Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to congratulate all those involved in, and who were awarded at, the Randwick City awards for excellence in sporting achievement. These awards represent our community's way of recognising junior and senior sporting champions and inductees into the Randwick City Hall of Sporting Champions. The awards are in particular categories. One is females aged five to 12. This year the award was won by Tamsin Colley. Tamsin is an athlete with a disability, who competes in the TF36 classification, which means that she has coordination problems due to a brain tumour. In the last 12 months, Tamsin has competed at a national level for both her school and her athletics club. Her results are outstanding, having achieved many first places. In addition to these fine results, Tamsin has broken many records; the most impressive of those being the world record for the 800 metres for an athlete with a disability in her classification—congratulations, Tamsin. In male sports, the five to 12 category was won by Malikye Kessie. Malikye recently won two gold medals at the nippers' state championships in athletics. He also won a bronze medal in the 70 metres sprint, and he was named Junior Sportsperson of the Year at Maroubra Bay Public School.

The Bradley Matthews Memorial Award for overall sporting achievement in Randwick City went this year to Lucy McJannett, a 16-year-old swimmer who recently made the Australian junior swim team. She has won five New South Wales titles this year, and two national championships where she won in respective events. She was also a finalist in the Australian Open Championships at the age of 16—the youngest person to make an open swimming championship this year—and was a representative at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, where she won a gold medal—congratulations, Lucy.

In the Randwick Sporting Hall of Champions this year there were two inductees: Alix Verge, former women's World Croquet Champion in 2009 and Australian champion in 2013 and 2014; and of course, Russell Fairfax—they don't come any more Randwick than Russell Fairfax! Educated at Matraville Public School, he played union for Randwick and went on to play for Australia in eight test matches before switching over to rugby league where he played for the Roosters and had an immediate impact. In 1974 that team won the competition with him at fullback, and then won again in 1975. I have no doubt that Russell would have been a dual international, were it not for a severe leg injury. Congratulations to Alix and to Russell, the inductees into the Randwick Sporting Hall of Champions. Thanks to Cheryl McCormack, Peter Wynn and Anthony Minichiello, judges for all the awards.