The courage he shows in using his own mental health issues to put the spotlight on the tragedy of suicide is exemplary.

And it is clear he takes great pride in who he is and in his cultural heritage, which serves only to shore-up the faith he has in playing his part in helping create a fairer, less-discriminatory society.

But the bigots still cannot help themselves. They still lazily throw about their ignorant comments, unable to hide their inherently racist attitudes.

Whether or not you agree with his opinions, Joe Williams simply should not be made to feel different to any other person because of the colour of his skin.

Because beneath that skin – if the bleeding obvious really needs to be stated – is exactly that: A human being, who happens to be a former world champion boxer, NRL star and role model.

And yet he has revealed how that didn’t stop yet another cowardly, deeply hurtful comment, from of all people, a serving member of the military.

Mr Williams was “trying to make a difference” at a post-traumatic stress disorder charity event, shortly before he was to begin a 41 kilometre walk through Adelaide to raise awareness for the illness.

Williams was left “seething” and says he struggled to maintain his composure after the remark.

“The saddest thing,” he says,” is that it was like normal language to him and he didn’t even realise it was respectful.”

It was clearly another disappointment for Mr Williams that the casual “you’re a coon too are ya” comment from a soldier suggested racism might be an everyday thing in the military.

As he says, “they’re supposed to be defending our country, yet they’re being discriminatory and racially vilifying Aboriginals. It puts us back to when we were classed as animals.”

What makes the incident even more galling is that Mr Williams was also helping to raise money for the Walk With A Soldier campaign.

This is a deplorable incident and one that was, thankfully, condemned by Kapooka army base commandant Mick Garraway, a veteran soldier who judges people on their character, not their colour.

Australia might be a progressive society, but clearly there is some way to go.