Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give my best wishes to everyone who is going to be involved in the Scarborough project—a wonderfully named project—and all those who are going to be employed, including all the contractors who will have an opportunity to provide work and all of the suppliers across the whole of Australia who will be benefitting from that project. I give my best wishes to everyone concerned.

I'm delighted to rise this evening to assist the chamber in finishing this evening on a very positive note as I talk about a wonderful event that occurred over the last two weekends in my home state of Queensland: the African Cup of Nations 2021. Indeed, it's fitting that, at the time I give this presentation, we have here both the Minister for Sport, my good friend Minister Colbeck, and also the shadow minister for sport, Senator Farrell. I think both of you would have been delighted at the event that took place over the last two weekends in my home state of Queensland. The Queensland African Communities Council, which represents 70,000 Australians of African origin, convened this tournament, which had 23 football teams, representing 23 African nations, competing for the African Cup of Nations in Queensland. It was a wonderful event. I said 23 teams; there were three women's teams as well. I watched two of the women's teams play, and they played extremely well in very hot and sultry conditions. It was quite hot watching them. I can't imagine what it would have been like playing.

There were three reflections I had, watching this tournament unfold. The first was the outstanding leadership provided by many people in the Australian-African community, and I'll give you three examples. First is my good friend Mr Stephen Crirlo, who has been a longstanding coach of the Best United football team and was coaching the South Sudanese teams during the course of the event. Stephen is an outstanding Australian and has provided mentoring and support to countless young Australians on the football team. He has been an outstanding role model, and it meant a great deal to me that he attended my first speech in this place. Secondly, I'd like to give my regards to my good friend Mr Kado Aoci. He was the coach of the tournament. He coached the Congolese teams. I saw him coaching the Congolese women's team, and I was so impressed by his coaching. I'll give you one example. The goalkeeper on the other side, not the Congolese side, let in a goal which proved to be the winning goal for the Congolese women's team, and Kado took the time to go up to the goalkeeper from the other side, who was quite inconsolable at letting in the final, determinative goal, and actually comforted her and gave her support. From my perspective—and I'm sure Senator Colbeck and Senator Farrell would agree—that encapsulates everything great about Australian sport.

The second reflection I had was the spirit in which the tournament was conducted. There was so much camaraderie, so much joy. It was all about the competition, enjoying, respecting and supporting each other on the football field, and it was just great to see.

My last reflection was how it brought all these people together. Sport brings people together. Here you had 23 teams representing 23 different African nations, all Australians, coming together to share two glorious weekends on the sporting paddock. It was wonderful stuff, and it was great to see.

Lastly, I have quite a long list of appreciations to give for those who were involved in this extraordinarily successful event. The first is Mr Beny Bol OAM, the President of the Queensland African Communities Council. Beny, you do an outstanding job providing leadership to your community, and I really admired watching the interaction between you and members of the community last Saturday. You were held in so much respect and regard. Thank you so much for everything you do for our Australian community. I'd also like to recognise the efforts of Abiba Andrea, the QACC PR and African Youth Support Council's coordinator. Abiba does a wonderful job in everything she does. She has great charisma and great leadership potential, and I think she will be a great leader in the community for many years to come.

I already mentioned Kado Aoci, the sports officer. There's also Sekou [name unavailable at time of publishing], the events coordinator; Fred [name unavailable at time of publishing], the vice events coordinator; and [name unavailable at time of publishing], QACC's treasurer. There are also youth mentors, and there are some fabulous youth mentors in the Australian-African community in Queensland: [name unavailable at time of publishing]; Lydia Jambia; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; Henry Kon; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; Paul Joseph; the vice secretary of QACC; Mohamed Osman; [name unavailable at time of publishing], President of the Congolese Federation of Australia; [name unavailable at time of publishing] and her partner; Grace Edward; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; [name unavailable at time of publishing]; [name unavailable at time of publishing] and [name unavailable at time of publishing]. I pay tribute to each and every one of you. You did such an outstanding job as part of that event. I also thank all the linesmen, the coaches, the captains and the referees.

In a sporting tournament, you have winners, so I'm going to have to give a call-out to the winners. The male team winner was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congratulations! I was talking to the coach of the Congolese team, and their biggest concerns were Guinea and South Sudan, but the Congolese carried the day. The male runners-up team was the Republic of South Sudan. My good friend, as I said, Mr Stephen Crirlo was an outstanding coach for South Sudan. The female team winners were the Republic of Sudan. The female runners-up team was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The best referee was [name unavailable at time of publishing]. The most valuable person of the tournament for men was [name unavailable at time of publishing] from the Congolese team. The most valuable person of the tournament from the women's perspective was [name unavailable at time of publishing] from Sudan. The top scorer for the males tournament was [name unavailable at time of publishing] from Sudan. The top scorer from the females tournament was [name unavailable at time of publishing] from Sudan. The top goalkeeper of the tournament was [name unavailable at time of publishing] from Guinea. The coach of the tournament was Mr Kado Aoci, as I said, and the team of the tournament was, in fact, Zimbabwe who, collectively, helped all the volunteers and helped bring this outstanding event together.

My deepest regards and respect to our wonderful Queensland African community and to all of those involved in the immensely successful African Cup of Nations 2021.

Senate adjourned at 22:21