Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

Omit paragraph (3), substitute:

(3) apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment he received upon his return to Australia, and the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006; and,

The apology to Peter Norman recognises a great Australian who stood with the black power protestors at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. This amendment simply broadens that apology in that it apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment that he received upon his return to Australia and for the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006.

I would like to thank members on both sides of the House who spoke in this debate. Thelma Norman, Peter's mum, was here in the gallery when we debated the motion and it meant a great deal to her. I have been in contact with Peter's sister, Elaine, and she has told me about the outpouring of public support that was received. A local school in Queensland got each of their students to go back and research the Peter Norman story to find out what it meant to them and to think about how each of them could be a Peter Norman in their own lives, how they could take a stand against racism and intolerance and make those snap decisions that come along with so little warning but that mark the character of an individual, as they marked Peter Norman's character.

I am grateful to those in this House and in the broader community for their support for this motion and I trust that the amendment to the motion, which provides a broad, community-wide apology to Peter Norman for his treatment upon his return from Mexico, will be accepted unanimously by this House as an apology posthumously to Peter Norman. It is something that I know will mean a great deal to Peter's family, friends and the huge family of supporters across Australia.

Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have followed this debate closely and I wanted to congratulate the member for bringing on this motion. It is a good example of private members' business having the ability to progress its way through the parliament. Through this debate, I had the honour, as did many others, of meeting many members of the Norman family and the extended network of people who either knew Peter Norman or know the story of Peter Norman. It has been an eye-opener as to what he did and the contribution to Australia that Peter Norman's story is. I hope through this that more people know the story and are proud of what he did at the Mexico Olympics and that they challenge themselves in the same way on that question of what you would do in that same situation.

I hope this is not the end of work we do for the Norman family. In correspondence that has followed, there have been conversations around some sort of tribute on a greater scale to Peter Norman in Australia. One option, just as an example, is a similar type statue to the one that is in San Jose State University in the United States, where you have the opportunity to stand where Peter Norman stood alongside the two American athletes. That would be a fitting tribute somewhere in Australia, but some other idea may come forward, and I think that would round out the work that has been done by the member and through this debate very well. Congratulations.

Question agreed to.

Original question, as amended, agreed to.