Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Youth and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

As we mark the 50-day countdown to the Olympics opening ceremony, I was very proud this morning to join with the Prime Minister, as well as the shadow minister for youth and sport, to officially farewell athletes from the Australian Institute of Sport who have been selected for the Olympics and the Paralympics. We are all incredibly proud of the Australian Institute of Sport and its athletes, facilities and staff. It is a great testament to the AIS, which is regarded worldwide as the Harvard of sports academies, that around 200 of the 440 athletes in our Olympic team are expected to be current AIS athletes. In addition, some 24 of the Paralympic athletes so far selected are current or former AIS athletes.

While many athletes have already qualified to live their dream, some are still to finalise their selection. As the pinnacle of so many careers is fast approaching, the nation certainly shares the sense of rising excitement and anticipation. We know that they will do Australia proud, as they always do, and that our sport-mad nation will be glued to our televisions cheering on our great athletes. Our government is well aware of the importance of sport and the Olympics to Australians. This year the Australian government has provided almost $216 million to the Australian Sports Commission, of which about $142 million is dedicated to achieving excellence in sport.

In addition, we are working to protect the integrity of sport. The Australian government, through ASADA, has invested more than $1 million to ensure that the Australian Olympic team is subject to the most rigorous antidoping measures of all time. As announced earlier this year, for the first time in our history every member of our Olympic team will be tested before Beijing after a historic agreement between the government and the Australian Olympic Committee. This puts our country at the cutting edge of the world antidoping movement. To date, ASADA has completed more than 1,300 tests, covering around 92 per cent of potential Olympians, with around 200 of these samples placed in deep-freeze storage facilities for future testing with new science and new technology. We are firmly committed to protecting the integrity of Australian sport and contributing to global efforts to see international competition untarnished by doping.

We all respect the dedication and discipline that our athletes display in order to represent our country on the world stage. I would like to pay tribute to their years of hard work, sacrifice and training. On this 50-day milestone, I am sure that we all wish all of our athletes well for their final days of preparation and for the challenges which lie before them in Beijing at both the Olympics and the Paralympics.

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