Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today it is an enormous privilege to rise in this place. As the member for Lindsay, I am a proud citizen of Western Sydney and am continually proud of the sporting achievements of my local community. If I do say so myself, Western Sydney is in fact the undisputed capital of sport in our country. The Nepean River provides a majestic backdrop for Penrith's own Jessica Fox who, amongst her many achievements, became the first paddler in history to win both the world under-23 K1 and C1 canoe slaloms at the same championship, when she competed at the world under-23 championships held at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Creating history yet again has become second nature to our Jessica, who last year also made history by becoming the first female to win gold in both the K1 single kayak and the C1 single canoe events at the 2013 World Cup in Slovenia.

Jessica began her canoeing career in 2005 on the Nepean River, under the watchful eyes of her father, Richard, himself a five-time world champion, and her mother, Miriam, an Olympic medallist. Her wave of success commenced with a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, followed by an amazing silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012. Double gold at the 2013 Prague world championships created worldwide interest in our Jessica. Jessica is a wonderful ambassador for Penrith and for Australia and I wish her every success in her career, with the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 looming large on her radar.

Today I would also like to acknowledge the amazing success of the Western Sydney Wanderers, a team that has captured the hearts and the minds of our region and in fact of our country. After a stellar second season with the help of the infamous RBB, the Wanderers again made the A-League grand final, this time facing the Brisbane Roar. While the Roar were, unfortunately, the better team on the day, to make both grand finals in the first and second years is an outstanding result and true representation of the determination and grit of the people of Western Sydney. I would like to congratulate the executive chairman, Lyall Gorman; coach, Tony Popovic; and captain, Michael Beauchamp on this amazing success.

I would also like to congratulate No. 21, the outstanding Shinji Ono, who will play his last game for the Wanderers tonight in the Asian Champions League. Good luck against Hiroshima tonight,boys. Like Jessica Fox, I know you will do the people of Western Sydney proud.

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