Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

(. It was Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem Ulysses who said, ‘To strive, to seek, to find but not to yield’, and that is the story of Cadel Evans’s career as well as his victory in this year’s Tour de France.

The lessons are very simple for Australians. It is that sense of the joy of participation, the commitment to the long term, determination and then graciousness in defeat and graciousness in victory. All of these are qualities that have been embodied by Cadel Evans’s career and Cadel Evans’s victory in this year’s Tour de France.

I am delighted that, if not a Victorian by birth, he is certainly a Victorian now. Indeed, he comes from the Bellarine Peninsula, which is opposite the Mornington Peninsula. We can almost claim him as one of our own. The most significant thing to come out of it is that sense of participation, joy and purpose from pure activity and pure commitment. That is a lesson which hopefully will inspire young people to pursue their dreams, to seek that which they aspire to. It is something that I have seen talked about in primary schools. I visited primary schools in the week after the Evans victory and the kids were very excited. I think that was a great thing for an Australian but a greater thing still for young Australians.

There will be debate in coming decades, and it will be joyful debate, whether Evans, Bradman, Lindrum or Fraser is the greatest of our athletes. But I think one thing that will probably emerge is that in terms of individual sporting achievements, as great as the America’s Cup was, as great as other events, Phar Lap’s victories, as great as Bradman’s 1930 tour of England was, this will probably rank as the single greatest sporting achievement of the period up until now. Careers will be defined and it will be hard to go past Bradman’s career. But in terms of individual sporting achievements I think I would probably put my money on this one. That is for tragic sports historians, such as most of the members of parliament, to debate in years to come.

Returning to Tennyson and Ulysses, it really is the case that the lessons we learn from this will be used to inspire and to elevate Australian schoolchildren in decades to come and we will remember that the lesson of Ulysses is the same lesson of Evans—to strive, to seek, to find but not to yield.

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