No-one is a greater admirer of the tennis ability of Pat Cash that I. He virtually won the Davis Cup off his own racquet. And he and Stephan Edberg provided me and the other spectators at Kooyong with a marvellous final in the Australian Open.

It is, however, with some concern that I have seen pictures of him, his girl-friend and his son, glamourising him as a father. For the fact is, his son can potentially still suffer discrimination being born outside marriage.

As a successful sportsman, his Influence on young people is potentially enormous. If his example gives respectability to the production of children outside marriage, it will be doing great harm. For the fact is that children born outside marriage still suffer considerable legal and social disadvantages, compared to those born within marriage. They are innocent, but they suffer. And, I regret to say, although some of the discrimination can be, and should be, removed, it is unrealistic to expect that they can be placed on an equal standing with children born in marriage.