NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham’s motion condemning McGuire after his reaction to Adam Goodes’s ‘war dance’ was supported by all sides of politics

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The New South Wales parliament has officially and unanimously declared that Australian sports commentator and football club president Eddie McGuire is a “boofhead”.

The legislative assembly introduced and passed the motion on Wednesday, recording in state history its support for Indigenous AFL player Adam Goodes, and its condemnation of McGuire for “being a continual boofhead”.

The motion related to comments made by McGuire during last week’s AFL Indigenous round when Sydney Swans player Goodes performed an Aboriginal “war dance” towards Carlton supporters as a goal celebration.

McGuire was part of Fox Footy’s commentary team for the game against Carlton, and reacted to the display by saying: “We’ve never seen that [celebration] before and I don’t think we ever want to see it again to be perfectly honest, regardless of what it is.”

McGuire was widely criticised, but in the following days he took it further, suggesting Goodes should have warned people of his celebration plan. McGuire also linked the issue to same-sex marriage, and said Goodes’ dance was “a made-up dance, this is not something that has been going on for years.”

This specific comment was also condemned in the NSW parliament.

The day after the game Goodes, who is outspoken on Indigenous affairs and is a former Australian of the year, defended his celebration, suggesting people “take a chill pill.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest AFL player Adam Goodes performs an Indigenous dance after scoring for the Sydney Swans against Carlton in an AFL match. Photograph: Channel Seven

Goodes said he learned the dance from an under-16s AFL team, the Flying Boomerangs, and was proud to display his culture during the Indigenous round.

“It’s a war cry dance, so it would be silly to do it to my own supporters. It’s a dance that I haven’t been able to perform with the Indigenous All Stars,” he said.

“This is something that a lot of Aboriginal people are proud about. You ask any New Zealand person about the Haka. Do you think the Wallabies find that offensive?”

Another part of Wednesday’s declaration, now enshrined in Hansard, recognised and supported Goodes’ actions, the role sport and cultural expressions play in “building understanding between cultures and fighting discrimination” and Australia’s Indigenous sports men and women.

Jeremy Buckingham, the Greens politician who introduced the ‘boofhead’ motion, told Guardian Australia it was funny, but also “deadly serious”.



“The motion I moved was pretty comprehensive in its support for Adam and Aboriginal Australians and the right to cultural expressions to break down racism and discrimination,” he said.

“And also we need to call out this stupid behaviour when we see it, so I was pretty happy to do that.”

Buckingham’s motion was supported by all sides of NSW politics.

“The feedback I’ve had is overwhelming,” said Buckingham.

“I think the only person in Australia who thinks what Eddie McGuire said was reasonable is Eddie McGuire, and even he’s reviewing that.”

“He does have form, and he is an important leader in the community and he has to be held to account when he says something that’s so off.”

A friendship between Goodes and McGuire ended in 2013, when the radio host suggested Goodes could promote the King Kong musical just days after he apologised to the football player over a 13-year-old Collingwood fan calling him an ape.

“Friends don’t make jokes about their friends like that,” Goodes said of McGuire’s comments last year.

Buckingham said parliament’s action sends the message that Australia takes racism seriously.



“When someone is expressing their culture in a public space, we cannot tolerate people who seek to denigrate and dismiss it. Australia has an abysmal record when it comes to racism and discrimination against Aboriginal Australians.”



After a previous use of the word “boofhead” in 2005, the president of the house had to rule on whether it breached parliamentary language. He found that it did not.



“Having examined a precedent and considered the issue deeply, I find that the term ‘boofhead’ has been used in past debates in this chamber and, having regard to the rulings of previous presidents, I rule that the term ‘boofhead’ may be considered unparliamentary only if the member so addressed finds the term offensive,” he told parliament.

“Accordingly, I rule that on this occasion the term ‘boofhead’ is not unparliamentary. However, I can warn members that I have discovered that the following terms are unparliamentary: scabs and rats, treacherous turncoat, thug boy, nong, and duplicitous Labor lap dog, which have been ruled out of order.”