Bombers drop the ball on free speech

IAM not a religious person. I support the right of a woman to have an abortion should she choose. I do not care how people lead their sexual lives as long as everything that’s happening is consensual. I don’t think anybody is going to hell for anything because I don’t think that hell exists.

And if you want to get biblical about things, there was one good reason why Andrew Thorburn should never have been made chief executive of the Essendon Football Club. That’s because he has a flimsy grasp on the commandment “thou shalt not steal”, as evidenced by his woeful stewardship of the National Australia Bank when customers were robbed of more than $650m in the fees-for-no-service scandal, which was blithely dismissed as the result of “carelessness”.

This, of course, isn’t the reason Thorburn has been forced to step aside from his Essendon role. He has been forced to step aside on account of his private religious views. More accurately, he has been forced to step aside on account of specific religious statements made by others at the church he attends.

In a marketing and managerial sense you can see why in 2022 Essendon lost its bottle so quickly. When you’ve got everyone from Victorian Premier Dan Andrews to grassroots club members denouncing his intimate involvement with a conservative church, it is not surprising the Bombers raised the white flag in record time in this social media era when people can’t jump on fast enough when the bandwagon arrives.

There have been some noble efforts from small-l liberal types this week, such as fellow columnist Susie O’brien, to deny that there are free-speech implications from Thorburn’s departure.

Every part of me wanted to write a column like that myself, but I can’t, because it isn’t true. So I now find myself in the awkward position of defending someone whose positions are the opposite of mine.

Clearly, Thorburn’s departure means that, if it can be established that you hold such beliefs, you now risk being precluded from holding a senior leadership position.

And that is obviously a threat to freedom of thought and freedom of speech. And it is a troubling threat, as it applies not to comments Thorburn ever made or endorsed in a public setting, but in his capacity as a private individual, in keeping with his own private belief system.

There is a live question as to how closely Thorburn is linked to the comments about homosexuality and abortion that were made in sermons and published articles at the church he attends. The more important point is whether this has any bearing on the job Thorburn would have done as chief executive, where he was going to serve as a business and brand manager, as opposed to a priest.

The only vague argument for his removal is one of logistics in terms of how the revelations would have affected his ability to do his job as a leader of people.

When you have many openly gay women playing AFLW, and you (undeniably) have gay blokes playing AFL, knowing that the boss of your club thinks they’re all going to hell is a tough sell from a peoplemanagement perspective.

But again, the only demonstrated link between Thorburn and specific comments is that they happened some years ago at his church, in 2013, before he was even there. But his point that none of this was going to have a relationship to his job as chief executive of a football club is a good one, and worth repeating here.

“People should be able to hold different views on complex personal and moral matters, and be able to live and work together, even with those differences, and always with respect,” Thorburn said.

Good luck with that.

The muddle-headed “explanation” provided by hapless Essendon chairman Dave Barham tells you all you need to know about how the world now operates.

“I also want to stress that this is not about vilifying anyone for their personal religious beliefs, but about a clear conflict of interest with an organisation whose views do not align at all with our values as a safe, inclusive, diverse and welcoming club for our staff, our players, our members, our fans, our partners and the wider community.”

Clear as mud. They haven’t vilified Thorburn for having those views. They’ve just forced him to resign.

The great inconsistency with all this is that when a Muslim GWS AFLW player refused to take part in Pride Round due to her Islamic hostility towards homosexuality, progressive people couldn’t change the subject fast enough.

Same, too, when a bunch of seven mostly Islander players at the Manly Sea Eagles refused to wear a rainbow jumper. When it comes to these multicultural cases, the response is: “It’s complicated.”

When it comes to Christians, it seems it’s easier: “Get out.”

If Thorburn’s case was more like these, his role as Essendon chief executive may have lasted longer than 24 hours.