Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senators Arbib and Joyce, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

  (i) the sad passing of Arthur Beetson who died on 1 December 2011 at age 66, and

  (ii) the extraordinary contribution that Arthur Beetson made to rugby league and to Australian sporting life as a player and coach, including:

     (A) having represented Australia on 47 occasions,

     (B) in 1973 becoming the first Indigenous player to captain Australia in any sport,

     (C) being awarded an Order of Australia in 1987 in recognition of service to the sport of rugby league,

     (D) being inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2003,

     (E) being named in the front-row in the rugby league ‘Team of the Century’, and

     (F) becoming the seventh post-war ‘Immortal’ of the game; and

  (iii) the powerful and tireless leadership that he showed to his sport, as a mentor to young people and to the Indigenous community;

(b) extends the deepest sympathy of all members of the Senate to the family and friends of Arthur Beetson; and

(c) calls on all members of the Senate to support initiatives to pay tribute to the contribution and achievements of Arthur Beetson to his sport and to Australian public life, such as the establishment of the Arthur Beetson scholarship for young Indigenous Australians.

Question agreed to.