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

It is a very big weekend for Brisbane sport with our National Rugby League and AFL teams both carrying the hopes of their fans into the finals. The mighty Brisbane Lions take on the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night while the Brisbane Broncos will upset, I am sorry to say, the Gold Coast Titans on their home turf at Skilled Park on Saturday. Both teams have had challenging years but have peaked at just the right time to present as real competitive premiership contenders at the business end of the season. I wish both of those teams all the very best as they head towards finals day. If the Broncos do not get up, then I wish the Titans all the best.

I also want to mention the winner of my AFL footy-tipping competition that I held this year in my electorate. The lucky winner is Martin Finbow. His prize is a signed copy of my book and the second prize is two copies of my book. No, no! We have a good prize for Martin. I tipped outstandingly for most of the season, even though my background is in rugby league. But I had one or two unlucky rounds which saw me slip down the rankings. I have to be honest and say that I did not always pick the Lions, because I did not think they would end up quite as high as they have, but thankfully they have upset some of my tipping to be in the finals. They are much better performers than I predicted.

This finals season I particularly want to acknowledge the sporting clubs in my electorate on Brisbane’s south side. These clubs help promote a strong sense of community and build lifelong skills in our young people, such as Harry Jutsum and Levi Jutsum. These sporting clubs help keep us fit and active during winter. No matter what a person’s age, ethnicity, gender, body type or level of fitness, there is always a role in a team for everybody. We even take people from the northern side of the river; that is how inclusive we are. Whether it is football, hockey or netball, we love our sport on Brisbane’s south side. There is a feeling of anticipation in the air, that sniff-of-winning feeling.

Souths Rugby Union Club have managed to progress four and, depending on what happens this weekend, maybe five teams into the upcoming grand finals of the Brisbane Rugby Union Club competition. Everyone on the south side will be cheering the boys on in the coming weeks—maybe not those people who barrack for the Sunnybank Rugby Club, which is also having a very successful season and is also in my electorate.

Special thanks must go to the teams, coaches, support staff, management committees and other volunteers—the strappers et cetera—who have all contributed to these great achievements. Also, one of our AFL teams, the Mount Gravatt AFL Club, will take on Southport in the preliminary final of the Velocity Sports Cup this weekend. I know there are many other south side teams in the finals throughout Brisbane and I wish them all the best—not having the time to name all of them. I am sure that they will do us proud.

I also recognise the achievements of our junior sporting clubs. The kids have a lot of fun, but it is because of the hard work of parents and other volunteers who give of their time to give our young people an opportunity to learn and play sport. It helps encourage our kids to live healthy, active lifestyles as well as learn important skills like teamwork and perseverance and one of those most important skills: how to lose gracefully. I think society is much better off if people learn that in sport you do lose—there is always a winner and always a loser unless there is a draw—and then you work out how to do so gracefully. It is a great life skill.

The Rudd government is also helping our young local sporting champions to achieve their goals in their chosen sports. So far this year 12 young people and one team in my electorate have received grants to help cover some of the costs of travel and competition. This is a great way of helping young people who are selected to compete at the national or state level. In the three rounds this year the grants have been awarded to Crystal Shaw, under-16 girls basketball classic; Mitchell Symonds, Queensland Cricket; Laura David, Australian National Track and Field; Kayla Coombs, Australian Junior Table Tennis Championships; Tegan Head, Pacific School Games, Swimming; Sasha Aleceenco, Pacific School Games, Athletics; Tegan Riding, Australian Age Swimming Nationals; Emma Goodhew, Queensland Junior Squash Championships; Yannick Dixon and Christopher Dixon, Australian Rowing Championships; Robert Bell, Australian Junior Track Cycling Championships; Jake Ott, Under-15 National Basketball Championships; and Yeronga Park Swim Team, 2009 Australia Age Champions.

Congratulations to all our sporting champions on Brisbane’s south side. Bruce Dawe says in his poem Life-cycle that sport is an essential part of Australian culture, particularly in the south. I will take that as the south side of Brisbane. I quote this line from his poem Life-cycle:

And the tides of life will be the tides of the home team’s fortunes

the reckless proposal after the one-point win,

the wedding and honeymoon after the grand final …

It is coming up to grand final season, so hopefully there might be a couple of weddings and a couple of honeymoons coming out of the south side.