Video of a driver hurling racist abuse at AFL great Eddie Betts’ children outside their home has been condemned as “disgusting”. The Indigenous former football player shared a clip of the incident on social media on Thursday.
In the footage a white sedan slowly pulls past his house as four boys play basketball in their front yard.
The male driver can be heard screaming a slur four times.
“Aboriginal kids deserve to be able to play safely, free from racism and abuse over the fence,” he wrote.
“We are not even safe in our own homes. If you know who this is please let me (sic) them know that I’m open to having a chat about how much this hurts our kids.”
The incident prompted a swift reaction, with many labelling the moment “sickening”.
The Western Bulldogs responded saying; “Disgraceful. Sending love Eddie”.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie condemned it as “abhorrent, disgusting, disturbing.”
“I can’t imagine how that must have felt for those for those kids,” she said on the Today show on Friday morning.
“As much as Eddie says he’d like to know who this is, so he can have a chat to them … I don’t think they’d be open to that and I think unfortunately they may well thrive off some of the notoriety.
“I can only hope for the Betts family, that the outpouring of support and the fact that this is being publicly called out by pretty much everybody else, gives them some sense that we don’t all hate them.”
Senator McKenzie said it was appalling to see we still have people with racist views living among us and it was the responsibility of every Australian to stamp it out.
“It’s a timely reminder that it’s not just famous people like Eddie, who are subjected to racial vilification,” she said.
“It’s everyday Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, our Jewish community and all of us have a responsibility to call it out, stand up for it.”