Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Throughout January, my electorate of Newcastle hosted the greatest celebration of the world game that Australia has ever seen. We played host to four matches of the AFC Asian Cup, a tournament attended by the best football teams in Asia, with more than one billion people across the region tuning in to watch 32 matches. The tournament was the largest sporting event in Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and I am proud to say it was a raging success. The President of the Asian Football Confederation praised the event as the most successful Asian Cup ever.

Throughout the month, the city of Newcastle and the broader Hunter region were alive and pulsating with football fever. Nearly 60,000 fans attended the Newcastle matches, and neighbouring towns, like Cessnock, hosted some of the world's best footballers for training camps and warm-up matches—matches where local teams and players, like those from the Lambton Jaffas, were able to live out their dreams, lining up to play against English and German league superstars. Newcastle hosted matches featuring Japan, Palestine, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and the home team, Australia. The city went Cahill-mad when the Socceroos hit town for the semifinal and thousands of children and adults—I might add—had an up-close, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch and interact with their footballing heroes.

The benefit both to the regional economy and to the community at large cannot be undervalued. It is estimated that more than $13 million was injected into the local Newcastle economy through the city's hosting of these matches. Socially, we benefitted from an enriching multicultural experience, with fans from Middle Eastern and Asian backgrounds sharing their love of football and their nations' cultures with the Newcastle community.

Newcastle's role as a host city continues our strong record of holding major sporting events, such as the Asia-Pacific Special Olympic Games, the Australia versus Scotland rugby test match and Australian University Games. Capacity to host successful major events cannot, however, occur without long-term vision, significant government support, planning and investment. In the case of Newcastle, particular acknowledgement must go to the former state and federal Labor governments who invested more than $92 million from 2005 to 2009 to ensure that Newcastle had its own world-class stadium. It was, after all, this critical piece of infrastructure that gave Newcastle the capacity to bid for four matches of the Asian Cup in the first place. Labor understands the benefit of investments in the regions to drive local economies and community engagement. That is why I am committed to working collaboratively with my local and state government colleagues to build on Labor's legacy in Newcastle and work towards the development of a new elite sporting precinct for our city. Finally, I would like to thank those who made the AFC Asian Cup such a success, including the local organising committee CEO, Michael Brown, and the extraordinary team of volunteers. (Time expired)