Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This evening can I reflect on the success of the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, which occurred from 15 to 21 July. As someone who participated actively in all of the formal events, I want to place on record some of the extraordinary achievements of that week but also thank those who were involved from both the New South Wales government agencies and the Commonwealth government agencies for the extraordinary effort they put in to ensuring that World Youth Day was a phenomenal success.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and visitors came to Sydney. Over 170 nations were represented at the World Youth Day events. The Holy Father’s first visit to Sydney attracted extraordinary interest from the media, from pilgrims, from Sydneysiders and from other visitors who were drawn to Sydney for the event. In excess of 500,000 people gathered to greet the Holy Father at Barangaroo—which was a spectacular event in itself—and in excess of 400,000 participated in the final mass at Randwick racecourse. I am very pleased to say that Randwick racecourse was handed back to the AJC last week, well within time and in a great state of repair.

Two hundred and twenty three thousand pilgrims were registered for services, and access to the venues included 110,000 pilgrims from overseas. Before the official World Youth Day celebrations, 70,000 pilgrims arrived and participated in Days in the Dioceses around Australia. That was an extraordinary result and provided enormous pastoral opportunities but also very significant economic benefits to the local communities that participated.

Four thousand priests and deacons, 420 bishops and 26 cardinals were registered. The Marjorie Birds—the beautiful embroidered chasubles—were distributed to each of the bishops and cardinals, and 1.1 million communion hosts were prepared for the events of World Youth Day week. Four hundred and fifty youth events took place at over 100 venues and 30 large national gatherings occurred during World Youth Day.

One of the things that we saw was the extraordinary extent to which Sydneysiders opened their hearts and their homes to the pilgrims. Over 100,000 pilgrims slept in 400 schools and parishes, and 12,000 pilgrims were accommodated at Sydney Olympic Park throughout the week. As part of the World Youth Day homestay program, 25,000 pilgrims were billeted. Twenty-five million food items were prepared. During the week, 3.6 million meals were distributed across approximately 400 venues, and in those 3.6 million meals 360,000 lamingtons and 100,000 litres of Dairy Farmers milk were consumed by the pilgrims.

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The loaves and the fishes!

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it was a bit like the loaves and fishes! You can see the extent to which an extraordinary logistical effort went into ensuring the success of World Youth Day.

The events were watched live by a combined television and internet audience estimated to have reached one billion people around the world. Over 2,000 journalists were present in Sydney for the event, and thousands of stories and anecdotes about how World Youth Day affected ordinary people were part of the public broadcasting and reporting of the spectacular events. A Muslim cab driver spoke on radio about how he had never seen so many people in Australia gathered enthusiastically for anything but sport. He was very happy that they were actually gathering for God. The Police Commissioner reported that the crime rate dropped significantly in Sydney during World Youth Day. The crowd control that was involved required nothing more than a piece of string and a polite request to pilgrims to stay behind it. Office workers and Sydneysiders still talk about the tangible joy that was in the city streets. Police reported that for the first time in their working lives crowds of young people waved to them, thanked them for their work and told them that they loved them. Drivers of trains and buses took on extra shifts and went out of their way to get pilgrims to and from their destinations. The Daily Telegraph reported:

It could have been the tambourines, the happy pilgrims or even the lamington-munching nuns. Whatever it was—it is now official. Sydney loved World Youth Day. After grumbling before the event, most Sydneysiders changed their tune, thinking it great for Sydney.

The paper went on to report a Galaxy poll that found 71 per cent of respondents thought that World Youth Day was a good thing and 81 per cent were glad that thousands of young people enjoyed themselves without being a nuisance.

We started with the opening mass at Barangaroo, which was quite spectacular. It even rated a mention on the Footy Show when they managed to find amid all the national flags someone furiously waving a Manly Warringah flag in the crowd. The World Youth Day projections on the Sydney Harbour Bridge were beautiful images that made a spectacular sight at night. The cross and the icon were present at the opening mass, having travelled about 80,000 kilometres around Australia and having visited over 400 communities. And the concert that followed the opening mass at Barangaroo was a very joyous and creative occasion for the thousands of young people. Of course, nothing could surpass Super Thursday, which was the papal arrival. On the Thursday, 500,000 people came out to welcome His Holiness when he was welcomed to country by Aboriginal elders. He travelled down Sydney Harbour in the spectacular ‘boatorcade’, arrived at Barangaroo for the  welcome ceremony and then departed through the streets in the papal motorcade. He said himself that it was an exceptional harbour and a magnificent beginning.

Who can forget the Stations of the Cross, that spectacular theatrical and devotional re-enactment of the last days of Christ’s life with over 100 actors taking place in the streets of Sydney with Sydney’s icons as its backdrop? The event drew massive crowds at each of the live stages and was televised live around Australia on SBS and through the broadcast partners around the globe, as I said, to about a billion people worldwide. The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian and the Daily Telegraph newspapers each featured the event on the front page of their Saturday editions and those papers have actually become collector’s items for the event.

You can see when you get to the kinds of activities that were involved in World Youth Day that there was an extraordinary effort. The World Youth Day Co-ordination Authority, which was established by the New South Wales government as part of the organising strategy, was led very ably by Mr Roy Wakelin-King as chief executive officer. He coordinated everything and the logistics were quite extraordinary. From the federal government we had a very strong presence and contribution. Ms Helen Cox from the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism led the tight little team in that department that coordinated everything. We have to think about the tourism opportunities and potential—amazing. We had the Attorney General’s contribution, Protective Services and the Australian Federal Police. We had DFAT. We had the National Archives. We had the Tourism Australia Facebook site, which had thousands and thousands of hits. We had the Department of Immigration and Citizenship supporting the visa applications, and over 70,000 specific World Youth Day visas were issued.

An event like this, which could be considered to be one of the most extraordinary, powerful, uplifting and moving events of the century, took place and played out in our streets of Sydney in a way in which no-one expected that we could have such a success. It came down to the fact that people were committed and that they were prepared to volunteer. We had 8,000 volunteers working around the clock in Sydney over that period of time. We had volunteers in all shapes and sizes. We had commitment. We had a contribution. We had a sense that this was really about the youth of tomorrow, and I think it is an event that all of Australia can rightly be proud of.