YOUR HANDY NATHAN ABLETT GUIDE TO THE AAMI IS THIS THE END? KOOYONG CLASSIC SPORT INSIDE EARTHHOUR 81 DAYS TO GO INC GSTINC PUBLISHED IN MELBOURNE SINCE 1854 AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER TUESDAY, JANUARYtheage.com.au 8, 2008 $1.40 GST Liberal Indian cricket tour on hold revives abortion aid push as a nation erupts in fury EXCLUSIVE By TONY WRIGHT By ALEX BROWN NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR CHLOE SALTAU and JAMIE PANDARAM Ponting THE Rudd Government is con- sidering a controversial report CRICKET is facing its greatest that recommends allowing crisis since the match-fixing Australian overseas aid money saga after Indian authorities ‘must be to be spent on abortion advice threatened to abandon their nat- for women in developing coun- ional team’s tour of Australia tries. amid an outpouring of fury in The report, prepared early India over a three-match ban on sacked’ last year by a large group of MPs spinner Harbhajan Singh. from all major parties, was The Board of Control for quietly shelved by the Howard Cricket in India effectively sus- government because it feared a pended the tour yesterday, conservative backlash in the ordering its players not to travel lead-up to the election. to Canberra for a scheduled But the chairman of the all- match until an appeal against party group, West Australian Lib- the ban on Harbhajan is heard. PETER ROEBUCK eral Mal Washer, said yesterday In halting the tour, the all- he was determined to pursue the powerful Indian board — which RICKY Ponting must be sacked matter. accounts for about 70% of the as captain of the Australian He repeated his view — made game’s global revenue — has cricket team. public when the report was issued a direct challenge to the If Cricket Australia cares a released last May — that the authority of the International fig for the tattered reputation of guidelines preventing AusAid Cricket Council and the integrity our national team in our from disseminating information of Australia’s players. national sport, it will not for a about abortion were contributing Incensed by the suspension moment longer tolerate the sort to the death of women in many of Harbhajan for allegedly call- of arrogant and abrasive countries. ing Andrew Symonds a ‘‘mon- conduct seen from the captain The ban on aid money being key’’ during the second Test in and his senior players in the used for some types of con- Sydney, the board said it would past few days. It was the ugliest traception and for advice on ‘‘fight the blatantly false and performance by an Australian abortion services overseas is unfair slur on an Indian player’’. side for 20 years. The only considered a legacy of the con- Harbhajan’s ban was the last surprising part of it is that the servative Catholic former senator straw for the tourists after a tur- Indians have not already from Tasmania, Brian Harradine, bulent Sydney Test, during packed and gone home. who used his balance of power which ill-feeling between the That the senior players in in the Senate as a lever to force teams boiled over — leading to the Australian team are oblivi- the hand of governments on a Indian captain Anil Kumble ous to the fury they raised number of social issues. accusing the Australians of not among many followers of the Dr Washer said he believed playinginthespiritofthegame. game in this country and the current regulations dated A number of critical incorrect beyond its shores merely back to Howard government umpiring decisions also went confirms their own narrow and negotiations in the 1990s with against the tourists before they Suspended Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh leaves the team’s Sydney hotel. PICTURE: ROBERT PEARCE self-obsessed viewpoint. Senator Harradine over the sale eventually lost the match in the Doubtless, they were not of the first tranche of Telstra. final minutes, leaving them said. ‘‘We would like to keep an Sachin Tendulkar denied that exposed to the messages that A spokesman for the new down 2-0 in the four-Test series. extremely good relationship the ‘‘monkey’’ taunt occurred, poured in from distressed Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, The resulting outcry across with the Australian board . but while Symonds, Ponting, Adam enthusiasts aghast to see the issued no more than a cautious India was reflected in massive this is totally unacceptable.’’ Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and India has done itself no favour by scenes of bad sportsmanship response to The Age’s inquiries media coverage and protests, The Indian board risks a fine Michael Clarke argued to the ‘bringing a counter-charge against and triumphalism presented at yesterday, suggesting the subject which included burning effigies of $US2 million ($A2.3 million) contrary. the SCG during and after the remains thorny on both sides of of Australian captain Ricky Pont- and is liable to pay compen- Procter last defended the This series could be Brad Hogg, since it is so obviously and match. Pained past players the political fence. ing and of the umpires who sation to Cricket Australia if the ban. ‘‘I am South African, and I ‘remembered as being the called to express their private ‘‘The Government is currently officiated in Sydney. tour does not proceed. understand the word ‘racism’,’’ dismally tit for tat. disgust. It was a wretched and considering the report and the Indian board president India’s discontent stems he told The Age. ‘‘This was not a point at which Test cricket ’GREG BAUM SPORT ill-mannered display and not to recommendations of the all- Sharad Pawar told The Age the from the fact that ICC match ref- case of just taking the word of an finally lost its way. be endured from any side let party parliamentary group on tour could yet be cancelled if the eree Mike Procter took the word Australian over an Indian. I Indian reaction PAGE 2 alone an international outfit population and development,’’ ICC did not clear Harbhajan of of Australia’s players over the stand by my decision. I believe EDITORIAL’ PAGE 10 representing a proud sporting Mr Smith’s spokesman said. the racism charge. ‘‘We are giv- Indians in handing down Harb- the process was a fair one.’’ OPINION nation. Make no mistake, it is Dr Washer said he expected ing serious thought to whether hajan’s suspension. Cricket Australia chairman Letters, Spooner PAGES 10, 11 not only the reputation of these to be replaced as head of the we should continue,’’ Mr Pawar Harbhajan and teammate Continued PAGE 2 Continued PAGE 2 group but vowed to press the Government on the matter as longasheheldthejob. He took up the cudgels this week in an interview with Dr Enter the sisterhood: Melburnian is first Western geisha in 400 years Sally Cockburn on her Dr Feelgood program on 3AW, and expanded on the matter in an By JULIAN RYALL before completing a doctorate in to master a range of skills such as fascination with becoming a gei- mented wig and kimono. To people in the narrow streets of interview with The Age. TOKYO social anthropology. the drum, tea ceremony, small sha. I never expected to become mark her debut, Sayuki wore a one of the six remaining geisha He said that after a meeting in ‘‘I started my geisha training talk and traditional dancing as a geisha at all, so who knows powder-blue kimono with a districts in the capital. 2006 involving about 50 federal A MELBOURNE woman has in April and it has been a long well as her own specialist gei, what will happen.’’ white fringe and flecks of gold ‘‘Throughout my training, I MPsandanother50fromthe been allowed to enter the mys- year because it took more time meaning art or entertainment. Sayuki, the characters of the dust at the hem that belonged to nevergotanyextrahelpor states, his group decided to rec- terious ‘‘flower and willow than I expected,’’ she said. ‘‘Even Sayuki plays the traditional bam- name mean ‘‘transparent happi- her okasan, or mother/super- breaks because I’m a foreigner,’’ ommend a reversal in the guide- world’’ of Japan’s geisha for the though I have been in Japan a boo flute, practising every day. ness’’, made her debut at the gei- visor, and is worth around 2 mil- Dr Graham said. ‘‘In fact, I was lines governing AusAid advice to first time. long time and have a good grasp Dr Graham is a social anthro- sha house in the Asakusa district lion yen ($21,000). probably pulled up more fre- foreign women on birth control Fiona Graham first came to of the culture, this has been very pologist, who intends to explain of Tokyo on December 19, but She spent the entire day visit- quently because my teachers or and abortion. Japan at the age of 15 on a school difficult.’’ the geisha world when eventually still studies for several hours a ing more than 100 tea houses, senior geisha forgot that I’m not The report said the special exchange program. Impressed by True to tradition, Sayuki — she leaves. ‘‘I’ll be filming over day before spending the early restaurants and the homes of word-perfect in Japanese. guidelines preventing Australian the culture, she graduated from a her professional name — will not the next year so that I can show evening putting on layers of the senior geisha. She rode part of ‘‘But on the day that it was aid from being used to advise Japanese high school, attended revealherage.Toenterthe the society through all the thick white make-up of the gei- the way in a rickshaw, attracting decided I was going to make my women on abortion were ‘‘cruel Sayuki at work.