Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the prowess demonstrated by Australia at the recent Olympic Games. In particular, I want to focus on the sporting prowess and the achievements of Gold Coast athletes. Gold Coast athletes won four of Australia's seven gold medals in London. The Gold Coast, Australia's sixth-largest city, of which I am privileged to represent a sizeable portion, had 44 representatives either as individuals or as team members, and they won four gold, three silver and three bronze medals. If Gold Coast Olympic athletes represented their own country, we would have beaten the balance of Australia. The city would have finished 19th on the medal tally, tied with the Czech Republic, and that would have put the Gold Coast one place below Jamaica and above countries such as Brazil, Spain and South Africa—not a bad result for the Gold Coast. There are some interstaters who look down on the Gold Coast, and I say to them: shame; how little they understand. I see the honourable member for Werriwa nodding his head in agreement—he and I have exchanged words on this matter.

I would like to focus on some of the notable performances that in many respects highlighted the sporting prowess of Australia's Gold Coast. I am not sure whether you, Madam Deputy Speaker, or others in the chamber were up early in the morning to watch Sally Pearson's extraordinary effort—

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