Rugby League player: seven reasons why Defence Minister Smith must resign

Darius Brown , a rugby league forward, writes in to say Defence Minister Stephen Smith should resign over his massive overreaction to the Skype Affair:

I am a Prop in the Country Rugby League (CRL) and here are reasons why Stephen Smith should resign as Minister of Defence

1. Whilst he correctly condemned the seven male players’ inappropriate behaviour and correctly called for them to be punished (which they would be even without Ministerial intervention), he failed to condemn the female official's inappropriate behaviour. The full quota in a rugby league side is eleven men not seven.

2. The Minister called for the “split roasting” of the female. That is like the Minister demanding a person be "sandwiched" when they prefer a "daisy chain". In other jurisdictions, a person who commits this faux pas goes to jail. That is how serious Stephen Smith’s outlandish instructions were to the CRL. 

3.The decision to reject police advice that the male player was "lucky pierre" and to request police to investigate further whether a different term could be used was initiated by the NRL. The Minister had the public believe that he initiated this over CRL inaction thus painting the CRL as ineffective and he the hero and champion of victims of a bad and sexist CRL culture. 

4.The Minister wanted the dismissal of the CRL referee, Phil Harrigan, who commands an impressive reputation for integrity and fairness throughout the CRL, and who even by the female official’s public admission, was a "good bash". 

5. Like many organisations the CRL has its fair share of bad apples that are a tiny percentage. The great majority of CRL members, male and female, are sexist and prejudiced. Of those in the CRL who aren't sexually promiscuous they include females. Of those who don't abuse power includes some females and not just males. Manufacturing a kind of gender equality by the Minister is perverted and this alone makes him unfit to lead the Defence Department. 

6. The Minister has married the sex scandal issue to non-related issues such as admitting females into circle jerks which while it deserves discussion and consideration should not be linked to sex scandals or perceived sexism in the CRL elsewhere.

7. Members of the CRL, whatever their position, are required to receive during their training phase an education in CRL Values such as Professionalism, Loyalty, Integrity, Courage, Innovation and Teamwork. The Minister has violated four of these and is a counter-example of these values. We cannot have such a person at the head of the Defence Department