Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Lundy for her question, given her long interest in sport and the lot of work she did for the Labor Party in opposition in that field. I know of her particular interest in rowing, and I am sure that she and Senator Bernardi followed keenly the tremendous results of the rowing team.

The Prime Minister and the opposition leader, Mr Nelson, had the pleasure this morning of welcoming home Australia’s Olympic team from Beijing. Senators would be aware of the tremendous success that those athletes enjoyed at the games. As I understand it we finished sixth in the gold medal count and fifth overall, a sign of Australia’s continuing serious contribution to outstanding results in athletic endeavours. It is a great credit to the team, the coaches and all those who supported the team. Australians rightly take great pride in the results of our Olympic team and all senators will join me in congratulating them on their performance and the way they represented Australia.

While I am sure we all had many highlights during the last few weeks, for me Matthew Mitcham in the diving was a fantastic thing to watch, along with Steve Hooker in the pole vault and Anna Meares in the cycling, as much for the courage as for the performance, taking into account the history of her struggle. One of my favourite moments was also of Grant Hackett winning the silver medal. The sportsmanship and style that he displayed was a credit to him and to the country and to his role as a captain of the team.

I am sure that, like me and my family, a lot of senators have been glued to the television in recent weeks. My family have had discussions and they are now particularly expert in diving. They all have a view on the points awarded in diving. They did not know anything about it two weeks ago, but we now have very strong arguments. We were convinced that Matthew Mitcham should have won the gold, so we got that one right.

While we have a focus on the results, and it is a tremendous day to congratulate the team, I think we also ought to focus on the whole team’s contribution—the sacrifice, the dedication and the honour they brought to Australia in their performance in representing the country. I would also like to recognise all those who tried out for the team, those who provided the competition in allowing us to field the best possible team.

As the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship I want to note that more than 40 athletes who competed for and represented Australia were born overseas. Athletes born in Algeria, Iran, the USA, China, England, Yugoslavia and Malawi all competed on behalf of Australia and did us proud. I think that is a great recognition of Australia’s capacity to receive immigrants and make them part of our country. We are actually very quick to give citizenship to good athletes in this country.

I want to particularly mention the fact that the elite sportspeople are nurtured not only by our sporting systems and the investment we place in them but also by parents, family, friends and coaches who contribute at the junior level. Every weekend when I am down watching my sons play soccer I see people giving of their time to junior sporting teams and associations and who usually do not get much recognition. The Olympics is the end product of the sort of effort they all make in encouraging our children to compete in sport.

I would like to congratulate, on behalf of the government and I think the whole Senate, all those who participated in representing Australia. They did do us proud and we are all very grateful for their efforts. (Time expired)