PARALYMPIC GAMES

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (12:33): I move:

That this house—

(a) notes the magnificent achievements of the 2012 Australian Paralympic team;

(b) commends the team for its 85 medals and for placing fifth on the overall medal tally; and

(c) notes that with a global television audience of up to 3.8 billion people watching the London Paralympic Games, the Australian team has inspired us all and we are very proud of their performances.

It is my very great pleasure to move this motion congratulating the Australian team on its success at the recent (a bit less recent than it was when I wrote this) 2012 London Paralympic Games. The world witnessed possibly the most successful ever Paralympic Games in London and this success is not only in terms of athlete performances but also for the enhanced profile and exposure of the games themselves and inspirational stories of triumph and achievement by the athletes.

It was a privilege to be able to witness in person this transformation of the Paralympic Games into one of the largest sporting events in the world in its own right and especially the strong performances by South Australian athletes. On many days the games were sold out. The area around the venues was packed with people. It was a really enjoyable thing to be able to witness the complete support for the athletes and for the event itself. The Australian Paralympic Committee team selected a—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members on my right. Thank you.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The Australian Paralympic Committee team selected a total of 161 athletes in the Australian Paralympic team for the 2012 London Paralympic Games. South Australia had a total of 14 representatives across six sports. They were Nathan Arkley, Gabriel Cole, Katy Parrish and Michael Roeger from athletics; Felicity Johnson, Stephanie Morton (pilot), and Kieren Modra and Scott McPhee (pilot) in cycling; Grace Bowman in equestrian; Rachel Henderson in goalball; Libby Kosmala in shooting, with an incredible record of attendance at Paralympic Games; Matthew Cowdrey, Esther Overton and Jay Dohnt all from swimming.

Overall Australia placed fifth on the medal tally with a total of 85 medals won—32 gold, 23 silver, 30 bronze—and equal fourth with Ukraine on the gold medal count. South Australian athletes contributed 11 of those medals to a tally of seven gold, two silver and two bronze achieved across 11 events. The Australian result in London compares with a total of 79 medals won in Beijing—so that is six more than four years ago—with 23 gold medals won in Beijing compared to 32 this time around, so a substantial improvement in the Australian Paralympic athletes. Australia entered 13 of the 20 sports and won medals in nine of them: athletics, cycling, equestrian, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, wheelchair basketball and, of course, the great wheelchair rugby.

One of the highlights of the Australian team was the success of South Australia's most successful competitor ever in the Paralympic Games, Matthew Cowdrey, winning a total of eight medals—five gold, two silver and one bronze. His performance in London saw him achieve the feat as Australia's greatest ever Paralympian when he won his 11^th overall Paralympic medal in the mens' 50 metre freestyle in world record time on day seven of the competition, surpassing Tim Sullivan from athletics with 10 gold medals. By the end of the competition he had extended his lead by winning his 13^th Paralympic gold medal.

The eight medals Mr Cowdrey won in London from the eight events he competed in included gold in the men's 100 metre backstroke (S9), men's 4x100 metre relay, men's 50 metre freestyle (S9), men's 200 metre individual medley (SM9) and men's 100 metre freestyle (S9). His two silver medals came in the men's 100 metre butterfly (S9) and the men's 100 backstroke (SB8), and the bronze was won in the men's 4x100 metre medley relay (34 points).

Mr Cowdrey made further Paralympic history in winning the men's 200 metre individual medley to become the first Australian athlete to win the same event at three consecutive Paralympic Games—Athens, Beijing and London. He also broke the world record in the men's 4x100 metre freestyle relay and an Oceania record in the men's 100 metre breaststroke. Matthew Cowdrey's outstanding world-leading achievements warranted recognition through the renaming of the competition pool at the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Marion as the Matthew Cowdrey Competition Pool.

Swimming also produced another Australian Paralympic milestone in London with Jacqueline Freney's eight gold medals, the most won by an Australian athlete in a single Paralympic Games. Other South Australian medal successes at the 2012 London Paralympic Games include: gold, Felicity Johnson/Stephanie Morton, women's tandem individual one kilometre time trial (which I was there to see); Kieran Modra/Scott McPhee, men's tandem individual pursuit in track cycling; and bronze, Nathan Arkley, in the men's 4x400 metre relay (T53-54) in athletics.

The legacy of the 2012 London Paralympic Games is its recognition as a significant sporting event in its own right. A global audience of 3.8 billion people watched the 11 days of competition with record ticket sales achieved. Research conducted by the London Organising Committee in the United Kingdom revealed that 80 per cent of people agree that the 2012 London Paralympic Games demonstrated an athlete's ability ahead of their disabilities.

Other results from the research included: one in three UK adults claim the London 2012 Paralympics have changed their attitude towards people with disabilities; 65 per cent agree that the Paralympics have delivered a breakthrough in the way disabled people are viewed in this country—up from 40 per cent expectation in June 2010; 74 per cent agree that the Paralympic Games have shown the world how to treat disabled people with respect and equality, up from a 52 per cent expectation set in June 2010; and that the Paralympic Games are about ability and not disability; and are about what people can do, not what they cannot do.

South Australians should be proud of the performances of not just our 14 local athletes but the entire Australian Paralympic team during the 2012 London Paralympic Games. They are an inspiration to all of us. London 2012 may now be over, but already I am aware that many athletes have begun to focus on the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, and their work has already begun. It is significant to note that almost exactly half the Australian team competing in the 2012 Paralympic Games were first-time Paralympians and expect to make the Rio Paralympics. It is therefore without hesitation that I move this motion congratulating the Australian Paralympic team on their magnificent achievements at the recent 2012 London Paralympic Games.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (12:40): In speaking to this motion I draw members' attention to comments that I and others made on 6 September in relation to a similar motion moved by the member for Stuart at that time while the Paralympics were underway. I will endeavour not to repeat the great many comments made on that day. However, I draw members' attention to the fact that 6 September was the day Matthew Cowdrey became Australia's greatest-ever Paralympian in terms of gold medals won. Although we have the pride of being able to say that Jacqueline Freney, after eight gold medals in one meet, is catching up on him quickly.

Matthew Cowdrey has had a very good year because, in addition to, at his third Paralympics, becoming our greatest-ever Paralympian, he has also been named a style icon in GQ magazine's Man of the Year Awards. He narrowly missed on GQ Man of the Year to Chris Hemsworth, I am reliably advised. Nevertheless he did secure Sportsman of the Year ahead of people like Michael Clarke. So, that is very impressive for Matthew Cowdrey, and I know that he follows with great interest the goings on of the South Australian House of Assembly's motions where we talk about him, so we certainly wish him all the best. We hope to see him in Rio extending that lead in four years time.

There were 13 South Australian Paralympians who competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games, and they certainly also should be mentioned as we note the magnificent achievements of the 2012 Australian Paralympic team. We commend the whole team for its 85 medals and for placing fifth on the overall medal tally. We also note the global television audience of up to 3.8 billion people. It certainly inspired us all and we are very proud of their performances. I am sure most members took the opportunity to watch at least some of the Paralympics. It was a genuinely impressive spectacle.

All the Paralympians from South Australia are worthy of that commendation. They were of course recognised at the Town Hall for a welcome home reception on 26 September, which I was pleased to attend, along with a number of other members of the house. In supporting the incredible achievements of our Paralympians in London earlier this year, I do not want to let the opportunity pass by without also noting the many people who were involved, particularly volunteers, families and participants in other organisations supporting people with a disability to engage with sporting activity. I particularly note in that instance the Organisation of the Special Olympics, particularly with the support they have had recently from the New South Wales government. They are going ahead in leaps and bounds.

Earlier, in the last couple of months, I also had the opportunity, along with our Governor who was their patron, to attend the 30^th anniversary celebrations of SASRAPID, which does a magnificent job of partnering with sporting organisations and existing sporting teams so that people with a disability, who would like to exercise the opportunity to get involved in those sports, can do so in a mainstream context. It is very important that people with a disability in Australia not be just thought of in the sense of 'this is for the mainstream and this is for people with a disability'. Where there is an opportunity for people with a disability to participate in mainstream clubs, it is fantastic that that has taken place.

I note that the member for Port Adelaide was there as well. It would have taken little less than that to get me down to the Allan Scott oval on that day, but for SASRAPID I was willing to make that sacrifice and I commend the motion to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (12:44): I warmly support this motion from the minister, as he supported mine back on 6 September. We are both very genuine in our support. The motion I put forward a few months ago was congratulating and thanking Olympians and Paralympians, and this one is focused very much on Paralympians. I know that every member of this house is very proud of the South Australian Paralympians who went to London and competed, representing our state, because they do that just as well as able-bodied athletes do in the Olympics. I think it is very important to recognise that. The minister has gone through the medals that were won, so I will not go back over that but, for me, getting onto the team is probably the biggest and most important step. Winning medals is obviously critical and vital and is what everybody aspires to, but anybody who is even on the team is an absolute champion as far as I am concerned. To become a Paralympian is extraordinary.

Of course, what Paralympians do is expose all of us in the world to the extraordinary athletic achievements that Paralympians can make. I think that is really wonderful and it is a very important part of bringing people who may not be 100 per cent there yet around to the fact that, regardless of sex or religion, age or race, or physical or mental capacity, every single person is important and has something to contribute to our society, and every single person's achievements should be held in high esteem. So, I thank our Paralympians for doing that. I also thank all of the people who support them because, as we all know, it is not just the athlete who deserves the credit but it is also the families, supporters, coaches, administrators—everybody shares in this.

One of the groups that deserves to share in the credit are sporting medical science professionals. One of the wonderful things that the Paralympic movement has done is bring to the forefront funding support, recognition and the importance of sporting medical science developments for Paralympians. That may well be so that they can help those athletes win more medals and so they can help South Australia and Australia achieve on the international stage, but the real importance of that is when that science can then be brought home and applied to everyday people with disabilities—not necessarily our sporting heroes or the Paralympians, but all people with a disability. They can all benefit from that sports science. I think perhaps one of the greatest contributions that the Paralympic movement has made is the fact that then all people with a disability get access to a much broader and much better-funded body of scientific medical research, so I thank all the people who work in that field particularly today.

I also recognise the Paralympic movement's desire that Paralympians, Paralympic athletes and disabled athletes do not stand aside in a separate stream but that sports embrace able-bodied and less-able-bodied athletes under their broader sporting umbrella. They do not want to have mainstream and Paralympic/other as the way that people view sports. They want to have sports like basketball, within their governing bodies, having a stream for all people who would like to play basketball, regardless of what their physical capacity happens to be. The same would be true for all other sports. It would not matter whether it was soccer, martial arts, rowing or whatever it might happen to be. I think that is a very important thing because, to really get to where we want to be as a society, it is not about having mainstream sportspeople and other sportspeople, it is about having sportspeople and bringing them all together.

A very important step forward for making that happen would be for all sports who compete at an Olympic level, within their sporting organisation, to umbrella both Olympic and Paralympic sportspeople. I commend those that are already doing that and I encourage those that have not quite got there yet to do exactly the same thing. That is what is going to bring that full recognition that people, regardless of their ability, have the possibility and deserve the right to participate in the mainstream. The mainstream then is not just left for able-bodied people only; the mainstream is everyone. I think that is a very important aspect of what the Paralympic movement is trying to achieve at the moment. Let me say again, I wholeheartedly and warmly support the minister's motion. The Paralympic movement certainly has my full support.

Motion carried.