Adam Goodes is a leading Australian AFL star, sporting hero and an Australian of the Year. He is also a determined advocate for stamping out racism and violence against women in Australia.
On top of a 350-game career with the Sydney Swans, including two premiership play-offs, Goodes dedicates his time to his work as a White Ribbon Ambassador and an anti-racism campaigner.
His commitment to using his sporting fame to spread awareness about racism and gendered violence in Australia made him an ideal guest for Anne Summers’ next instalment of her In Conversation With series.
“I like to choose people who are a little bit unpredictable and I wouldn’t normally choose a footballer, but Adam is such an exceptional person and role model – he is a person we all need to hear from,” Summers told Women’s Agenda.
One of the central topics of the conversation between Goodes and Summers will be his work to educate young men about the need to end violence against women.
“It is so important to have a man with his societal standing get up and speak in depth about the desperate need to end violence against women in this country.”
“Adam grew up with violence in his own family and can bring a really important perspective to this issue with his own personal story,” Summers said.
Six years ago, Goodes realised he needed to dedicate himself to tackling the issue of violence against women and became an Ambassador for the White Ribbon foundation. In this role, he now travels to schools across Australia to teach young boys about healthy relationships and the patterns of behaviour that lead to violence.
“The moment it clicked for Adam was when White Ribbon came for a briefing with the Sydney Swans and they got some of the women who worked for the Swans give a presentation about the measures they personally take to protect themselves from violence, about the ways in which they had to organise their lives around staying safe,” Summers said.
“This was a real lightening bolt moment for Adam – he said that hearing these women’s perspective was a wake up call, that he realised for the first time that women have to employ strategies for their own safety that he, as a man, had never even thought twice about.”
This was the day Goodes realised that in their day to day lives women never feel wholly safe, and he felt the weight of that injustice so strongly that he decided he had to help correct it.
“This realisation also immediately helped Goodes make sense of his own experiences, and his perspective shifted from seeing his experience of violence as being an inevitable part of life to seeing it as an injustice that could have been avoided,” she said.
Summers said there is little as powerful as seeing one of your idols stand up and fight for something, particularly something so far flung from his usual world of football heroism.
“By sharing his story of coming to this understanding, Adam has the power to help other people understand the problem, too. It’s all about getting another person to see things differently and then subsequently alter their own behaviour or become part of a movement of men determined to combat violence against women.”
As well as discussing his commitment to tackling violence against women, Goodes is also a dedicated advocate for ending racism in Australia and for securing constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians.
“Racism is unfortunately still a very powerful force in our country, and Adam has experience of this and I think it is crucial for people to hear just how serious it is,” Summers said.
“Adam is very passionate about leading the campaign to seek constitutional recognition for Aboriginal Australians and it is really important for his voice to be heard on this issue. Constitutionalrecognition is a complex subject but the way he explains why it is now the issue at the heart of the Aboriginal movement – why it is the issue that needs widespread support – makes it all so clear.”
“Adam explains that Indigenous Australians will never feel part of this country while a basic founding document excludes them. It is a fundamental form of discrimination and it needs to change. It is simple – and as profound – as that.”
During their conversation, Summers will ask Goodes what he thinks are the solutions to these issues, and what he would like to see happen in order to progress towards permanent change.
Summers said she hopes the audience will be as impressed by Goodes’ commitment to change as she was when she first met him.
“Adam can show young men that you can be famous, great at sport, successful and committed to making change all at the same time. He sets the bar so high and is such a fantastic model for all the things a young man can be.”