Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

She has received the most valuable player award for the season. My good friend Andrew Laming has just said that he will take a box. I will join him and also take a box to help Saria We Neera get to Adelaide. That is fabulous.

Calvin Quirk had to qualify for the National Schools Cross Country Competition by running in the school regional and state carnivals. He has qualified for seven national events in the past 18 months in athletics, cross country and triathlon. Last week he competed in the schools APS cross country championship beating his nearest competitor by two minutes. The grant has helped him win the national schools cross country championship. After another stellar year of achievement, he is hoping to qualify later this year for the 2014 World All Schools Cross Country Championships where he will represent Australia. It is an impressive effort from a great young Australian.

The fifth of the great Australians from the electorate of Fadden on the northern Gold Coast is Ben Houghton, who competed at the 2012 Australian Junior Table Tennis Championships. In 2011 he was runner-up at the nationals in Sydney. He won gold in both the team event and doubles. He competed in the Australian Open and won two gold medals in the under-21 team. He finished in the top four to be selected for the state team. He started playing eight years ago at the age of eight. He has represented Queensland five times. The grant has allowed this amazing young Australian and his team to win silver. It has allowed him to be ranked seventh in Australia. This ranking means that he is now off to the national top-10 event in Victoria and the Australian Closed Championships in Sydney. He was a part of the team that was awarded the Queensland Youth Sports Award by the Premier. His talents mean that he will be attending training camps overseas. His goals are the Brazil Olympics and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

These are five remarkable young Australians doing remarkable things with their lives in this area in the interest of sport. It is a great privilege to be able to help them with the awarding of the sports championship grants. I look forward to helping many more great young Australians.

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