Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I join with the Prime Minister in congratulating our Australian Olympic team—the 433 athletes whom we had the privilege of welcoming home to Australia this morning. I would particularly like to thank Qantas for the significant contribution that it has made to making this the success that it was and, also, John Coates and the Australian Olympic Committee. It is typical of Australians and Australian athletes, and these men and women in particular, that many of them thanked the Prime Minister and me for being there, when in fact it was our honour to be there on behalf of the nation to welcome them home.

Stephanie Rice achieved three world records and won three gold medals. For James Tomkins—whom, as I said this morning, my wife loves—it was his sixth Olympics and he carried the flag for Australia, and James has not ruled out going to a seventh Olympics. Also, Steve Hooker had a magnificent result in the pole vault. I did say to Steve rather jovially, ‘Goodness knows how much higher you might have gone if you’d had a shaven head!’ Ken Wallace was one of the standouts, I thought, in the kayaking in the K1 500. When Ken finished, he said, ‘Geez, I looked around and I thought: where are the rest of them?’ and he realised he had won a gold medal. And there was Drew Ginn in the men’s pairs. One of the memorable moments was when Drew revealed that he had a photograph of his kids in the boat.

I think, however, it is not only about the athletes themselves who have spent not just four years but an entire lifetime preparing for this; it is about their families and the sacrifices, over a very long period of time, in getting their then young athletes to their particular sports. It is also about the financial sacrifices, the employers who have allowed those athletes to spend time away from work, the coaches, the doctors, the physios, the administrators and the managers, and all those who have contributed to this success. We were the sixth highest in terms of the medal tally, at 47 medals, but we were first when it came to the inspiration of a nation. Every Australian has been inspired over the last two weeks or more by these men and women in their perseverance, determination and teamwork and their sacrifices for one another. They have made every single one of us very proud to be Australian. We salute them. And, in a country that from time to time can be known to have the odd knocker, could I also congratulate Channel 7 for the magnificent way in which it covered the Olympics—

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