Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to extend the country's congratulations and thanks to our Australian Olympic team, as well as to the organisers of the Tokyo Olympic Games, for what has been a truly extraordinary fortnight. These were the games that the world needed, and Japan and the Olympic movement delivered those games. These were the games that Australia needed, and our magnificent athletes have delivered.

We've had wonderful Olympic Games before—Melbourne and Sydney, of course, on home soil, and Athens, amongst many others—but these games lifted us in a very different way, at a very crucial time for our nation. The Australian Olympic team generally has inspired us. The Australian got it right with their headline 'Good sports and good at sport', achievement and character going hand in hand. The achievements are for the history books, and they tell part of the story: sixth on the medal tally; 17 gold, seven silver, 22 bronze—equalling, with Athens, our best ever gold medal tally; 99 individual members of the Australian team taking home medals across 15 sports and 20 disciplines. Olympic heroes and champions, indeed, for the ages.

Chief amongst them, the mighty Emma McKeon, now atop the pantheon of Australian and world sport: four gold, three bronze—the most medals by an Australian at an Olympic Games, and only the second woman in history to win that many. Now with more Olympic medals than any other Australian Olympian, Emma was joined in triumph by Kaylee McKeown and Ariarne Titmus, our queen machine of the pool. Kaylee, with three gold medals and a bronze, inspired by the memory of her late father, who she lost last year. Ariarne, with two gold, a silver and a bronze. I spoke to Ariarne's and Emma's parents during the games, and, like all the families we saw during the games, they were proud of their loved ones long before their Tokyo triumphs. The pride isn't in the medals, though the medals represent great achievement; the pride is in seeing the emergence of such determination, dedication, discipline and sacrifice.

We shouldn't be under any illusion. All of our athletes made great sacrifices in their careers, their finances and their studies to go to Tokyo, sacrifices compounded by the delays and the restrictions of a gruelling pandemic, but they all found ways through to make their way to Tokyo. The gold medallists: Matthew Wearn, Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan in the sailing; the paddlers Tom Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen, and the incredible Jess Fox at her third Olympics; Zac Stubblety-Cook, and the women's relay teams in the swimming; Logan Martin in the inaugural freestyle BMX competition; and 18-year-old Keegan Palmer in skateboarding. And after 25 years without an 'oarsome foursome' we ended up with two in one day—the men's and the women's fours.

There were others who moved us in ways, of course, we won't forget: Peter Bol, the 800-metre runner, who expressed so passionately his love for this country—a truly great Australian story; Harry Garside, the boxer who learned ballet and won Australia's first medal in the sport in 33 years; and Skye Nicolson, devastated at her narrow loss in the quarter finals at the women's boxing. We spoke on the phone, and Skye said, 'I'm so proud to be representing my beautiful country.' I was in awe of what our athletes gave. Genevieve Gregson ruptured her Achilles on the last hurdle of the steeplechase. It was her birthday. Gen described to all of us how to deal with setbacks, saying, 'It's raw; it's hard; I'm not okay, yet I will be.' Saya Sakakibara in the BMX was competing not just for her country but for her brother Kai, who was seriously injured while competing last year. In Saya's race, another competitor's bike touched her wheel, and she crashed. She thought she'd let everyone down. But Kai put it best when he said: 'Saya, I know this isn't what you wanted, but either way I'm really proud. Let's go prepare for the next one.' We echo Kai's thoughts and words. We saw that resilience with Patrick Tiernan, giving his all in the 10,000 metres and pushing his way through every mental barrier.

There were others too who inspired us: Jian Fang Lay, a six-time Olympian in table tennis, and Andrew Hoy, who came back for his eighth Olympics—at 62, our oldest medallist yet and an inspiration to many of us in this chamber, I suspect. We know there are big things ahead for Rohan Browning and his mullet, as well as our high jump silver medallist, Nicola McDermott—who I spoke to today—with her remarkable sense of calm. All the teams—the Kookaburras continued on their incredible journey; the Matildas delivered their best performance yet; and the Boomers, led by the great leader Patty Mills, brought us ever so much closer to that Everest in men's basketball, and we have the foothold in it now as a result of his leadership.

But, for me, the moment that really captured these games was the decathlon—the final event, the 1,500 metres, and two Australians, Ash Moloney and Cedric Dubler. Ash had the chance at a medal; Cedric didn't. So Cedric decided to back his teammate. He was on his tail, pushing him on. We could see the intensity. The lip-readers could make out the words, and I don't think they were parliamentary! I'm sure the image of Ash and Cedric heading round the track will be iconic—Cedric beckoning his teammate, 'Keep going, go faster, give more, don't give up.' That's the story of these games: keep going, don't tire, don't give up, do what you have to do, focus on the finish line ahead.

The world owes a great debt to the government of Japan, to the Olympic movement and, in particular, to Prime Minister Suga and the Japanese people, who we commend for their great staging of these games. They persevered with these games, and they were vindicated. The critics said there would be no atmosphere. Instead, we rediscovered that sport isn't about the crowds; it's about the heart and soul of those who compete, which was on display. We saw that at the Tokyo Olympics, and we will see it in the Paralympics, which we look forward to, which are now only weeks away. We wish our Paralympian athletes the same success that those who have already competed in the Tokyo Olympics have had. There will be stories there that echo these. This is a country that I think celebrates the Paralympics like few others. We stand our heroes of the Paralympics against and with all of our other great athletes in this nation. We celebrate them with great pride and we wish them all the best.

The focus on the athletes is what we, of course, will take ahead as we move now to the Brisbane 2032 Games—which kicked off the games for us—and we commend all of those who have been involved in that endeavour. I have no doubt that kids pretending to swim in their living rooms while watching the Olympics or doing high jumps, as we saw last night, over a sack of pillows are watching and thinking that it may well be them in 2032. It's great that they now have that hope to look forward to.

I know that the character of the Australian Olympic team is shared by the Australians that they have represented. Australians have the grit, the determination and the character to prevail. There may not be gold medals, as I wrote recently, for being a single parent, for running a small business, for doing the night shift in an emergency department or aged-care facility, for being out there at the vaccination hubs or for volunteering for your local surf lifesaving club or your local bushfire brigade, but, if there were, Australia would be at the top of the gold medal tally, I'm quite certain. This is why I'm so confident Australia will pull through this current challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. We won't let it beat us. We won't let our frustration get the better of us. We won't let negativity overwhelm our optimism. We will urge each other on. We will put our heads down and keep pressing on, and we will succeed. That is the Australian way.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'You got to try and reach for the stars or try and achieve the unreachable.' So said the great Cathy Freeman, who summed up the Olympic experience. These Olympics were a beacon of hope in a world where people needed something to smile and cheer about. And Australians certainly had full bottle on that!

We saw so many young Australians reach the unreachable in the past fortnight, so many who followed Cathy's path to personal triumph. I say to every one of our Olympians: you were selected with good reason, and, when you got to Tokyo, you did our nation proud. You performed magnificently as athletes, as human beings and as representatives of your country. You gave us demonstration after demonstration of everything that is great about the Olympics. We saw talent. We saw determination. We saw records broken. We saw personal bests beaten. We saw some dreams realised, some not quite. We saw physical and mental grit. We saw dignity and humility. We saw humour. What it all added up to was true sportsmanship—and, indeed, 17 gold medals, including Emma McKeon becoming our greatest Olympian.

But some of the sweetest moments weren't ones about outright victory. There was the extraordinary story of Peter Bol, once a refugee and an almost accidental athlete. Running fourth in the 800 metres, he lifted all of Australia. Then there was, for me, something I'll never forget: the wonderful 10,000-metre runner, Patrick Tiernan, falling over about 100 metres or so from the finish line, but getting up and making sure that he finished. There was nothing left in the tank, but there he crossed the line.

Patty Mills and the Boomers showed us the sweetness of bronze. He gave that wonderful interview after the game where he said he looked forward to hanging his bronze medal at his mum's and dad's, who had given up so much for him to make it. He is a proud Indigenous Australian who has never forgotten where he came from, and a proud ambassador for our nation as well as his people. After that came the interview with Andrew Gaze on TV, with Andrew trying to hold back tears and then giving up, and the wonderful exuberance of feeling, quite rightly, that he was part of it—and indeed his dad, Lindsay, talking about when he began coaching, when there were just 100 or 200 registered players in basketball throughout the whole of Australia, and how that sport has been built and how this bronze medal will help to build it even further in the future.

There was Nicola McDermott, soaring so magnificently to silver in the high jump—and writing in her diary after every jump, so that she's got contemporaneous notes there for the future—and Ash Moloney showing us what may be an amazing new dawn with his bronze medal in the decathlon, egged on by Cedric Dubler in the last 1,500 metres. What mateship, what commitment and what goodwill.

Behind all these amazing athletes we got glimpses of sacrifices made, of myriad costs of dedication. We saw the guidance of coaches and, above all, the love and support of families. We saw those broadcasts back to rooms in Australia around the country of people cheering on their loved ones. From the bigger Australian family, may all our Olympians feel our love, our support and our gratitude. Thanks for lifting us up. Thanks for your effort. Thanks for your achievement. Thanks also to those people in the administration, including the Australian administration and, of course, the great John Coates, who's gone on to play an important role in the IOC and will always be seen, quite rightly, as an Australian representative. John, you are a good mate and you are a great Australian who has served your country and served sport well indeed.

A big thanks as well to the government and the people of Japan for hosting these games. It was a big call to bring on the games and to maintain them, but you've done the world a big favour. We look forward to watching the Paralympics over coming weeks, again an incredible inspiration every time they are held. We wish all of our athletes all the best in the coming weeks. I think that during a difficult time, with most of Australia locked down, the TV ratings did pretty well. But it is something that, at a very tough time for Australians, gave all of Australia something to watch, something to smile about and something to cheer—and for that we thank you.