Last night I caught a glimpse on the tv news of an incident involving two Australian officials at a news conference in Tokyo while being asked about the opening event. This morning I watched it properly after I saw it labelled in the NZ Herald as, “Awkward moment during press conference”. Check it out on https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/australia-stunned-by-annastacia-palaszczuk-slap-down-in-tokyo-by-john-coates/HW2DLJRHWTLCVZ7R3Q3E2LHIJE/ or in the online version of the Herald.
It made my blood boil. Here were two representatives of Australia on a world stage. One was a woman, Annastacia Palaszczuk, the publicly elected Premier of Queensland. The other was a much older man, John Coates, President of the Australian Olympic Committee and elected by no one except other sports administrators. One is managing a State, a pandemic, and promoting a successful bid for a future Olympics. No doubt she would rather be a home in Queensland doing something useful than in a COVID-racked Japan. The other is serving on the International Olympic Committee with all the unearned glory and privilege that entails.
They are from the same great sporting country, representing the interests of the Australian public and its athletes. Neither would have been sitting at that press conference without the efforts of the other. That they each have a different focus and role to play is self-evident. One would expect mutual respect, if not liking.
Yet when Ms Palaszczuk expressed reservations about attending the opening ceremony because of the pandemic, Mr Coates sunk his teeth into her like a dingo into a new-born lamb. Without a thought for her position or dignity he purported to pull rank, although I cannot imagine what rank he thought he had to pull.
“You are going to the opening ceremony,” Coates told Ms Palaszczuk in front of the world media. “None of you are staying behind hiding in your rooms”. On and on he went with his lesson about his view of protocols and the economic impact of the opening ceremony, while everyone sat stunned and embarrassed.
The thing is, he may have had a point about the importance of attending the ceremony, but the manner of conveying it was classic, old white man chauvinism. It was jaw-droppingly arrogant, and it made me cringe and flush with fury at the same time.
While it is true that Australian politics are more robust than ours, and that I have grown accustomed to the relatively veiled misogyny of the NZ professional classes, I still find it shocking that a man like John Coates is allowed to front a public role in this day and age. It is not that he is an unfamiliar type. There were and still are plenty of men like him around. Self-important bullies, with no thought for others who bluster and blunder their way through school, work, clubs and institutions. They will back off from attacking other alpha men – they are cowards after all – and don’t hesitate to put the boot in when you are not in a position to retaliate. But for the most part they do not display their venom on public stages, and in this case on the widest imaginable international stage.
It brings me up short. I thought we were making progress. As a young woman and professional, I and most of my female peers, were talked down to, sexually harassed and manhandled, ignored, patronised, underpaid. Men like Mr Coates were what we grew up with. But they were an older generation, and quite frankly and thankfully they are mostly dead or retired – remember I am now pretty old myself.
Change was incremental and equality of opportunity and treatment is not absolute. But it is better.
Last night was a reminder it is still not good.