Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House congratulates the efforts of the athletes, coaches, and support staff of the Australian Paralympic Team at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

Over the past fortnight, we have watched in awe as Australians have competed to the highest level in the Paris Paralympic Games, in which 160 Australian Paralympians competed across 17 sports, 61 athletes making their debuts. Our Paralympians range in age from 15-year-old para-swimmer Holly Warn to 69-year-old Jimmy Huo in para-table-tennis. Behind each athlete is a story of determination and resilience, of support and sacrifice by family and supporters and of triumphs and disappointments. Members of the Australian Paralympic team won 63 medals. They have shone, and we heartily celebrate this excellence.

I also want to recognise each individual's journey, medal winner or not, and the support provided by their coaches, families, supporters and sports administrators—in other words, all the people who have provided that scaffolding in their lives. Here are some of their stories. Four women represented Australia in para-equestrian events. Stella Barton from Melbourne was the second Australian to ever compete in grade 1. Having ridden since the age of seven, Stella was ready to retire; however, in a sliding doors moment on her final farewell ride, internationally renowned coach Mary Longden convinced Stella to team up with coach Sally Francis and chase national selection. At Versailles, Stella competed magnificently to finish seventh in the grade 1 freestyle equestrian. Congratulations.

Australia has a star-studded para-cycling team, including South Australia's Meg Lemon. Meg was working as a clinical dietician in rural communities when at age 25 she was hit by a car while riding her bike to work. The accident left her with a permanent brain injury and significantly weakened the right side of her body. During rehab, para-cycling gave Meg a new sense of purpose, and she won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics. In the lead-up to Paris, Meg resparked her passion in nutrition and has been working as a dietician at the South Australian Sports Institute. In Paris, Meg won a silver medal.

Co-captain of the Australian team and Queenslander Curtis McGrath was serving as an Australian Army combat engineer in Afghanistan in 2012 when he stepped on an explosive device and lost his right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee, so he is a bilateral amputee. He vowed that when he recovered he would represent his country at the Paralympic Games. By 2014, he was world champion and has become a multiple Paralympic gold medallist and a para-canoe legend. He added more gold in Paris—what a legend!

We have large and successful para-athletics and swimming squads, and it has been exciting to see Australian Paralympians in sports as diverse as archery, rowing and judo, not to mention our wheelchair basketball and rugby gladiators, the Rollers and the Steelers. My particular congratulations to our Higgins Paralympians: swimmer Col Pearse, who won silver; 1,500-metre runner Reece Langdon, who won bronze; and triathlete Liam Twomey.

Support from government and the AIS has also helped. The AIS has partnered with Paralympics Australia, national sporting organisations and the National Institute Network to focus on overcoming a range of barriers and building a sustainable future for para-sport in Australia. The sector is united to ensure that para-athletes are integrated into broader sports planning and that the system evolves to meet their needs. Strengthening the support offered to current para-coaches and identifying and developing coaches of the future is another key focus for improvement. Medal winners at the Paris Paralympics will receive payments from the Australian government at parity with successful athletes in the Olympics, a welcome development indeed. Congratulations and thank you to all our Paralympians and all who support you. You have thrilled and inspired us over the last fortnight.

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