“Australian Sports Minister Anika Wells has thrown her support behind embattled Matildas star Sam Kerr and claims the country is behind her as well.
Kerr is currently facing a trial in London for allegedly racially harassing a police officer after a night out.
In January 2023, Sam Kerr and her partner Kristie Mewis were involved in an incident with a London taxi driver, leading to their arrest at Twickenham police station.
Kerr allegedly called Metropolitan Police officer PC Stephen Lovell “stupid and white” during the altercation.”
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There is no point having a law if it isn’t going to be enforced, or enforced on a consistent basis.
The support provided to Sam Kerr, a black lesbian who is captain of the Maltidas, by the Albanese government sports minister Anika Wells is typical of the double standards applied to woke celebrities.
She was drunk and disorderly, vomited in a taxi and laid into a racist tirade at the policeman who was doing his job.
Had a white heterosexual male made these remarks, they would be forced to apologise, kicked off the national team and vilified by the media and politicians.
It’s another reason why I voted against the Hate Crime laws as they are subjective and will not be applied consistently.
I have no doubt had this incident occurred in Australia the Albanese government would have bent over backwards to protect Sam Kerr for being accountable for her racist behaviour.
Quote from:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/womens-football/article-14378789/Aussie-Sports-Minister-Anika-Wells-says-Australia-Sam-Kerr-Matildas-Chelsea-stars-trial-allegedly-racially-harrassing-police-officer-reaches-conclusion.html
Senate on 12/02/2025
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE – Hate Speech
Senator RENNICK (Queensland) (14:54): My question is to the Minister representing the Attorney-General, Senator Watt. The Minister for Sport has thrown her support behind Sam Kerr, the captain of the Matildas, even though body cam footage presented as evidence in court showed Kerr calling a British police officer ‘stupid and white’. Why does the Labor Party support people who use racial speech in that manner, and would Sam Kerr be jailed under the hate speech mandatory sentencing laws if she were to behave that way in Australia?
Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) (14:55): Thanks, Senator Rennick. I did notice that, overnight, Sam Kerr was actually cleared of the charges against her, so I’m not going to stand in the way of a British court and a British jury making the decision that she was not guilty of the criminal offence that she was charged with. You ask the broader question about hate speech. Our government is proud of the fact that we’ve taken serious action to restrict hate speech at a time in Australia when we are seeing too much division in the community and we are seeing antisemitic attacks take place. We are seeing Islamophobic attacks take place. And we are seeing a range of other racial slurs meted out against members of our community, and that should not happen.
Senator McKenzie: There you go. Put it in the same sentence as if they’re equivalent.
The PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie!
Senator WATT: I’m surprised that the opposition want to contest the fact that we’ve taken this action, because only last week they voted with us to pass that legislation. The reality is that, in Australia’s laws, we’ve always had a number of restrictions on freedom of speech within Australia. We’ve got defamation laws, which prevent people from going out there and saying defamatory things about people. We’ve got laws around the contempt of court, which also restrict people’s—
The PRESIDENT: Minister Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Rennick?
Senator Rennick: Would that particular comment be considered hate speech under the crime laws?
The PRESIDENT: Was that a point of order? The minister is being directly relevant to your question.
Senator WATT: Thanks, Senator Rennick. Obviously, I’m not going to be offering a legal opinion on whether the actions of an individual person breach Australian laws. What we’re here to do is to set those laws and let the courts then interpret them. But, as I was saying, there have always been restrictions on freedom of speech in our country—defamation, contempt of court, and of course a really important one that has been there for quite a long time, which is section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. It wasn’t that long ago that people like Senator Paterson and Senator Cash were trying to abolish section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, because they wanted to open the floodgates to racial vilification and all sorts of other hate speech. It was the Labor Party who stood against that, just as it’s been the Labor Party in government that have passed further laws about hate speech. So we will protect people from unlawful behaviour like that in the future.
