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 Jeff Kennett at the AFL Grand Final Breakfast 2007  Ousted trainer Ken Campagnolo. Photo: A. Shaw
Kennett, who heads the national anti-depression initiative Beyondblue and is president of Hawthorn Football Club, unleashed a firestorm of anger on the weekend after he told a Melbourne newspaper that country football club Bonnie Doon was correct to sack its trainer of 22 years, Ken Campagnolo, when it discovered he was bisexual.
"The club felt that once this had been pointed out and you had this gentleman there who was obviously close to young men - massaging young men - it ran an unnecessary risk and that's why it decided it was best that he not perform those duties again. So the club was trying to do the right thing," Kennett told the Herald Sun newspaper.
"When you are in charge of a group of young boys, as this club was as I understand it, it's got to make sure.
"It's the same if you have a pedophile there as a masseur, right?"
"And you might say the pedophile would do no damage, but once it was pointed out to you, you have a duty of care to those underage children not to put them in a situation of risk."
However, Kennett later told the newspaper his comments were taken out of context.
"You have to have a higher level of duty of care nowadays because of potential litigation," he said.
"I am not interested in the sexuality of a particular person. What I am talking about is duty of care and litigation, so I've been completely taken out of context."
However, Kennett’s clarification has not impressed the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (VGLRL), which has called for the former premier to be “terminated” as director of Beyondblue and president of Hawthorn Football Club.
They have also asked Kennett to make a formal apology to Campagnolo and to make a donation to the former trainer’s anti-discrimination case against Bonnie Doon Football Club, the Australian Football League and Benalla and District Football League.
“[Kennett’s clarification] makes no impact at all,” VGLRL co-convenor Stephen Jones told Evolution Online.
“Sexuality has been proven time and time again to be a key factor in youth suicide, and Mr Kennett’s comments further isolate young sports people and fans. Mr Kennett is a disgrace and will clearly have blood on his hands.
“This is offensive and ill considered rhetoric which has been used to alienate the gay and lesbian communities for far too long. Mr Kennett is clearly out of touch with the realities of sexuality and the development of anti discrimination law,” he said.
Australian Coalition for Equality (ACE) spokesperson Rodney Croome also called on Kennett to resign as Beyondblue director and for the AFL to launch an anti-homophobia policy.
"Mr Kennett's comments perpetuate precisely the myths and stereotypes which contribute to depression and suicide in the gay community," Croome said.
"We call on Beyondblue to fund programs tackling the effects of homophobia on same-sex attracted youth, particularly in rural areas."
Media personality John Michael Howson attacked Kennett’s comments on his 3AW radio program.
“It proposes that all gay men are paedophiles and lusting after young flesh and can’t control themselves,” Howson told his listeners.
“It’s so offensive that it is beyond contempt.
“Bonnie Doon Footclub Club shows that it’s living well and truly in the 15th century. Why don’t you just take the bloke out into the town square and burn him? Tie him to a stake and burn him!”
Howson said homophobia contributed to high rates of youth suicide in rural areas.
“Can you imagine if you’re a young man and you reach that stage, 17, 18, and you realise you’re not quite like everybody else, and all you’ve ever heard is people talking about ‘poofters’ and ‘faggots’ and whatever.
“You hear your family saying it and you hear your colleagues saying it, what sort of self-esteem do you have?
“You don’t think that turns into terrible depression and sometimes walking off to the barn with a bit of rope?”
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