Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to record the tragic death on Wednesday morning in Italy of the Australian cyclist Carly Hibberd. Carly was on a training ride on Wednesday morning, just north of Milan, when she was struck by a car and tragically died at the scene. At 26 years of age, Carly was a former runner who came into cycling through a talent identification program. She was a scholarship holder at the Queensland Academy of Sport for two years and raced domestically in Australia with the MBCycles team from 2006 to 2008. Carly won the Australian national road series in 2008, earning points in all six rounds, and moved to Italy in 2009 to pursue her cycling career racing with the Michela Fanini-Record-Rox team up until this season, when she joined Cassina Rizzardi A Style Fionucci.

Carly was a bright, friendly person; one who was fulfilling her dream of cycling in Europe. It is a great tragedy that she has died at a time when so many hundreds of thousands of Australians are watching the Tour de France each night, and this reminds us that cycling can still be a very dangerous sport. Tragically, following the death of Amy Gillett in an accident with a car in Germany while training with a group of Australians in 2005, this is an event we had hoped and prayed would never occur again, but tragically for Carly it has.

I am sure on behalf of all members of this place I extend our condolences to Carly's family and fiance.