Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the motion of the member for Fraser. He and I are running partners along with you, Madam Deputy Speaker Livermore. Running around Canberra, I can ensure you that our efforts are in no way Olympian—although we do our very best.

The Ipswich hockey complex recently displayed a banner which said 'Good luck in London Hockeyroos and Kookaburras'. Hockey is a sport in which Australia has excelled. Australia has been in love with the Olympics since Edwin Flack was the first athlete to represent Australia. He won gold in both the 800 metres and 1,500 metres at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Athens, like London, has hosted the Olympics on more than one occasion.

We wish our Olympians and Paralympians well. Australia has excelled in sport and, for a country of about 22 million, we certainly have punched above our weight. When we hosted the Olympics we came third and fourth in Melbourne and Sydney. There are many sports in which Australia has done well. Hockey is one sport in which we have done particularly well. Our women's basketball team has also done well in recent years. Athletics is another sport which, in its early days, Australia did well in. Who could forget Betty Cuthbert and her efforts? Australia also does well in swimming. I hate to say it, but the member for Fraser is wrong; Queensland is the sporting state which has really been the place to be, because many, many times, swimmers from other states at national championships have seen that maroon cap and have wilted, just like New South Wales do in the State of Origin—and will do so shortly!

I want to mention a couple of athletes, particularly from Queensland. A girl from the Gold Coast who won silver at the Beijing Olympics is Sally Pearson, who is the current world champion in the 100-metres hurdles. She has not always had an easy life, but with courage and determination she succeeded. Who could forget the delight on her face when she realised she had won the silver medal?

The other person who seems to have been around forever but is my personal favourite when it comes to swimming is Liesel Jones, a girl from Brisbane. With grace, humility and determination, she has been a wonderful success story for such a long period of time. She seems to have been there forever in our swim team. Liesel has won eight medals: three gold, four silver and one bronze. She is in the company of Ian Thorpe, Dawn Fraser, Petria Thomas and Susie O'Neill—and she is there again. I am hoping that she will win a gold medal to bring her up to the elite company of Ian Thorpe, who has nine medals: five gold, three silver and one bronze. If she gets one medal over there, she will be up there with Ian Thorpe. She is another great girl from Queensland.

I also want to pay tribute to the women's basketball team. I urge them to and hope that they will break the drought. They have been silver medallists for the last three Olympics against their fierce rivals, the Americans. I hope that Lauren Jackson, who in my view is the best women's basketball player ever, will lead them to victory. The Americans have frustrated us on various occasions. We have got the better of them in one world championship, but I think we really are well placed this time to beat the Americans finally. I hope they break the drought and make sure they bring home the gold medal. It would be a fitting tribute for Lauren, who burst onto the scene as a centre forward in 1998 at the young age of 17. In those days she was quite gangly and a bit awkward in the way she shot and played, but she is a powerhouse in the women's NBA and a great ambassador for us across the globe. When she has played in Russia or in America she has been known, and when she played for the Canberra Capitals—and I have to say that it is a pity she was not playing for a Queensland team—she led them to victory on many occasions.

My home town of Ipswich is a great sporting capital. We have produced the likes of the Langers and the Walters. At one stage we had the whole front row of the Australian rugby league team! The Olympics have never been quite our thing; we have been more into ball sports in Ipswich, but we are really behind them. I know the people of Ipswich and the people of Somerset will be watching keenly. I find it hard every four years: with only the exception of the world cup soccer, I think I get the most distracted by the Olympics. We wish the Olympians and the Paralympians well and thank them for their wonderful contribution to our sporting life.

See this speech in context