Someone should tell Police and Sport Minister Judy Spence she's got her wires crossed. We all know that you should never mix sport with politics. But what about sport with police matters?
It seems this week Ms Spence has had a major conflict of interest between one 24-year-old woman's sexual assault claims and boosting the profile of this weekends finals clash between the Broncos and the Melbourne Storm.
Ms Spence told Brisbane Times on Tuesday, fans needed to get behind Bennett and his beloved Broncos and put aside the sex allegations.
The Police minister seemed to be missing the point when she played down the severity of claims made against the three players: Sam Thaiday, Darius Boyd and Karmichael Hunt.
She said it was "far too early to start saying that their image is tarnished..." But lets face it, who is she kidding?
Their image has been tarnished and Ms Spence has probably done more bad than good by coming out and saying a game of football is more important than speeding up an investigation to get to the bottom of the alleged incident.
She makes the point that we cannot jump to conclusions based on what we know so far, but I ask the question. Who does she represent?
She clearly in this instance has taken the side of promoting sport over a hard-line approach to combating a big problem in Brisbane: a sport/drinking culture.
The ABC's The World Today revealed sexual health workers were questioning the minister’s judgments.
Vocal 2GB radio host Ray Hadley also spoke out against the minister in an interview with Professor Catherine Lumby from the Education and Welfare Committee for the NRL, saying "she (the minister) sounds like she's a candidate for the cheer leading squad at Brisbane."
In fact there has been general condemnation across the state of Queensland over Ms Spence’s lack of forethought in addressing the allegations.
According to a news poll containing 84 comments on the Daily Telegraph website, a resignation is in order for not only the three players accused but also the minister herself.
This may be going too far.
But while Darren Lockyer (who is facing some unwanted media attention of his own) palms off tricky questions at press conferences and Broncos boss Bruno Cullen sweats over yet another incident involving his players (four players in the last two years have been sacked due to poor conduct, not to mention one of the alleged, Karmichael Hunt being banned from the Uber Lounge in West End), it seems someone, somewhere has to draw the line in the sand.
Broncos haven't sacked their players (if they were second-grade players they would have been out the door Monday morning).
Ms Spence has well and truly confirmed her stance on the matter.
So if neither of these two bodies will step up and make an example of these three (or four) louts, then who will? Maybe Melbourne's up for the task.
Written by Daniel Challis
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1 comment:
I disagree. I think that the accused players should be considered innocent until proven guilty. They have denied the allegations after all. Until they are proven guilty, we should support the Broncos as we did before.
This does not mean we are supporting the players' alleged actions. It just means that instead of making assumptions--a case of arse, you, me, etc.--we are recognising the court's right to decide.
If the players aren't guilty, would it be fair to hinder their finals chances?
Written by Michael Collett
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