Anti-Muslim post shadows Nova Peris' election to Olympic sport board
The 54-year-old joined the board of the government-funded national federation last month, nearly three decades after she played in the Hockeyroos' triumph at the 1996 Atlanta Games, becoming the first Indigenous woman to win Olympic gold for Australia.
Hailing her as a legend of the sport, Hockey Australia president Ross Sudano said Peris would be a powerful advocate for the women's game and regional communities, 'enriching our increasingly diverse board'.
But Peris' re-posting of the anti-Islam rhetoric has brought into question her fitness to sit on the board of an organisation that receives $9.5 million a year from the Australian Sports Commission and whose diversity policy includes a focus on multicultural communities.
The post was made by a since deactivated account on X on April 14 above a cartoon which depicted a drowning Muslim man pleading for help before turning on his rescuers in a boat labelled 'England'. The heading below the image read: 'The path of Islam is always the same'.
Peris distanced herself from the comment when contacted by this masthead.
'I absolutely do not share the views expressed in that post, more importantly that account no longer exists and hasn't done so in many months,' she said in a text message.
She did not answer why she had shared the post, a screenshot of which has been published on the social media platform and in an article by the National Indigenous Times.
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News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
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4 hours ago
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Gunmen behind Kashmir tourist attack killed: minister
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The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. 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Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
