Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to talk about the upcoming World 9s Aussie Rules international event, coming to Darwin on Saturday 13 August. The World 9s is run by Australian Football International and it has adapted rules because we play on rectangular fields, either a soccer or a rugby field. There are only nine players, instead of the usual 18. It makes it more accessible and easier to organise compared to the traditional Australian Rules game. As all honourable members know, few things bring people together like sports. We have many multicultural communities in Darwin, and many of them will be represented at this competition, which will include a Greek team, a Timor-Leste team, a Pacific island team, a team from the Irish community and a Larrakia team—the traditional owners of the Darwin region. For this competition, it has been a real privilege to work with and sponsor the newly formed Darwin Lions, which is a team consisting of players from Darwin's vibrant African community. Sport is such a fundamental part of life in the Territory, so I can't wait for what will be a cracking carnival on 13 August. While I'm up on my feet talking about sport, as the chair of the parliamentary rugby club I am very proud to say that we played Balmain recently and we were, very humbly, victorious in that game!