Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start my contribution on the motion to support the London 2012 Paralympic Games by commending the organisers and the athletes, particularly those athletes from Australia, for doing something that I think has challenged many of us for a long period of time—that is, really putting the issue about the abilities of people who happen to have a disability, however acquired, well and truly at the forefront of our thinking.

I do not know if many other people saw probably one of the best advertising campaigns ever seen, which was run by the UK's Channel 4—the ad is on YouTube, and I encourage people to have a look at it—and is called 'Meet the superhumans'. It is run to the soundtrack of Public Enemy's Harder than You Think, which I understand has now hit No. 4, which is higher than when it was originally released some time ago in the UK. The ad starts with the very moving images of athletes with disabilities coming from all the way across the country ready to compete in those games. They are beautifully shot images, some very hard images of some incredible athletes. Halfway through the ad, you suddenly get very quick flashes of a car accident, a bomb in possibly Afghanistan, of a foetus in a womb—all highlighting really easily just how some of these disabilities have been acquired, and highlighting for people who see the ad that this could be anybody. The ad finishes, if anybody has not seen it, with these amazing scenes of athletes competing, and literally says, 'Meet the superhumans'. It challenges every one of us to think very differently about people with disabilities.

I also want to mention the fantastic billboards that I understand were around London, and the beautiful cheek of them as they had 'Thanks for the warm-up'. It really sent a very clear signal that Paralympics are well and truly on the agenda. The fact that you had huge crowds at the Paralympics really is a testament to the fact that these were the best Paralympic Games, and we are going to see a very different level of interest in these athletes. I did want to start with acknowledging just how fantastic the entire campaign was around that.

The Australian Paralympic team deserves our absolute congratulations here. Certainly the results speak for themselves. They finished fifth overall with 86 medals in total: 32 gold, 23 silver and 30 bronze—amazing efforts. But, again, it is not only the efforts of the athletes that these games have really shown, it is absolutely that we also need to think very differently about people with disabilities and challenge our perceptions around them. These people really were, and are, superhumans.

I particularly want to acknowledge those athletes who come from my electorate—particularly Greg Smith, who was in the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers. He is a local athlete who is from Buninyong in my electorate. He was part of the team who won 66-51 against Canada to take gold. The Steelers well and truly dominated the match to see Australia when its first-ever gold medal in wheelchair rugby. The Canadian team put up a good fight, but the Steelers were too strong and they won every quarter. Greg Smith even finished the game with the last point on the buzzer. Greg was the Australian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, and he previously won three gold medals in the 2000 games in the 800 metres, the 1,500 metres and the 5,000 metres. He has now won a fourth gold medal in his fifth and final Paralympics. He acquired a disability at the age of 19 in a fairly terrible car crash and, for me, he is not only someone who shows incredible toughness but he is also someone who has championed the cause for people with disabilities.

I am very much looking forward to the civic reception that will be held in Ballarat on 27 September for Ballarat Olympians, but also for our Paralympic competitors. I know a number of the athletes who are attending, including Jared Tallent, race walking; Collis Birmingham, athletics; James Marsburg, rowing; Anthony Edwards, also rowing; Tamsin Hinchley, beach volleyball; and of course, Greg Smith. I am very excited to be able to be part of that civic reception to welcome them home. I know that the people of Ballarat are very, very proud of those athletes.

The government has committed quite a bit of money of late to funding for elite athletes and particularly for the Paralympics. It is my hope, certainly, that that strong commitment continues and also continues to highlight the real importance of the role that these people are going to play within our community as great advocates for people with disabilities.

I again want to commend the motion and also commend the organisers, all of the athletes and all of those wonderful volunteers at the London 2012 Paralympics for really putting disability on the map and highlighting that, in these Olympic games, we well and truly did meet the superhumans.

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