 26.

Jones said CA had no issue with the Stars or any club disregarding the recommendation.

“I think I was expecting it. We understand that it’s a hard conversation to have with some people and Cricket Australia certainly does not shy away from having tough conversations on a number of matters,” said Jones.

“That’s what’s the really encouraging thing is that we are respectful of everyone and their opinions and we’re just hoping that this will cause a lot of emotive reactions from a lot of people. We’re happy to talk through those, we just want to make sure it’s done in a really respectful way.”

There will be no smoking ceremony or barefoot circle before the Sixers and Stars clash at the MCG and neither club has an Indigenous strip, however both teams will take a knee for the Black Lives Matters movement — as they have done all season.

Additional reporting: Ben Horne