Albo Off a Short Run on a Doctored Pitch

The Prime Minister hosted the Australian and South African cricket teams on Sunday at a function where he extolled the virtues of his proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Albanese made his usual pitch but it’s a no ball since it involves appealing to emotion rather than to reason.

Coming off a very short run up, Albanese argued that changing the constitution in order to give Indigenous people the opportunity to influence public policy in a way not open to non-Indigenous people was “an act of respect”.

Nathan Lyon could only dream of that kind of spin.

As I said on the Rita Panahi Show Friday night, the constitution is a legal document that expresses the way our country functions, it is not a Hallmark greeting card for expressing sentiments, no matter how fine sounding they might be.

But it was this paragraph that caught my attention in The Australian newspaper report of the PM’s meeting with cricketers …

“Cricket Australia discussed the voice at its recent National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee meetings, but has no official position on the voice.

Why Cricket Australia would be discussing changes to the Australian constitution rather than changes to the Australian Eleven for the third Test against South Africa is beyond me.

Cricket Australia would be better off discussing replacements for injured players Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green rather than the Voice.

They would be better advised to discuss the future of the Big Bash League - with 14 rounds it runs the risk of becoming a bore- rather than the Voice.

They would do well to discuss the future of Test Cricket if we continue to host lop-sided series - such as the recent one against the West Indies and the current one involving South Africa - rather than discussing the Voice.

I could mention a dozen other cricketing issues, just off the top of my head, worthy of Cricket Australia’s attention.

But the Voice? That’s an issue Cricket Australia should let go through to the keeper.

The Australian newspaper report noted that Cricket Australia “has no official position on the voice”.

My question is: Why would they?

I mean, Cricket Australia exists to promote a sport in which men (or women) throw balls that other men (or women) attempt to hit with lumps of wood. That’s it. And they would be well advised to stick to that.

Just play cricket for goodness sake.

As for upcoming referendum, I fear that when it comes to doctoring a pitch, the Sydney Cricket Ground curator has nothing on this Labor Government.