Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hired George Burgess to appear in a new educational video about consent. Morrison instructed his marketing team to contact Burgess after the NRL player was charged with sexually touching a person without consent.
Burgess will front the new video, which replaces the controversial ‘milkshake’ video made in 2021 to teach teenagers about consent. The acting role has also earned the Dragons player a nomination for The Frownlow Medal.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL star Jarryd Hayne is the most recent recipient.
“The timing is perfect,” declared Morrison.
“It’s just been announced that all Aussie school kids will receive consent education in the coming years, and then a role model like George shows them all exactly what it means to allegedly touch a woman without consent.”
“As soon as I heard this I told my marketing team to get onto his agent and get him into the new video. We need a new one after the milkshake video, which, I might add, was nothing to do with me. But I’m sure George will be the perfect person to star in the new video that I’m making, and this shows how seriously I take women’s issues.”
Police allege the incident occurred early in March, and the front rower was arrested in Sydney some weeks later. He was given bail to appear in court in April.
This is the second Fronwlow nomination for Burgess. He was first nominated for Fronwlow honours in 2021 after he was involved in a road rage incident that year, and also for throwing a street sign through a car window and appearing naked on a gay porn website in 2013.
He is now one of a handful of footballers, including his brother Sam, to have been nominated for The Frownlow Medal and The Fronwlow Medal Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, brothers Tom and Luke have also received Frownlow nominations.
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The Frownlow Medal 