| On 1 November 2004 I
contacted the relevant Minister (Vets Affairs) and asked that the law be
applied and the practice stopped.
She totally ignored that contact and 3
phone calls that I made to her Ministerial Office before Christmas. She
ignored the fact that I made EVERY member of the House of
Representatives and EVERY Senator aware of the matter by email.
I later advised the Prime Minister by
email through his web page on 12 November 2004.
On 4 Feb 2005 (84
days later) the Parliamentary
Secretary to the PM wrote to me saying that my comments had been
"noted" and the Minister for Veterans Affairs would contact
me.
On 9 Feb 2005 (100
days after my email) The Hon
De-Anne Kelly, Federal Member for Dawson, Minister for Veterans Affairs
and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence wrote to say (in part);
"I have written to Mr. Geoff Carr, Chief
Executive of the ARL, advising him that I have not approved the use of
the word 'Anzac' for the team and that the ARL has breached the
provisions of the Protection of the Word 'Anzac' Regulations. I
expressed my extreme disappointment that the word 'Anzac' was used for
such a purpose. I have also requested that the ARL publish an apology
on its website."
Firstly that has to be close to a lie.
If indeed she was "extremely disappointed" why did she wait
100 days to complain that it had been done when had she acted
immediately she could have STOPPED the practice.
Secondly, since when did the Federal
Government go around cap in hand asking that people apologise for
breaking the law.
Mr. Terry Williams, a spokesman for
the ARL and presumably also for Mr. Carr the CEO said;
"After
speaking with the Chief Executive of the ARL, Mr. Geoff Carr, I have
been asked to raise our concerns regarding the aggressive nature of
your email correspondence.
Mr.
Carr’s father fought in the Battle of Britain and was awarded the
DFC for his bravery in that campaign. Another of his relations, Dave
Carr, was part of the landing at Gallipoli and there were hundreds of
former players and officials that served in that and later campaigns.
The
ARL has done everything possible to seek the appropriate permission to
use the term “Anzac” from the Dept of Veterans Affairs. On behalf
of the many former players that have served in the Armed Forces in
both world wars we are offended by your suggestion that we have used
the term inappropriately and would point out that we are, again, going
through the correct channels to gain the necessary permission for the
future.
We shall continue to go through the correct channels for permission
and the sanctity of the term “Anzac” will always be a priority for
the Australian Rugby League. When permission has been granted
previously for the use of the term we have contributed significantly
to projects such as the Kokoda Track Memorial at
Concord
. Although we will not be using the term “Anzac” for the April
Test, we are in discussions with Veterans Affairs about an appropriate
contribution to a further Veterans Project.
The
curtain raiser to the April Test will be a game between the Australian
Armed Forces and the New Zealand Armed Forces, both groups are
committed to commemorating the 90th
anniversary of Gallipoli. We respect the Armed Services involvement
and their contribution to the event will be appropriate. While we will
not be using the term “Anzac” ourselves, we cannot be responsible
for others who may wish to refer to the game as the Anzac Test given
the Armed Services involvement."
Now,
if all that is true, the Minister is badly mistaken or a liar. If the
Minister is being honest the ARL are not.
They
cannot both be telling the truth.
In
another email Mr. Williams says:
"The
New Zealand
government has approved the use of the word and the ARL has always
complied with the necessary regulations regarding the use of the
term."
EITHER WAY, THE COMMERCIALIZATION
OF ANZAC MUST STOP.
Mr. Carr and Mr. Williams
of the ARL totally miss the point that the reasons they use to
"justify" their illegal commercial use of the word ANZAC might
equally apply to Tamatha T. Titswobble, the owner of a sleazy massage parlour and
brothel who will now rename her establishment
|
ANZAC MASSAGE
PARLOUR & BROTHEL |
|
|
Where sons of Anzacs
get REAL active service. |
Maybe it would be a good
place for after match footballers to congregate.
De-Anne Kelly, MP Minister
for Veterans' Affairs. de-anne.kelly.mp@aph.gov.au
Mr. Terry Williams, ARL
spokesman, tezza@nswrl.com.au
Ted Harris Webmaster
tedharris@ozemail.com.au |
It was nice that the Australian rugby league players had an opportunity
to visit the war graves in France (C-M, Nov 17), but I was appalled that
the ARL used the acronym Anzac for the Australian-NZ team that played a
challenge match in England.
