Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Andy Turnbull and his Australian Parliament House sports club usually bring out the best—and only occasionally the worst—in the people who work in this building. As other speakers have said, the best is a time when political rivalries are put aside to enjoy a game of touch football down on the Senate oval, or a game of soccer, basketball, netball or tennis—or even a brilliant catch by the wicketkeeper, the member for Casey, playing against the press gallery. The worst is when one of us tries to emulate Lionel Messi down on the football field but ends up falling on their backside or breaking their leg, as Senator Watt did. We all need a good laugh first thing in the morning and should never take ourselves too seriously in this place, as touched on by the member for Wright and other speakers.

Sport is so much more than organising a bit of exercise. Under the leadership of Andy Turnbull, over the years the club has become all about fostering relationships and friendships through sport—and that bit of early morning exercise, which obviously gets people to bed nice and early. Some people say nothing good happens in Canberra after midnight. My wife says nothing good happens after 8 pm, but that's another story I won't go into. As my wife can attest, sport isn't just limited to Canberra. She joined me in Japan a few years ago when we attended the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup just before the real World Cup. As Andy Turnbull well knows, sport is a type of diplomacy that connects the globe and transcends language and cultural barriers. We can use sport to build soft diplomatic bridges and stronger relationships, particularly in the Pacific.

Later this year, a number of politicians from all around the world will again pack their boots and head off to participate in the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup in France. Unlike the professional rugby players, who will be competing in the real World Cup, our standard of play—except for maybe a certain senator from the ACT, if he is fortunate enough to join us—will be a lot slower and less skilful, but the real importance will be in the connections that will be made with other countries' parliamentarians and the opportunities that will come from building those stronger bonds between countries.

As part of the trip, we're working with some of our Pacific island neighbours to help them either join and become members of our team or put in their own team. Rugby is a language that all of the Pacific understands, and we speak that language. I note that Prime Minister Albanese and Minister Conroy, like me and many of us, are also happy to talk rugby league to our Pacific neighbours. Similar tales can be told when it comes to netball, cricket and other sports. As politicians, we reach out a sporting hand not just for some Pacific wizardry—though that would be a big part of it, and I hope to see some six foot seven, very fast Pacific islander MPs—but also to build long-lasting bridges between our nations through rugby and other sports.

That's why I'm always a little bit confused when people say: 'Take the politics out of sport.' Sport can actually be a great driver of change and acceptance. Sport played its part in ending apartheid in South Africa, when countries refused to play against South Africa. On a more local level, it can be an opportunity to open your eyes to different people and cultures, where sport can be the common language, as touched on by earlier speakers. You get to hang around with people you may not normally meet—people from different towns, states and other countries. They may speak a different language and have a different religion or culture, but you play the same sport. It's a way to break down barriers by being part of a team, irrespective of your background or your ability. That is the great power of sport.

Something that I look forward to is working with the member for Forde as part of the Parliamentary Friends of the Olympic Movement in Australia. I am also a member of the organising committee, and we know that that Olympic unifying opportunity will come to Brisbane in 10 years time. We also know that the Pacific probably won't host the Olympics, so this can be a great opportunity for Brisbane to reach out to our Pacific neighbours and make sure that we've got a strong Pacific flavour.

Obviously, people of all sorts of political stripes get involved in parliamentary sport—and the member for Wright and I have had some fun travels together, playing on the same side—as we see, out on the Senate oval in the morning, or on the basketball courts, the netball courts or the tennis courts or other places around this building. Sport is a great unifier.

Sport is a language that we can speak in the Pacific which other countries that are trying to insert their influence cannot speak. There are a few projects that I'd like sporting diplomacy to attempt, and I look forward to those. One is an attempt to take an Australian parliamentary cricket team to India. That would be something that I would like to take on, and I'm sure that Senator Canavan and other cricketers would be keen to get on board with that cricketing sporting endeavour.

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