Meares, Ms Anna

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (17:00): I would like to rise to say a few words about a great South Australian sportsperson whom I look up to, not only when I turn on the television to watch cycling, but at every Olympic and Commonwealth Games that I have watched, and to congratulate Anna Meares OAM on a wonderful career and recognising her achievements as the most successful female track cyclist of all time, particularly after winning her 11^th world title last year. Anna Meares' favourite quote sums up her attitude to her chosen sport:

I've lost more races than I've won. You cannot have, nor appreciate, success without defeat.

Not only is Anna a wonderful athlete, but she is a great role model for aspiring cyclists. She is a great role model for aspiring sports people in general, particularly in the female arena. I would be here all day if I was to read out all of her achievements as it is a very impressive and long list.

Anna started cycling at the age of 11. She saw Kathy Watt compete on television in the 1994 Commonwealth Games and followed her sister and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Kerrie, into the sport. Amongst her honours, she received the Centenary Medal in 2003 and an Order of Australia Medal in 2005 at the age of 20, which I think is just astounding. She was the first woman to win gold for Australia in track cycling at the Olympics.

She was also the winner of the Australian Cyclist of the Year in 2008 and 2012. She was People's Choice Cyclist of the Year in 2008 and 2011, nudging out Cadell Evans in the year he won Australia's maiden Tour de France victory. She was AIS Athlete of the Year in 2007 and 2011, and the Australian Elite Female Track Cyclist in the years 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and it just goes on. Off the track, she is an ambassador for the charities, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Little Heroes Foundation and the Port Adelaide Community Youth Program.

Anna Meares is one of Australia's favourite sporting heroes and one of the most talented athletes in the world. She is a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic champion (gold and silver in London in 2012, silver in Beijing in 2008, and gold and bronze in Athens in 2004). She is a 10-time world champion across four different events and a five-time Commonwealth Games champion. She was also the flag bearer for the Glasgow 2014 Australian Commonwealth Games team.

She is also a 31-times Australian track champion and is the holder of Olympic, world, commonwealth and national records. She has competed in countless Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games winning 110 golds, 54 silvers and 29 bronze medals over her career.

Having personally met Anna and having had a quiet conversation with her, she is an absolute true Australian and world champion. She does know how to let her hair down. She does know how to let things go while she is having a break in the off-season, but her attitude to her chosen sport and the look in her eye tell the story.

It is one of the true privileges to have met Anna at the SASI and other sporting awards in my role as shadow minister for sport, as it is to meet any sports stars. I have risen today to congratulate her. She will be leading the charge in Rio at the 2016 games. What it really does show is that she has longevity. Cycling is a great world sport that she has succeeded in.

I wanted to give a few examples of what she has done. In the 2012 World Championships in Melbourne, Anna won the world title in the keirin and the 500 metre time trial, breaking the world record in the 500 that she had lost in 2009, setting a new benchmark of 33.01. This win took Anna's career tally of world titles to 10, putting her equal to France's Felicia Ballanger as the most successful women's sprint cyclist ever. Obviously, South Australia is regarded as the capital of cycling, but Anna Meares heads the pack when it comes to cyclists and the cycling program at SASI. I congratulate Wes Battams in heading up the SASI facility at Kidman Park.

If South Australia is going to produce these world champions and world class athletes who are going to go through the SASI program it needs to get with the program. We have to make sure that we support these athletes. We have to support the programs that breed these athletes, and we have to have facilities that are world-class so that we attract athletes to South Australia to excel, so that we can be one of the great sporting states in this country and the world.

Recently, during my trip to Western Australia to have a look at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, I was absolutely blown away by their facilities, by what the state government is doing to promote sport. Just as importantly, they are now breeding more world class athletes, world class track and field athletes. Their rehabilitation program is second to none. Their whole sporting precinct is an absolute picture. It showed me that the government is prepared to back its sports men and women. The Western Australian government has had a windfall through the mining boom, which South Australia missed out on.

It is about investment today for the long-term future, so that we can be proud of our athletes. Governments, of many persuasions, always seem to turn away from putting money into sporting programs and sporting facilities, because it does not seem to be targeting their voters. I think that we need to see governments putting their money where their mouth is, particularly when we want to stand up and take credit. We know that the government likes to take credit for anything that is good news. Well, this could be a really good news story—being able to champion our champions, being able to say what a great job we have done in supporting our sporting programs and facilities.

After visiting New South Wales and Victorian sporting facilities, and having a look at what is happening in Queensland at the moment in setting up for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 2018, I am thinking that South Australia, too, could come to the fore and put some money into creating even better and greater sporting facilities, so that we could be proud to bring those sporting heroes, those potential sporting champions, to this great state and make South Australia an even greater sporting state.

Over the years great coaches and great athletes have come to South Australia; but we are starting to see other states invest in their sporting programs, invest in their athletes and invest in the good news that governments are always looking for, and we need better facilities that will make South Australia a drawcard.

I note that the Western Australian facility, which is a world-class model of excellence in high-performance sport, did come at a cost. It came at a cost of $34 million, but I can assure you that it is money well invested. I can assure you that they are breeding champions. I can assure you that they are attracting the best coaches in the world. They are attracting athletes from all over the country. They are attracting athletes from all over the world to look at excellence. They are attracting athletes of all shapes, forms and sizes in all disciplines to go there and use their world-class facilities.

If South Australia is not careful, we are going to miss out. We are going to lose our coaches and our athletes. We are going to lose our funding from the Australian Institute of Sport—the Australian government—if the South Australian government does not step up to the plate. I call on the South Australian government, I call on the minister, who loves good news, and I call on the Premier, who loves good news too, to look at ways we can support our programs and promote South Australia as a great sporting state.

At 17:11 the house adjourned until Wednesday 24 February 2016 at 11:00.