In 1971, the Queensland Government imposed a state of emergency for mass protests of the apartheid South Africa touring rugby team. Despite international condemnation and community opposition, the Australian government not only allowed the apartheid team to tour, but criminalised those who opposed it.

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Craig Foster

@Craig_Foster

In 1971, the Queensland Government imposed a state of emergency for mass protests of the apartheid South Africa touring rugby team. Despite international condemnation and community opposition, the Australian government not only allowed the apartheid team to tour, but criminalised those who opposed it. At that time, Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for 9 years. During his later 1990 visit to Australia, Mandela referred to the ‘slaughter of defenceless and innocent Arabs in the occupied territories.’ Just 3 years later in 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And in 2013, 42 years after anti-apartheid protests were shutdown in Qld in direct support of his rights, the Australian Parliament acknowledged his legacy, the Foreign Minister referring to him as one of the “towering figures of the 20th century” alongside Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., with “remarkable inner strength and resilience” Like the anti-genocide protesters of today, those Australians in 1971 were attacked, characterised as violent, told that protest would achieve nothing, was futile. But they were right. They played a significant role in bringing grave injustices to the attention of the Australian people, and forced necessary political change, removing Australia from complicity in apartheid, a crime against humanity that can never be supported in any way. Today, Australia is immensely proud of having taken action, including through later sporting boycotts. Principled leadership is far too rare when human rights, state conduct and political calculations are at odds, and citizens need to be prepared to draw boundaries of national conduct that cannot be crossed. We should need no reminder that genocide and apartheid, are such boundaries.

11:15 AM · Feb 11, 2026

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