Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the privilege to attend the official welcome home ceremony for our Olympians in Sydney on Wednesday morning. It was certainly a very proud moment to watch the Qantas jumbo jet pull into the hangar in Mascot, painted with a giant boxing kangaroo. Australia's team at the London games has done our nation proud.

Two-hundred and four nations sent more than 10,000 athletes to the 30th Olympic Games in London. The Olympics are truly a global phenomenon. Because of this, the Olympics are the pinnacle of sporting success. Winning an Olympic medal is the ultimate career achievement for an athlete. I recently hosted a visit from the Leader of the Opposition in Coffs Harbour whilst the games were in progress. During his visit, we had the opportunity to speak with John Monckton of Nambucca Heads. John won a silver medal in the 100-metre backstroke at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. As he showed his silver medal to the opposition leader, it was very clear that John is still immensely proud of what he achieved as an Olympian in Melbourne all those decades ago.

Unfortunately, the nature of Olympic competition is such that not every athlete at the games can win a medal. But in my view, simply being selected for the Australian Olympic team is an extraordinary achievement and, indeed, ranks you as a champion. The founder of the modern Olympic movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was not so much interested in results as he was in participation. His view of sport is expressed through the Olympic creed:

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Australians know how much work and determination is required to reach the Olympics and to win a gold medal. As a result, gold medallists from past Olympics are still recognised and respected for their victories. Athletes like Marjorie Jackson, Dawn Fraser and the late Murray Rose were instantly turned into household names thanks to their Olympic gold medals.

Australian gold medallists from the London Olympics will be no different. A month ago, Tom Slingsby could have walked down the main street of any town without being recognised. Today, he is recognised as one of Australia's great performers from the London Olympics. His win in the sailing Laser class was dominant and consistent. His colleagues in the 49er class, Iain Jensen and Nathan Outteridge, were also dominant; so dominant in fact that they only needed to finish the final race in the series to win gold. And, of course, who could forget Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page in the 470 class, who held off the British team in the final race to claim gold. For Malcolm Page, it was his second successive gold medal in the 470 class. He retires at the age of 40 as a legend in Olympic sailing.

Australia's sailing team won three gold medals in London, our best performance at an Olympic regatta. Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the sailing campaign was provided by our silver medal-winning women's match-racing team in the Elliott 6 class. Sailors Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty sailed an outstanding gold medal match, only to be denied the gold medal by a broach in heavy conditions, when Olivia was thrown out of the boat. Some say that watching sailing is like watching grass grow, but they clearly had not seen the performance of our sailors at the Olympics.

I would also like to mention the efforts of our swimmers, who were racing in the most fiercely contested competition in many years. The swimming competition in London produced medallists from North America, South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. The Australian women's 4 x 100 relay team were the standout performers in the Australian swim team. Alicia Coutts, who was a member of the relay team, was undoubtedly our foremost individual performer, arriving home with five medals.

At the velodrome, Australia's cycling team toiled against a very strong British opposition, finishing second on the medal count. Of course, the highlight of the track cycling campaign was Anna Meares's victory over arch rival, Victoria Pendleton, in the women's sprint.

Apart from the gold medals the Olympics are about memorable moments, and London delivered memorable moments by the dozen. James Magnusson's second-place finish in the 100-metre freestyle was as dramatic as any Hollywood movie, and scarcely more believable. The single hundredth of a second between Magnusson and victory illustrates how difficult it is to win Olympic gold.

Australians will remember for many years the agonising few seconds between the end of the 100-metres hurdles and the official confirmation that Sally Pearson had won the gold medal. (Quorum formed) It took an Olympic record, but Pearson has earned herself a place amongst the great Australian track and field athletes. Our other athletic medal winners also deserve a mention, with Michael Watt earning a silver in the long jump and Jarrod Tallent winning a silver in the gruelling 50-kilometre men's walk. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to mention every medallist or to highlight every personal best achieved at the Olympics.

Very briefly I would like to mention the people who did not appear in front of the camera. I am talking about the support staff, coaches, doctors, masseurs, physiotherapists and of course the parents and families who do so much to support our athletes and the volunteers who make the Olympic Games possible. Without these people no-one would succeed at the Olympics. In this group I would include Coffs Harbour vet, David Johnson, who travelled to London to look after the equestrian team's horses. David is a well-respected vet in Coffs Harbour, well-known for his skills, and I have no doubt he made a substantial contribution to the performance of our equestrian team.

I want to congratulate everyone involved in our Olympic efforts. Though not every athlete came home with the medals they fought for, as Pierre de Courbertin decreed, they did Australia proud; they fought well. I encourage all Australians to now get behind our Paralympians as they prepare to compete in just a few days time.

Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have the honour today of commending our Australian athletes and celebrating their great achievements at the London Olympics—and what a great set of achievements they are. There is no greater unifying force, it would seem—as we talked about it so much over the last few weeks—than that of the Australian participation in the Olympic Games. It lifts our spirit. We know that it did that in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, and we know how fantastically it has lifted the spirit of this nation in recent times. It has been a celebration of strength, speed, endurance and human spirit—10,800 of the world's greatest athletes at the peak of physical and mental fitness, with years of training, hard work and sacrifice, and all of these fine attributes culminating in one final show of skill for the ultimate reward in this, the Olympic year.

Something often foreshadowed by the sporting prowess but important in its own right is the activities of the Cultural Olympiad that take place in concert with the major games. Under the Olympic Charter, host cities are required to run a series of cultural events as a celebration of the soul of the host city by recognising their artistic and literary backgrounds. More than 500 events made up this year's Cultural Olympiad, the largest ever, with 16 million Britons and tourists taking part in the exhibitions, performances and workshops. No wonder, elevated by such cultural enhancement, they attended the games with incredible spirit. We can only imagine what the atmosphere must have been like there in London this year as they cheered their own team home to such incredible feats. I look forward to the day when people flock to the Cultural Olympiad as they do to the Olympics and the Paralympics. I am sure it is not too far away.

I also want to put on the record today that I am very proud of the support that this government has provided to our elite athletes and Olympians, committing over $382 million in funding over the four years leading to the games. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate in particular our Coastie gold medallist, sailor Tom Slingsby. Getting that first gold seemed to open up the floodgates of incredible success at the gold level by our athletes. But I in no way want to diminish the incredible achievements of every single member of that Olympic team, who competed at the highest level to get themselves a place on that team and represent us so ably and with such honour and dignity in the London Olympiad.

Tom Slingsby, who grew up on the Central Coast, went to St Edward's Christian Brothers' College, a school at which I was formerly a teacher and a school which my own son now attends. I was not fortunate enough to teach Tom, but I heard from a few of his former teachers that he had a lot of energy in the classroom and that he decided to spend that on sailing at, I think, about the time he was still at school. So his journey commenced while he was a young school student in our local area. Tom now lives in Point Frederick; my understanding is that he lives with his family. He is the reigning world champion in the Laser class of boat, known for their speedy performance and their simplicity. I am not surprised that, living at Point Frederick, sailing is the thing that engaged him most, because just down the road is the Gosford Sailing Club, which is a great social hub for the community. We have our sparkling Brisbane Water, and it is very hard to drive by there every day and not see the invitation to get on one of those yachts or, indeed, to get on a Laser and get out there and enjoy the beauty of the nature that surrounds us in my seat. I report to my constituents regularly that in this place I claim that I represent the most beautiful seat in the whole country. I know that other people might want to contest that, but I invite you to come and see it, and I am sure that you will want to return again and again and again, because it is an incredibly beautiful place.

Access to the water is something that is amazingly common for many of my constituents, and for somebody like Tom obviously that provided the watery playing field for him to explore his gifts and talents. I am sure that Tom, just like many before him, was inspired by the athletes that he grew up watching at previous Olympics. The 2000 Olympics proved to be just the beginning of his love of sailing, and now, just 12 years later, Tom himself is inspiring a new generation of young Australians to get up from the television and get involved.

Tom showed us that the Central Coast is absolutely a great place to grow up. It is a place to dream big and then to work like crazy to achieve your dreams. You made us all so proud, Tom Slingsby.

I used the inspiration of Tom's success to try and engage with and encourage some local young people who were attending a preparation for trade training day up at Youth Central in Somersby in my electorate. I expressed to those young men and women that, just like them, Tom lived and breathed the air on the Central Coast. I said to my son when I dropped him off on the morning after Tom had won: 'Today you could be sitting in a seat that Tom Slingsby sat in.' These amazing heroes are not extraordinary people who live outside of our society. They are with us, they are a part of our society and they genuinely inspire us to dare to dream and then to work to achieve those dreams, wherever we might be.

I also extend my congratulations to Iain Jensen, Nathan Outteridge, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page for their gold in sailing; to Cate Campbell, Alicia Coutts, Brittany Elmslie and Melanie Schlanger for their swimming achievements; to Jacob Clear, Dave Smith, Tate Smith and Murray Stewart for their win in the one-kilometre kayak; to Anna Meares for cycling; and to Sally Pearson for athletics.

While medals are the goals to aspire to when competing, all our athletes should be heartened to know that their work was shared by all of us and delighted in by all of us over the last fortnight. They have indeed inspired young Australians across the nation to develop a passion for sport and to be the best that they can be. The Australian team should be very proud of all they have accomplished and the Australian people should be very proud of the athletes that represented our great country on the world stage. We have much to look forward to with the Paralympics on the horizon, and I offer my very best wishes to that team as well. I congratulate our Olympic team on their success.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with colleagues on both sides of this House in paying tribute to the members of the Australian Olympic team which participated so successfully in the London Olympic Games 2012. Australia is a proud nation with an equally proud Olympic record. In fact, Australia has competed in every summer Olympics since 1896. In that time we have won 449 Olympic medals. That includes 135 gold medals, 144 silver medals and 170 bronze medals. Australia's very first Olympian was Edward Flack, who won two gold medals in athletics.

The most recent Australian Olympic team has continued this fine tradition. In 2012 we sent a team of 410 athletes and 319 officials, the fifth largest Australian team in history behind the teams we sent to Sydney, Athens, Beijing and Atlanta. Australia was one of 204 nations that sent teams comprised of more than 10,000 athletes to participate in the London games. Australia competed in 23 of the 26 sports and we finished 10th in the medal tally, with 35 medals—seven gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze.

I take this opportunity to congratulate our seven gold medal winners: in swimming, the women's team in the four-by-100 freestyle relay; in sailing, Tom Slingsby in the Laser class; in cycling, Anna Meares in the women's sprint; in athletics, Sally Pearson in the women's 100-metre hurdles—and what a sight that was; in sailing, Iain Jensen and Nathan Outteridge in the 49er class; in canoeing, Jacob Clear, David Smith, Tate Smith and Murray Stewart in the K4 1,000 metres; and in sailing, Malcolm Page and Mathew Belcher in the 470 class.

In particular, I would like to pay tribute to those proud Australian Olympians who come from my electorate, the seat of Kooyong.

On the water polo team we had two members. One was Rowie Webster, who received a bronze medal. This was her first Olympics and she attended Belle Vue Primary School in my electorate. Also on the water polo team was Sam McGregor. He had previously competed in the 2004 and the 2008 Olympics, and he has been the captain of the Australian team since 2010. The Australian men's water polo team finished seventh, which was the team's best result in 20 years. London was Sam's final Olympics, and he will be retiring. I wish him and Rowie well.

In swimming, Kooyong was represented by Matt Targett, who won a bronze medal in the 4x100 metres medley and the 4x100 metres freestyle relay. He competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won a bronze medal in his first-ever Olympic event, the 4x100 metres freestyle relay. Matt attended Scotch College for both primary and secondary school, and he has a very, very impressive swimming record. On behalf of the people of Kooyong, I take my hat off to Matt Targett.

In rowing, Kooyong was particularly well represented. I do not know if it is because we have the Yarra River or because we have a number of schools with strong rowing programs. A good friend of mine is David Crawshay and he was the captain of the men's rowing team. He participated in the double sculls. In fact, in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008, he was a proud participant. We all remember him winning gold at Beijing in the men's double sculls alongside Scott Brennan. This time he did not win gold but he was very successful, finishing eighth in the double sculls. He is a proud constituent of Kooyong, having attended Deepdene Primary School.

Josh Booth was in the men's eight. This was the first Olympics for the 21-year-old. He finished sixth in the men's eight. He attended Deepdene Primary and Scotch College and we know he has a big career in rowing ahead of him.

Will Lockwood won a silver medal in the men's four. This was Will's first Olympics. He is also a young man of 24 years of age. He won silver in the men's four alongside teammates James Chapman, Drew Ginn and Joshua Dunkley-Smith. Will attended Scotch College for both primary and secondary schools.

Elizabeth Patrick, another resident of the electorate of Kooyong, was a member of the women's eight; she was the cox. She competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and carried the Olympic torch as the crew rowed across Lake Burley Griffin as part of the 2008 Beijing torch relay. She is 27 years of age and she attended Canterbury Primary School and MLC.

Australia can be very, very proud of its Olympic record going well into the last century and before that. That spirit has continued at the London Olympic Games, which were a marvellous success and a tribute to the thousands and thousands of volunteers, to the organisers, to Lord Coe and, of course, to the spectators who helped make the event so special. It is also a tribute to the more than 10,000 athletes who participated. I am very, very proud of the contributions that Australian athletes have made—men and women. Their commitment to their sport, their commitment to each other in the team events and the character that they personify is something for all of us to behold. I personally believe that the taxpayer gets enormous benefit from investing in sport, because those young people who go on to participate in the greatest event on Earth in terms of the Olympics have as their role models the athletes who participate and, of course, the athletes who win medals.

I would like to pay particular tribute to Rowie Webster, Sam McGregor, Matt Targett, David Crawshay, Josh Booth, Will Lockwood and Elizabeth Patrick. On behalf of many, many thousands of people in our electorate of Kooyong: thank you for your commitment to your sport, and congratulations on your participation and your success in the London Olympic Games. Your success is Australia's success and we wish you all the very best for your futures.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to join with my colleagues today and take the opportunity to congratulate the athletes who proudly represented Australia at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Our nation finished in the top 10 on the medal count, with seven gold medals, 16 silver and 12 bronze. That is 35 medals in all, which is a very good effort for a country our size, up against the world's best competition. I would also like to say with respect to the chair of the London organising committee, Lord Coe, and the committee that they should be very proud—they ran a fantastic competition. I, like many others around here, lost a lot of sleep in following the competition. It was a first-class presentation, and credit should obviously going to the organising committee on producing a sensational Olympic Games.

We are, as Australians, immensely proud of all the sportsmen and sportswomen who wore the green and gold, did their personal best and contributed to Australia's great result at this Olympics. Personally—and I know the member for Macarthur is here, so I do not want to steal too much of his thunder—I am particularly proud of a local girl from Campbelltown, Erin Densham, who won the bronze medal in what is possibly the toughest Olympic event, the triathlon. The triathlon is a multistage competition involving three sequential endurance events: swimming, cycling and running. The Olympic distances are a 1.5-kilometre swim, a 40-kilometre bike ride and a 10-kilometre run. Erin completed the Olympic triathlon course in less than two hours, coming very close behind Nicole Spirig of Switzerland and only two seconds behind Sweden's Lisa Norden.

Erin is someone that I have known since she attended primary school. She grew up in Ruse, very close to my family. She attended the John Therry Catholic school in Ambarvale. Her mother, Jan, is a very close friend of my wife, Bernadette, hence the family connection. During her school years, Erin competed in swimming and cross-country, up to state level, and when she was around 16 she decided to combine her respective strengths and take up the triathlon. She announced herself on the world triathlon scene in 2006 when she won the under-23 world championship in Switzerland.

Erin Densham's highly successful triathlon career began at the local Macarthur Triathlon Club. On many occasions I have spoken about this particular club, but I recall speaking about it when 12 of its members were selected to represent Australia in the age-group championships in 2009. As I said, this is the club that Erin was a member of for many years, a club that certainly understood that developing young athletes in regular competition is a platform for providing Olympic athletes. The achievements of the Macarthur Triathlon Club, including those of Erin Densham, are testament to the hard work and commitment of the local sports club's president, Glenn Schwarzel, who does a wonderful job, not only competing himself but laying the platform for the development of young sportsmen and sportswomen through that triathlon club.

Australia has won a medal in every Olympic triathlon competition in every games since women's triathlon was admitted to the program in 2000 for the Olympics in Sydney. The commitment and dedication of our triathlon women is a truly remarkable and inspiring thing for all of us.

At the age of 27, Erin has already overcome a great number of obstacles and continues to not only compete but also win major world-class championships and tournaments. Only three years ago she was fighting for her life after a rare heart condition was detected following her collapse during an event in Iowa. After her recovery, Erin came first in the 2012 triathlon world championship series in Sydney and in the Mooloolaba World Cup, and she finished second in the triathlon world championships in San Diego and third in the Oceanic Championships in Devonport. The Olympic medal is certainly an incredible addition to Erin's long list of achievements. I would like to personally congratulate Erin on her courage and determination and her phenomenal career so far—of which she probably has a long way yet to go. Behind every young athlete are very steadfast parents, and I also congratulate Jan and Jim on being part of Erin's remarkable success at the London Olympics.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia has a proud history as a sporting nation. Some of us are active participants in sports and others are more passive participants in sport and prefer to be spectators and enjoy that immensely. Whether you are a football, soccer, netball, athletics or swimming fan, or a supporter of the many other sports in which Australians participate, you cannot help but feel a sense of pride when you see an Australian athlete competing on the world stage. For the two weeks of the Olympic Games, Australians from across the country came together to cheer on their fellow countrymen and women competing in London. Throughout the games our athletes showed courage and humility whilst inspiring many Australians with their outstanding performances.

The road to the Olympic Games is a long one, with each of our athletes having trained for many years and having dedicated their heart and their soul to their passion. To be selected to represent their country at the world's premier sporting event will be for many, irrespective of whether they walked away with a medal or not, an experience they will never forget. Our Olympic team has defended Australia's title as one of the most talented sporting nations, with the team finishing in the top 10 of the medal count. This means that Australia finished 10th out of more than 200 nations, which is a massive achievement in itself.

An enormous amount of stress and pressure is placed upon each of our athletes to perform in what may be one of the most daunting experiences of their lives. Millions of people from all over the world watch them with anticipation to see whether they will win or lose by a fraction of a second. No matter what their individual result was, all of our Olympic athletes are true Olympians, as they have performed to their best and done their friends, family, communities and country proud. I hope that many of them will now be able to have a well-deserved break before moving on to the next chapter of their lives.

I would, however, like to make particular mention of one group of athletes today—those from the Gold Coast. Out of the 35 medals won by Australians at the games, 11 were won by Gold Coast athletes as individuals or as part of a team, which is nearly a third of our total medal count. Of the seven gold medals Australia won at the games, four were won by Gold Coasters. The Gold Coasters who flew the Australian flag at the Olympics include Sally Pearson, Tate Smith, Adam Gibson, Mark Worthington, Ken Wallace, Lyndsie Fogarty, Naomi Flood, Matthew Butturini, Michael Shelley, Ky Hurst, Brendan Casey, Michael Diamond, Leiston Pickett, Brenton Rickard, Chris Wright, Melanie Schlanger, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Cameron McEvoy, James Roberts, Meagen Nay, Jade Neilson, Sarah Bombell, Jenny-Lyn Anderson, Olia Burtaev, Samantha Stosur, Bernard Tomic, Brad Kahlefeldt, Courtney Atkinson, Emma Moffatt and Jane Moran.

In particular, I would like to acknowledge today three Olympians who have close ties to my electorate of McPherson: Jacob Clear, who was part of the K4 100-metre kayaking team that won gold and who is also a member of the Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park Surf Life Saving Club; Mathew Belcher, who won gold in the 470-class sailing event and who is also a former student of Bond University; and Brittany Broben, who won silver in the 10-metre platform dive and who is a student of Marymount College. Congratulations to each of you for your great performances. I wish you all well in your future endeavours.

I must say that Gold Coast athletes were significant achievers at the Olympic Games and I am so terribly proud of them. Sport is an integral part of life for many of us on the Gold Coast, with a number of community organisations that participate in a variety of sports such as soccer, AFL, rugby, basketball, netball, baseball, track events, martial arts, swimming, diving and rowing—to name just a few. Not only are sports available in the community for both school aged children and adults; many of our schools have dedicated teams that compete at school, regional, state and national levels. There is also the opportunity for any students who excel in track and field and swimming events at sporting community carnivals to compete at various carnivals and beyond.

The Olympics have highlighted how much sporting talent there is within our community and the potential of our future athletes. We need to continue to foster our sporting community locally and nationally whilst helping those future generations of athletes to be the very best that they can. I again wish all of our athletes the very best for the future. I congratulate them on what they have done so far and what I know they will do in the future.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise in support of the Prime Minister's statement on the Olympic Games. Whilst I am of course going to mention my own community, I suspect there are going to be lots of people traipsing to the Gold Coast to see just what you have done right in that district! I congratulate the member for McPherson on raising it.

There has been a lot said about the London Olympics. There will be lots of analysis and lots of investigations and determinations around what happened in each sport and so on, but I think it is actually really important that we celebrate the incredible achievements of our Olympians. As a community, it is important that we remember that the Olympics reflect a particular time and place in history and culture. You look back on newsreels from past Olympics and there are things that you remember about who you were and what you were doing at that time. They are very, very important elements of our cultural identity. I think it is important that we celebrate those achievements—learn lessons if we need to but really celebrate those achievements. They mark milestones in our own lives. They come every four years, except when there have been terrible tragedies of war. They are one of the certainties of our international community and they certainly mark milestones in our own lives. I spent a lot of time watching the Beijing Olympics because they took place in the year in which my son was born, so I was spending more time at home than I do now. So I remember those times.

In London our athletes absolutely did us proud. Through their achievements they have once again shown just how remarkable they are, but they have also shown us what we all wish at some point to aspire to: to achieve the very best in the fields of endeavour that we choose. All of those who have competed should be extremely proud of themselves. A total of 35 medals were brought home and, whilst we focus on the medals—it is good to do so; they are very remarkable achievements—it means that of the total of 204 nations competing we came 10th, which is again extraordinary for a country of this size and population in particular. Even those who are not huge sports fanatics spent a night or two huddled around the television set at home cheering on the Aussies.

Many came from my own district and I want to mention those in particular. Kathryn Mitchell, who had her debut at these Olympics, participated in the javelin throw where she came ninth. James Marburg, in the rowing men's pair, came fifth. He was in Beijing in 2008 and got a silver medal, and I know he has a lot of rowing ahead of him. Collis Birmingham was a runner in the men's 5,000 metres and this was his second Olympic Games, coming 35th. Tamsin Hinchley, who plays beach volleyball, was born in the tiny community of Napoleons. She certainly worked incredibly hard in her third Olympics. Russell Mark, in the shooting double trap, was born in Ballarat and we still claim him well and truly as our own. In the London result he came 20th—again, remarkable for Russell in his six Olympic games.

Anthony Edwards, a member of my own rowing club, was in the rowing lightweight four. He was born in Ballarat and trained substantially in Ballarat for much of his early life. He came fourth and received two silver medals as well as some bronzes in many previous Olympics. Jared Tallent, our Newland boy, undertook the roadwork and did an amazing effort—50 kilometres at that odd, strange walking pace, winning silver, having also done such a fantastic effort in Beijing. Every Olympic Games of course has those moments that are particularly memorable. For me, it was watching all of our Olympians from our region participating but particularly watching Jared at that amazing walk and seeing his terrific determination. He is a sight around our region at times. Newland is a potato-growing district. He has been a real champion from that area and I know his family are incredibly proud of him, as is his whole community.

Now all of our eyes are going to look towards the Paralympics that will be starting in eight days time. I am particularly keeping a lookout for Greg Smith who is from Ballarat. Greg is on his fifth Olympic Games and has formerly won three gold medals—at the 2000 games in the 800 metres, the 1,500 metres and the 5,000 metres. He is an extremely talented man and has now had a slight career change. This year he will be competing in the wheelchair rugby. He is a Buninyong boy and we are certainly looking forward to seeing him compete and wish him all the best in the lead-up to the games and certainly in his participation.

This motion of support also provides me with the opportunity to talk a little bit about the Local Sporting Champions program. Many of these elite athletes started their careers as very young children. They started by competing against fellow classmates in schools, attending Little Athletics, local athletics comps, swimming and sporting competitions and being involved with the many local sporting clubs that exist throughout our communities. The government proudly funds the Local Sporting Champions program. The program aims to help our junior sports stars to meet the costs of participation in sporting competitions. The program offers grants of some $500 for individuals and $3,000 for teams. Applications for the next round close on 31 October. I certainly want to encourage young athletes and teams across my electorate to apply for funding. The program has already supported many athletes across my community—I think there were some 87 grants, six teams and 81 individuals, and a total cost of $58,500 has gone into Local Sporting Champions in my own electorate alone. I know that story is repeated right the way across. We are very fortunate in my electorate that we also have a not-for-profit organisation, the Ballarat Sports Foundation, which for a long period of time has been doing similar things. I am delighted that the government has equally stepped up and supported young athletes.

Every one of those young athletes funded through the Local Sporting Champions program may be someone we see at an Olympics in the future. It is incredibly important that we support those young people, whether they go on to be Olympians or not. The fact that they are participating at such a high level within their sports, within their own communities, statewide, nationally and in some cases internationally, is very important. The government has certainly committed record funding to elite athletes and to Olympians. In the four years to 2012, $382 million was committed to national sporting organisations. It is a remarkable commitment from which we will continue to see results for years to come.

Again, I want to congratulate those athletes from my own community who have participated, and those who are yet to participate in the Paralympics, for their terrific achievements. As I said, watching the Olympics themselves is a terrific thing to be able to do. They provide important cultural and historic milestones for each of us, and I know many of us will remember moments from the London Olympics, as we remember moments from Sydney, Beijing and the many, many Olympics for the rest of our lives. So, to all of those athletes from Australia who have participated, thank you for the memories.

Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They say that competing for your country is the ultimate reward for any athlete. After so many years of dedication, hard work and sacrifice, to make the Australian Olympic team is an amazing achievement that all our athletes should be very proud of. I congratulate the Australian Olympic team as a whole on their success in London.

I am also honoured to rise in this place today to congratulate the athletes from my electorate who represented Australia at the 2012 London Olympic Games. They were not only representing Australia; they were representing all of the young aspiring athletes in Macarthur and the family members and friends who helped them along the way. From Macarthur, Emily Hurtz was part of the women's Hockeyroo team. The girls came in fifth in London, their only loss being a one-nil score against New Zealand. Their wins over Germany, the US and South Africa unfortunately did not count for much when a draw against Argentina cost the Hockeyroos a place in the semifinal. Currans Hill shooter Warren Potent competed in the 50-metre men's prone rifle event. Warren was a bronze medallist in Beijing but did not make the finals in London. He said it just was not his day.

Bradbury swimmer 20-year-old Daniel Tranter competed in the 200-metre and 400-metre individual medley. It was his first Olympic Games, and he made the semifinals in his 200-metre swim, a fantastic achievement. Daniel started swimming when he was seven years old to help with his asthma. He trained and competed in swimming clubs and pools across Macarthur until July 2011, when he joined the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre's high performance program. He was an outsider to qualify for London but smashed his personal best times at the Australian titles to claim a place on the Aussie team, a great effort by this young swimmer, who I am sure has his eyes set on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. We also had Jeff Hunt, who grew up in Minto and who put up a great effort in the men's marathon, and the Campbelltown boxer Jai Opetaia, who was the youngest Australian boxer to ever make the Olympic team. He put up a great fight in his events and only lost by one point to the world No. 1, heavyweight champion Teymur Mammadov.

As the member for Fowler has mentioned, he has close family ties to Ruse triathlete Erin Densham, who brought home a bronze medal in the women's triathlon. I joined many Macarthur residents who watched Erin's gutsy effort to bring home the bronze. It was a very exciting race, with Erin leading nearly all the way in the final leg, the 10-kilometre run. In the 50-metre sprint to the finish line, she was pipped by Switzerland's Nicola Spirig and Sweden's Lisa Norden. The amazing thing about Erin is that she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition four years ago. She had life-saving surgery in 2009 to correct the condition, which made her heart race dangerously out of control. So you can imagine why her friends, family and home town were so excited to see Erin take out the bronze medal. More than 100 of her friends and local supporters gathered at the Campbelltown Catholic Club to watch the race, as did 50 members of the Macarthur Triathlon Club, who gathered at Wests Leagues Club in Leumeah to watch Erin and cheer her across the finish line.

Her good friend Michelle Smyth told a local newspaper that Erin was an inspiration to everyone who had struggled in life. She said that those who had suffered with any illness were right behind Erin because she stands for all their struggles. She said her friend was such a fighter. For me, this is what the Olympic Games are all about. Erin has overcome all obstacles, and her hard work and dedication have definitely paid off. To see her photo splashed over the front page of our local newspapers with headlines like 'Our girl' shows that the entire community was behind her. Erin carried the hopes and dreams of her country and her community in London, and she did us all proud. Today I congratulate her and thank her for being such an inspiration to young athletes in the Macarthur region.

Another medallist from Macarthur is Kaarle McCulloch from Wilton, who won the bronze in the women's cycling team sprint event. It was Kaarle's Olympic debut and a great achievement by a young athlete who has put a huge amount of hard work and training into her sport.

Kaarle and her teammate Anna Meares were cheered on by friends and family across Macarthur to win cycling's first medal of the games. It was another gutsy race, and many residents stayed up late to watch Kaarle and Anna beating the Ukrainian team for the bronze medal.

As I watched all Macarthur's athletes compete at the games, I felt overwhelmed by their achievements. Most of them have been part of the local sporting clubs and teams since they were young juniors. To have so many athletes in my electorate competing at the games was a great tribute to their families and all of Macarthur's sporting clubs and coaches who support our young athletes week in and week out. Whether they won a medal, made the finals or just gave of their best, it was great to see that all the hard work and commitment that these athletes have to put in gained them a place on the Australian Olympic team. I would like to thank each of our Olympians for being such great models for all our young athletes in my electorate. They should all be very proud of their achievements. They have made their friends, families and everyone in Macarthur very proud of them.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too take the opportunity to speak on this motion in congratulating our Australian Olympic athletes. I do congratulate them because I believe they did our country proud. They literally flew the flag for Australia on the world stage and they did us proud by their performances. Regardless of whether they won a medal or not, I believe their collective performance is something that indeed we can all be proud of. In saying that I extend the same respect and acknowledgement to every athlete who competed in the Olympics as I have little doubt that just as Australians want to see Australian athletes do well, so too do the people of the respective countries which each athlete represents.

The Olympics is indeed a contest of the best of the best in terms of athletic performance. The pressure on athletes to do well has never been greater; firstly, because with today's media coverage most of the world is looking on and, secondly, because of the national expectations which arise from governments investing substantial funds into Olympic preparations. To be selected for the Australian team is an outstanding achievement. To then win a medal is extraordinary; even more so considering the comparative investment in preparing athletes that is made by many other countries, the very fine line between winning performances in so many events, the reality that some competitors are assisted by performance-enhancing drugs, knowing that peak performance must coincide with the time of your event and knowing that every athlete has good and bad days—and also knowing that there is no second chance.

Disappointingly, the games are being used by some for both political supremacy and political opportunism, with claims that some athletes face political consequences if they fail to win while others, as we saw again in London, using the games to flee from their own country. The killing of the Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972 has left an irremovable stain on the games. None of this is what the Olympic Games, or sports more broadly, is meant to be about. Yet by elevating the games to the level that we have, and putting the global spotlight on them as the world has done over the years, we have equally made them a prime target for international displays of political dissent or political opportunism.

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, it was wonderful to see so many primary schools around the country organising their own mini Olympics and, in so doing, providing opportunities for so many children to have a go at Olympic-type sports events. In my own electorate I visited and formally opened the mini Olympic Games at Keller Road Primary School at Salisbury East where the children imitated every aspect of the opening ceremony, from carrying the Olympic torch and lighting the cauldron to parading the teams, with each team flying their respective flag prior to the games commencement. The games then began, and each athlete was given the opportunity to participate in a wide range of events. It was terrific to see the children embrace the Olympic spirit with their colours and their costumes.

I commend Susan Podger, the principal of the school, and all of the staff, students, parents and grandparents who organised and supported the children's events on the day. It was not only fantastic to see the kids' excitement in being part of their own Olympics but also great to see them trying events that they would probably never, ever get another opportunity to do. And in getting into that Olympic spirit perhaps one day they might pursue a particular event they had tried on the day and maybe represent our country at the real Olympics in the future.

Last Friday week I was invited to Prescott North Primary School, where Telstra had organised a 30-minute live cross to London. Two of Australia's gold-medal winners, Libby Trickett and Melanie Schlanger, had made themselves available to have a direct talk about the Olympics to the school students. Using today's technology and a huge outdoor screen so that everyone present could watch, students were able to have a face-to-face discussion with Libby and Melanie, hear about their experiences and ask them questions about competing in the Olympics in London. The clear message from Libby and Melanie was to stay true to your dreams, give it your best, make sacrifices and never give up.

Students were also able to meet and speak with past gold and silver medallist, Brooke Hanson, who attended on the day as a Telstra Olympic ambassador. Speaking and hearing from Brooke, Libby, and Melanie must have been an incredibly inspiring and motivating opportunity for the children, and I commend Telstra for the effort that they went to to organise the direct link-up with Libby and Melanie from London to have literally a face-to-face opportunity for the children to speak to them. Again, I hope that it might just have given to the students that extra inspiration that they might have been looking for to persevere and continue with their own sports involvement. Hopefully, they too might one day represent Australia in the Olympics. I also commend all of the staff, parents and organisers who made that day possible for the students at the Prescott North Primary School.

There has been some disappointing public commentary from some sectors that has been critical of Australia's medal performance. Such commentary is neither warranted nor helpful, and usually made through ignorance. Nevertheless, there have been calls to increase funding levels for elite Australian athletes so that we can fare better on the world stage in the future. My own view has always been that the early years are just as important as the latter years, and that if more support is required then the priority should be more support for the local community facilities which do all of the preparation in the junior years.

Secondly, the athletes most admired, and who reflect all of the qualities which epitomise sport, are those who made it through long-term sacrifice, tortuous work and unswerving commitment. In essence, it is those athletes who do it because of their own desire, hard work and determination who I personally admire the most. Good facilities and good coaching are important; but I am not convinced that current support for elite athletes is inadequate, nor do I want to see gold medals won that should be more appropriately awarded to training institutions than to athletes. In my view there are more important priorities for the expenditure of public funds. The understandable joy that we can bring to a relatively few number of people by investing millions of dollars more each year into elite athletes pales into insignificance when compared with the joy that can be brought to so many more people by directing those same funds into medical research and medical services.

I take this opportunity to make some other observations about the games. The Olympics have become a major international commercial opportunity, so much so that the costs involved and the expectation that each Olympics will be bigger and better than the last makes today's Olympics in total cost across the world a multibillion-dollar event. At some point the realism must set in that we cannot continue raising the standard without serious consequences. If there is huge money at stake there is also the increased likelihood of corruption, and there has also been some allegations related to that.

A separate concern about the cost and commercialisation of the games is that poorer countries will continue to miss out on hosting the games—they simply cannot raise the funds or meet the expectations of what is required for a modern-day Olympic Games. None of this is in keeping with the Olympic spirit or sportsmanship.

I conclude by again congratulating the Australian athletes for winning their 35 medals. They did themselves, their coaches, their families and their country proud. To those that will compete again in future events, I wish them the best for the future. I also congratulate the USA on once again leading the world in the medal count. And I congratulate the UK and the city of London for hosting such a wonderful spectacle. Lastly, I extend my best wishes to the paralympians who commence their games in the next week or so. I have no doubt that they too will do Australia proud.

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I associate myself with the comments of the earlier speakers who have been most eloquent and have captured the essence of what the Olympic Games are all about, and Australia's contribution to them. The essence of the Olympic Games and the Olympic spirit is sporting achievement and striving to succeed.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I ask the member to resume his seat. There being no presence to my right, I will adjourn the chamber until a quorum is re-established.

Sitting suspended from 17:46 to 17:54

A quorum has not been re-established.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 17:54