Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity today to commemorate the life and recent death of a constituent of mine, Olympic medallist and Williamstown resident, Mr Peter Norman. Peter Norman won an Olympic silver medal in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and still holds the Australian 200-metre sprint record today, which is quite an inspiring feat for any athlete. But Mr Norman’s performance at those Olympics was all the more inspiring for the support that he gave his co-finalists on the podium. Mr Norman was joined by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who mounted the podium in bare feet and, during the American national anthem, lowered their heads and gave the Black Power salute to protest the treatment of African Americans in the United States. Mr Norman stood side by side with them, wearing a human rights badge pinned to his tracksuit. The American sprinters were heavily criticised and sent home for their protest, while Mr Norman was cautioned.

Mr Norman’s involvement in this protest is something that we should all be proud of. At a time when the right for Australian Aboriginals to vote had only just been recognised a year earlier, Mr Norman was a role model for all Australians in his stand and support for equal rights. With the American civil rights movement in a way heralded and symbolised by this action, the world began to recognise the right of all people to live free from oppression. Mr Norman’s action at the 1968 Olympics, standing in solidarity for the rights of others, is worth reflecting on again today. After all, human rights are all about caring not just for yourself but for the plight of others around you.

Nevertheless, I do not want this moment in history to overshadow his outstanding sporting achievements and lasting contribution to the community. Mr Norman’s silver medal remains the highest placing of an Australian 200-metre men’s sprinter in Olympic history. He was five times 200-metre sprint national champion and remained committed to sport as a physical education teacher, sports administrator and Olympic team fundraiser and educator.

Mr Norman is survived by his wife Jan, their children Belinda and Emma, and his first wife Ruth and children Gary, Sandra and Janita. I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy for their loss and for Australia’s loss of a great sportsman and humanitarian. Mr Norman’s life shows that our national pastime, sport, can be coupled with a commitment to social justice and equality for all and was perhaps the start of a rich tradition of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen who have used their sporting success to highlight and combat social inequity. I am thinking here primarily of AFL stars such as Michael Long, and I am sure that Mr Norman, with his well-documented love of AFL, would be proud to stand alongside these many other sports stars who are using their profile to make a stand on similar issues of disadvantage and social inequity.