Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

'Gold, gold to Australia!'—the member for Wannon remembers it! Since that time, every athlete that competes at the Olympics for Australia hopes to hear those iconic words being called in their race. That team gave that moment to us, to our nation and to every Olympic athlete after that, and for that we truly thank them.

I reckon the best time I've ever experienced as an Australian, and the proudest that I've ever been, was during the Sydney Olympics. The feeling and the buzz around Sydney at the time was unbelievable. Everyone had a smile on their face and everyone was proud to be Australian because the world had been invited to that spectacle of the Olympics, and Australia had done such a good job in putting it together. I imagine it would have been the same in 1956, as it will be in 2032 in Brisbane.

The Olympics is humanity at its best, and that is something that should be celebrated and that we should be very proud of. Those Olympians we paid tribute to yesterday, and the fact that they came to Canberra with no bitterness, no animosity and no regret, symbolise that Olympic spirit, and that is something that they should be very, very proud of.

That is why it was appropriate that we, as a government, as a nation, welcomed them home finally after 45 years and said: 'Thank you. Thank you for representing Australia with pride and distinction. Thank you for being proud Australians and thank you for continuing the Olympic dream.'

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