Melbourne Storm loses Aboriginal Health Service partnership over Welcome to Country snub
The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), which runs the Deadly Choices program in the state, said it was cancelling its campaign with the Storm.
A statement posted on social media by VAHS said this was a direct result of the club's treatment of Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin before the round eight game against South Sydney at AAMI Park.
VAHS, which has been operating since 1973, said the decision "was disrespectful to Aunty Joy and the Wurundjeri People … [and] had hurtful impact on Aboriginal people throughout Naarm and across the country".
"This decision made by the Melbourne Storm board demonstrated a lack of respect and cultural sensitivity towards Aboriginal people and communities," VAHS said in a letter to Storm chief executive Justin Rodski.
"Such an action is inconsistent with our values of respect, cultural integrity and cultural safety. The decision has initiated poor well-being, including feelings of sadness and anger among our community and stakeholders."
After it became clear that the Welcome to Country had not been held before the Anzac Day game despite Aunty Joy being at the ground to deliver the address, the Storm said the club's "board had not approved for it to be held on Anzac Day".
It came hours after Bunurong and Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was booed and heckled by members of the crowd at the dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.
The Storm said its decision was not related to the booing earlier in the day, but Aunty Joy said she was told it was.
The club chalked the decision up to a miscommunication over whether the ceremony had been approved to go ahead and chairman Matt Tripp told Nine: "Once we understood the programming from management, we gave the green light to progress. By then, it was understandably too late for those who had already been informed of our earlier decision."
The Storm have held smoking ceremonies, traditional Aboriginal and Māori dances and numerous Welcomes to Country before games alongside the commemoration of the nations' military history at Anzac Day clashes in previous years.
The Storm officially partnered with Deadly Choices and VAHS in 2021.
In 2022, VAHS chief executive Michael Graham said the organisation was "proud to be associated with the Melbourne Storm based on the club's own strong ties to the Aboriginal community".
"We appreciate the opportunities we have had to work together with Melbourne Storm thus far and trust that future engagements will reflect a genuine, iron-clad commitment to honouring Aboriginal lore, people and place," VAHS said in announcing its split.
The Storm's website says the club celebrates its connection to and recognition of Indigenous people "across a range of partnerships and programs".
Among those partnerships is specialist Aboriginal family violence service Dardi Munwurro.
Deadly Choices is listed as an "official partner" on the Melbourne Storm website.
The club has been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
13 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Chris Waller set to have at least 28 nominations in quest for third Caulfield Cup
Champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller will have at least 28 chances for a third Caulfield Cup when nominations for the Melbourne Racing Club's showpiece close on Tuesday. Waller won the Caulfield Cup with Verry Elleegant and Durston in 2020 and 2022 respectively and prepares Aeliana, the $8 favourite in early betting on the 2025 edition of the $5m handicap. Aeliana easily won the Australian Derby at Randwick in the autumn and was narrowly beaten in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas last spring at her last Caulfield appearance. However, Waller has warned punters Aeliana was unlikely to tackled the Caulfield Cup as a four-year-old. Waller's Caulfield Cup team includes last year's runner-up Buckaroo as well as a host of stable recruits, including the South Australian Derby winner Femminile. Phillip Stokes trained Femminile to her South Australian Derby success in May but new owners Yulong Investments transferred the four-year-old to Waller's after her unplaced run in the Queensland Derby. While Stokes lost Femminile, he has entered the exciting stayer Deakin for the Caulfield Cup. DUKE DE SESSA LEADS ALL THE WAY TO WIN THE CAULFIELD CUP! ðŸ�† @cmaherracing @HTCoffey — 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) October 19, 2024 Deakin has a ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup after winning the Roy Higgins at Flemington in March. Waller's team includes several imports that have not yet raced for his stable, including Go Daddy, a multiple stakes placegetter in Europe last year, and Mr Monaco, a lightly-raced son of Territories. Last year's Caulfield Cup-winning trainer Ciaron Maher will have at least nine entries in this year's race. The 2024 Caulfield Cup winner Duke De Sessa is among the entries along with recent stable acquisition Zardozi. Zardozi joined Maher's stable after Godolphin dispersed their massive team among several stables following the departure of private trainer James Cummings to take up a contract in Hong Kong. Zardozi Melbourne Cups last year. Caulfield Cup nominations close at noon on Tuesday.
News.com.au
43 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Ryan Fox to lead New Zealand assault on Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland
Ryan Fox broke through for his maiden PGA Tour win in 2025, then grabbed his second just weeks later, and the Kiwi star is now bringing his career-best form to Royal Queensland for this year's Australian PGA Championship. Fox, whose most recent Australian PGA tilt was in 2022, has enjoyed a stunning season in the US, winning the Myrtle Beach Classic, in his 72nd start on the PGA Tour, then doubled up with a stunning victory at the star-studded Canadian Open. His brilliant form has lifted Fox to 32 on the world rankings, one spot ahead of the highest-ranked Australian, Jason Day, and the New Zealander could be the highest-ranked player in the field at the PGA in November. 'Being part of it at the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland is something I'm very much looking forward to,' said the 38-year-old Fox, who is preparing for this week's start to the PGA Tour playoffs at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis. 'I had some good success on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia in my very early days on tour which helped to give my career a nice kick along,' he said. 'Winning one of the big tournaments like the PGA would be a real highlight. 'Brisbane is also close to home, so lots of friends and family will hopefully get the chance to come out which should make for a really enjoyable week.' Fox has won 19 times worldwide in a decorated career that includes success on the DP World Tour, which co-sanctions the Australia PGA with the PGA Tour of Australasia. He will head a Kiwi assault on the Joe Kirkwood Cup in Brisbane from November 27-30 that will also include Daniel Hillier and Kazumi Kobori. Hillier, a former British Masters winner, is 13th on the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai standings. Kobori, who like Fox is a past PGA Tour of Australasia order of merit and player of the year winner, finished third at the recent BMW International in Germany. PGA of Australia general manager of tournaments and global tour relationships Nick Dastey said having Fox, Hillier and Kobori at this year's Australian PGA Championship was a 'huge bonus'. 'Ryan is in the middle of the best year of his career, proving once again what an outstanding competitor he is by winning twice against the best in the world on the PGA Tour,' Dastey said. 'Likewise, Daniel and Kazuma have already had great results in 2025 and would no doubt love to add the BMW Australian PGA Championship to their list of achievements. 'We haven't had a Kiwi winner since Greg Turner in 1999, but with these three great contenders in the field, plus the other New Zealand pros who will join them from our tour, you definitely can't discount it this year.' Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said: 'As Australia's lifestyle capital, Brisbane is proud to welcome some of New Zealand's top golfing talent as part of this much-loved event. 'Hosting the Australian PGA Championship isn't just a sporting highlight, it's a major economic win for our city, creating more to see and do for residents and visitors.'
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
How the iconic North Sydney Olympic Pool put local council in deep financial debt
It's seen 86 swimming and diving world records. It has hosted two Empire Games. And its 1930s architecture and harbourside location, beneath the rumbling Harbour Bridge railway and overseen by the grinning face of Luna Park, must place it near the top of any global list of spectacular sporting venues. But lately the achievements at North Sydney Olympic Pool haven't been quite so magnificent. When it finally ends, a two-year renovation budgeted at $57 million will have taken five years and cost $122 million. It's put the local council $56 million in debt, prompting it to consider some unpopular methods of clawing back cash, like increasing rates by 90 per cent, charging people to watch New Year's Eve fireworks, and selling public streets to private schools. The council has also had to curtail its public works budget and can't afford essential works like repairing leaking roofs at childcare and community centres. All in one of the nation's wealthiest areas. North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker isn't happy about it. As a councillor, Ms Baker voted against the pool redevelopment. As mayor, she has to find the cash to pay for it. "Just in the last three years we've had to defer, each year, $12 million on capital works on council assets," she said. This year the council is also trying to find $6 million in savings. "The council agreed very reluctantly to ticket access for New Year's Eve and Blues Point Reserve, and that's in order to find $300,000 to offset the cost of delivery of New Year's Eve." At the same council meeting, councillors had to choose between funding a seawall repair, or fixing North Sydney Oval's broken PA system. Former North Sydney lap swimmer Clare Payne says the pool's once-tight community of early morning swimmers have lost touch with each other. Closures for renovations at the other two nearest public pools — at Willoughby and Mrs Macquarie's Chair — have forced those swimmers even further apart. Ms Payne was upset back in 2019 when the council announced the North Sydney pool would be closed for up to two years. "That felt quite devastating." she told 7.30. "I didn't really want to even process that because I thought this is just going to be too long. I hate the fact that it's closing like this, especially both pools." The second pool was a 25-metre indoor pool that sat atop the grandstand designed by architect Ken Maher. His 2001 redevelopment on the heritage grandstand won several architecture awards. In 2019 the council announced it would be demolished, along with the entire grandstand. Mr Maher said he was "shattered, frankly, and because it seemed to be for no really good reason". The grandstand had concrete cancer — but Mr Maher says the building could have been saved. "It wasn't falling down," he said. "It may have meant that there was work that had to be done to repair the structure underneath that was suffering, but it's not unusual that concrete structures that are having concrete cancer are repaired." The redevelopment was championed by then-mayor Jilly Gibson, who retired last year. Jessica Keen is the sole remaining councillor who voted for the redevelopment. She says council staff made a business case for the pool, which she approved in good faith. "I voted for a $60 million pool, not $122 million. There is a vast difference in that budget," she said. An independent review of the project by accounting firm PWC found that the problems started even before work commenced. Among the problems identified by the review: The builder, Icon, says the council's design team have made hundreds of changes to the project. Icon blames the council for the failure of structural steel in the new indoor pool building, atop the rebuilt grandstand. That steel had to be pulled down and replaced. Icon and the council are also in a legal dispute over $28 million in cost overruns. Mayor Baker says the scale of the project was always too much for council to take on. "It started as a $28 million project. It morphed effectively on the floor of council into a $58 million project … there were literally councillors getting up on the floor of council and saying, 'I'd like a creche, and I would like this,' and so the scope of the brief was being expanded in an ad hoc way," Mayor Baker said. "There was no reporting back about how much that would cost and how council would fund it." Mayor Baker says the pool will be handed back to the council later this year and should be open to the public in the first quarter of 2026, once the fit-out is finished. She is relieved the saga is finally coming to an end. "For me it's bittersweet, because there's absolutely no satisfaction in 'I told you so,'" she said. "I don't think the cost of that $122 million to our community for the things we've had to forego and the impossible decisions that we're now having to make because of the financial impacts is worth it. "I was always an advocate for doing a much more modest approach to the pool redevelopment." Mr Maher, the architect of the demolished 25m pool, doubts he'll be returning to swim at the rebuilt site. "I don't think I'll go there. I think I'll just feel too negative about it," he said. Does he have any sense of schadenfreude? "I think the the tragedy of the project is the impact it's had on the community, no access to the pool for five years or more, huge increase in cost," he said. Ms Payne, the former North Sydney pool swimmer, is looking forward to the reopening and trying the complex's new 25m indoor pools. She sometimes swims at Balmoral, where the sea temperature is currently a chilly 15 degrees. "It doesn't necessarily get any easier, I think, swimming in cold water. It's bracing, it's invigorating. But it will definitely be nice to get a pool back — especially an indoor pool." Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here.
