Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to join the supporters of this motion and congratulate our paralympic team that represented this country so well in London. They represented the country well not only in terms of the results they achieved but also in their overall attitude, sense of sportsmanship and fair play, which was a credit to themselves and to the nation. The motto for the games was 'Inspire a generation', and Australia's paralympians certainly have inspired us all with their representation of themselves and Australia in London. The sense of pride that the country feels was recognised at the homecoming last week, at the joyous celebration in Sydney. It was a genuine celebration of achievement, but more than that, the celebration of an event that has put disability sport on the map. As the London organising committee chairman, Sebastian Coe, said at the closing ceremony, it has changed the way we look at disability sport. Our athletes for the first time competed at packed venues in every sport; 2.7 million tickets were sold and the event was given widespread coverage across the world, with the exception, maybe, of NBC in America. The Paralympics are no longer a sideshow and have become part of the main event, and we hope that this will act as a fantastic inspiration for Australians with a disability to get involved and to participate in sport wherever they can.

I was able to attend the paralympic launch event in parliament before the team set off for London, and it was a particularly exciting moment knowing that Colin Harrison from Victoria Park in my electorate of Swan would be representing Australia in the three person keel boat sonar class. Colin finished sixth with his team mates Jonathon Harris and Stephen Churm, not as good as their performance in Beijing, but nonetheless a magnificent achievement of which they can be proud. Sailing had been a long held passion for Colin but after he lost his right arm to cancer he momentarily gave up the sport before deciding to continue. He went on to compete for his nation. We are all glad he made that decision. Well done, Colin.

Our paralympians were fortunate enough to compete at some terrific venues across London, not least the Olympic Park in Stratford, a site that was formerly an industrial wasteland as recently as 2005. Before venues could even begin to be constructed, the soil had to be decontaminated, a fridge mountain cleared, and other industrial remnants removed. In the process of creating the Olympic Park, waterways were cleared, vegetation planted, and now wildlife has been returned to this area of East London in a major practical environment effort of real action on the ground. The result is 2.5 hectares of new parkland. It reminds me of the development that we hope is soon to become part of the new WA multipurpose stadium which will be in the suburb of Burswood in my electorate of Swan. The site for the stadium is actually a former rubbish dump, so we can relate that to the fridge mountain that was in the UK. It is another example of how land use can change over time.

On this subject, it was disappointing to hear the WA Labor Party announce last week that if they win the next state election, due to be held early next year, they will scrap the decision to build the new stadium at Burswood and instead build it at Subiaco. This would be a terrible decision for Victoria Park in the electorate of Swan. The jobs the new stadium would create, the increased business for restaurants and shops in Victoria Park, Burswood and Lathlain and the construction of a brand new train station would all be scrapped. It is disappointing that the local member for Victoria Park, who has been happy to jump into all the photos whenever possible, has not supported this particular issue. The people in my electorate will judge him harshly but that is his decision.

We have a duty to provide the best facilities, not just for paralympians but for all participants in disabled sport in Australia, and facilitate the growth in interest that is bound to come after such a successful performance from our paralympic team. As we have seen in London, the power of sport is as potent as ever as a means of inclusion and as a means of breaking down boundaries in society, and we need policies to reflect this.

In conclusion, I would like to finish with the words of Tony Abbott at the homecoming in Sydney last week, which we have just heard the member for Cowper attended, which I thought were particularly relevant. He said:

Everyone who represents his or her country has achieved something extraordinary. But for paralympians it is invariably a triumph of the human spirit as well.

I have to say that whenever I mix with paralympians it seems to me they are the happiest athletes of all. Long may that continue. Congratulations to our paralympians of 2012, and I hope you go on to represent Australia again in 2016.

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