Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for the first question relating to sport that has been asked by the opposition in two years, and say that some people may know that calendars have not always been my strong point. But just in case there has been any confusion, I am willing to say that the end of the year is indeed the end of the year.

On a more serious point, can I also say that the reason that this has come up—and I know that it is the final day of parliament and we can all have a bit of a joke—is because of the serious overhaul of the Australian sport system. We are committed to ensuring that we strengthen Australian sport at both an elite and a community level. We think that this is incredibly important. It is important to the nation, as the government has pointed out, that we are committed to increasing our support at both an Olympic level and at a community level, and we look forward to responding at the end of the year.

See this speech in context