Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate Alex Saffy, who won a bronze medal in the men's 100-metre butterfly S10 final at the Paris Paralympic Games. Known as the Bunbury Bullet, Alex comes from our south-west in Western Australia. With his bronze medal win, Alex also set a new Oceanic record for the category. What a great job. He comes from the South West Academy of Sport, and at the age of 16 he made the move from Bunbury to Canberra, leaving behind his family and friends to take up a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport and to begin study at the University of Canberra as an elite athlete. In spite of all that change in his life, I know right now that Alex would believe, as his family would, that this has been worth it. This bronze medal proves that all of the sacrifices Alex and his family have made have really been worth it.

He was cheered on by his parents, his younger brother, his older sister and some friends as well, who travelled to Paris. Given that this is his very first Paralympic Games, I think it's safe to say that we're going to see much more from Alex Saffy in the future. He's a great young man. There's an extraordinary amount of work and commitment going into his role in swimming and as an athlete, and an extraordinary amount of sacrifice from his family as well as from him and from our local community. Congratulations, Alex. We look forward to what's ahead.