Special Olympics South Australia

Ms COOK (Fisher) (15:37): Today, I would like to talk about an amazing group of people from Special Olympics South Australia. This amazing organisation is dedicated to providing opportunities for our athletes with intellectual disabilities and enabling them to experience the joy of taking part in sport. The mission of Special Olympics is to use the power of sport to transform and enrich the lives of people with an intellectual disability, and I know a great many lives have been enriched through the fantastic challenges and the unique possibilities of sport.

Sport does have this incredible power that can unite us all in support of a team or an athlete and it is really apparent in the Special Olympics family. Across Australia, volunteers provide quality sports training to almost 4,000 athletes in more than 250 sporting clubs not just in metropolitan but in regional areas, too. In South Australia, committees have recently been established in Port Pirie, the Limestone Coast and the Riverland. On Friday 24 June, I had the privilege for the second year in a row of attending the wonderful annual Special Olympics SA awards night.

The night saw 130 guests celebrating and congratulating the success of the wonderful volunteers and athletes. Being the second year in a row I have been lucky enough to attend this night at the Adelaide Pavilion, I was really warmed by the fact that there were so many young people, coaches and supporters who came up to me in appreciation. In fact, a couple of the attendees were very excited to be able to get their photograph taken two years in a row. They are just a really warm and friendly bunch of people and I felt really welcomed.

This was a very special year also when we celebrated Special Olympics Australia's 40^th anniversary and Special Olympics South Australia's 25^th anniversary. It was fabulous to be one of the special guests, while representing the Minister for Disabilities and the Minister for Recreation and Sport. The member for Chaffey was also in attendance, along with Ms Nicole Swaine, a member of the national Special Olympics Board; Mr Chris Lemm, the deputy chair of Special Olympics Australia's Southern Zone Committee; and an amazing guy, Mr Jehad Rasheed, who is a committee member of the Southern Zone Committee, who works tirelessly to try to help raise the profile and assist with fundraising of Special Olympics.

The members of the Law Enforcement Torch Run Committee were there as well. The torch run helps to raise the profile and raise funds for Special Olympics. Obviously, they are our beautiful police. Also attending were Mr Nicholas Mihalaras, the CEO of Orana, and his guests; Ms Leanne Van Der Hoek, the chair of the Special Olympics Adelaide club; and representatives from the sports programs from all over South Australia. The real guests of honour were the athletes and volunteers and their families who attended.

It was great to be able to offer a big congratulations to all the nominees for awards, which were hotly contended. It is actually quite dangerous standing up at the front ready to hand them out because everybody runs for their award as they are so excited. It is just a fabulous night. The final winners included Michelle Oxford, who won the Bill Bowden Encouragement Award; the Coach of the Year Award went to Margaret Alexander; and the Volunteer of the Year was Maxine Bowden. The Glenda Edmonds Memorial Trophy was given to Andrew Waller and the Special Olympics Athlete of the Year Award was given to Joshua Morpeth. The Female Athlete of the Year was Mia Woods.

I am very proud to say the Male Athlete of the Year Award this year went to Andrew Tanner, who lives in my electorate in Aberfoyle Park. Andrew was born with two holes in his heart and, during the repair of these holes in specialist cardiac surgery, he suffered a stroke. It left him with an intellectual disability. Not only is he intellectually disabled but at the age of five he was also diagnosed with velocardiofacial syndrome, which is a genetic condition handed down from his father. On the advice of his speech therapist as a young lad, Andrew took up horse riding with Riding for the Disabled up at Blackwood.

Andrew is still with Riding for the Disabled, but of course he has moved up in the world, coming down the hill to Woodcroft. He recently visited my office with his mum to tell me about the challenges they have with the weather and their dreams for an indoor arena. He was the first male equestrian competitor for Australia at the Special Olympics, competing last year and bringing home gold. I look forward to visiting Andrew at one of his training sessions very soon and helping his team with some fundraising. I have promised to do that, and I can bet you he is going to hold me to it.

The Special Olympics crew really know how to celebrate. They show extraordinary mateship and comradery. I think we can all learn a lot from their spirit and their can-do attitude. I hope the athletes now in Rio take a little bit from that message.