Mike Hosking: Like it or not, Israel Folau has support

OPINION

I think in a week where a couple of people could be singled out for special mention, the Folaus might well be top of my list.

Firstly, Maria, who received an unnecessary and egregious amount of attention from sponsors for, as far as I can work out, merely being married to a bloke who's in a job scrap across the Tasman.

Yes, she supported him, but that is what you do with your partner - you support them.

Noeline Taurua probably deserves a nod as well, because she very publicly backed her charge, and she did it in a world where increasingly every one is scared, woke, alarmed, angsty, or spineless. The good old-fashioned art of standing your ground, defending your corner, or arguing your point, especially when you're being unfairly targeted or singled out, seems to have gone.

There are bandwagons, thought bubbles, and an avalanche of PC dribble that too many are aspiring to, joining, jumping on board with, and generally making part of their culture or thinking. The outworking of all of that is too many people are too afraid to do anything anymore.

But the Folaus are in a much bigger fight than Israel's job. I've said all along, short of having the fine print in front of me, he will most likely lose that battle. He appears to have breached an understanding over speaking out.

But it's the big picture that really counts, and it's the big picture that's been lit this week.

The money he is raising is enormous. Why? Because people back the concept, and they back the concept that religious thought and expression is not to be scuttled in the workplace. And the religious part of it is mixed in with the more general part of wider freedom of speech.

Which is why David Seymour, and his free speech ideas, are on the money. There is a vast swathe of people who don't like the idea of being shut down, and in a PC world where everyone is permanently upset, complaining and crying foul, we've created an environment where opinions, ideas, thoughts and debates are increasingly ruled out of order and deemed as racist, bigoted, misogynistic, over the line or offensive.

What once might have been a good old stoush is now needing to be in front of a commissioner, or tribunal, with heads rolling. And a lot of people are over it.

Israel Folau turns up. He's in trouble, and he's in trouble for what many would see as individuality. And given the opportunity to back a cause, they're in like a robber's dog.

Agree with him or not, he's dedicated, he clearly believes what he believes, and in a world of flightiness, fake support, virtue signalling and faux comraderie, he appeals to many as a bit of old-fashioned consistency.

Holding the line, being true to yourself and making sacrifices are qualities to be admired, and he's showing them. The $2 million-plus is all the evidence you need to prove he's not alone.