“It’s definitely been a big shock,” Vander-Kuyp, a Worimi and Yuin man, told the Herald and The Age on Tuesday. “Just disappointed and shocked, and a bit blindsided that this has happened.
Danny Morseu and Lindsay Gaze at Melbourne Airport in 1978.Credit: The Age
“We had no idea. [I’ve] been working alongside Danny for the last four years on the advisory committee, achieving lots of great things. The AOC’s commitment to the Indigenous Advisory Committee has been amazing.
“And I take our roles as very privileged to be in a position to finally be at the table and be giving advice and guiding not only the AOC, but all the Australian sports that are doing more in the Indigenous space and the reconciliation journey. It’s finally in people’s minds, and it’s been all my lifetime waiting for those opportunities to sit at a table, to have a voice. We talk about the referendum and having a Voice, but the AOC’s had us as a voice for four years.
“I’m still processing what’s happened, but I also take it seriously. I only just have to look at the news – domestic violence in Indigenous communities is not good. It has to be tackled. So I don’t condone it. And it’s not just Indigenous, it’s violence against anyone. Violence against women.
“I’ve got a daughter, and my partner is from a remote community in Queensland. You have to stop it, do something about it, but also focus on the positives. And there’s so many more great opportunities for Indigenous Australians. That’s the lens I look through. Any Indigenous Australians who have made the Olympics, I want them to be elevated. I don’t want this to take the focus off the great things we’re doing.”
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Such work was evidenced at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics through First Nations artwork at the athletes’ village, along with a map of all the language groups. They were embraced by the whole team and will be returning in Paris, along with yarning circles and uniforms featuring Indigenous designs.
Asked how she felt to discover Morseu’s charges retrospectively, having worked with him over the two years since charges were laid, Meares said: “Well, you don’t know what you don’t know, do you? And it’s one thing to ask; it’s another thing to tell. And if you don’t know, you just don’t know.
“You operate as best you can in those capacities until you do have the awareness and the information, and you act as quickly as you can in response to that, which is obviously what my role is going to be at Games time.”