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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
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Commonwealth Games

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (12:24): I move:

That this house—

(a) congratulates all South Australian athletes and the Australian team for their participation and achievements in the 20th Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland; and

(b) commends the Commonwealth Games Federation for integrating para-sports into the main Commonwealth Games program.

The Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland over 11 days between 23 July 2014 and 3 August 2014. The games hosted 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 countries. The athletes competed in 17 sports, and I will touch on a few of those sports in just a moment.

This was the third time Scotland hosted the Commonwealth Games and Billy Connolly was the official games ambassador. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, India, the Australian team received 74 gold medals and 178 medals in total, the most medals in both categories of all competing nations. This year, we received 137 medals in total and finished second to England.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held at the Gold Coast between 4 April 2018 and 15 April 2018. I have absolutely no doubt that we will get our nation back on top, through a whole range of reasons leading to improved performance, not the least of which is that we will be competing at home. I am sure that will help and we will get ourselves back on top again, as we were in India. A committee has been established to consider a bid for Adelaide to hold the 2030 Commonwealth Games, and Mr Rob Gerard is the chairman of that committee.

I initially gave notice of this motion when I was the opposition shadow minister for recreation and sport, a role that I genuinely cherished. I really enjoyed it. Obviously it had a strong connection with my own sporting background but, far more importantly, to the work that I and others in this place do these days, and the very important place that sport holds in communities across South Australia for many reasons. There is the obvious contribution to fitness and health, to team-building, to community-building, ideally even contributing to far better health in later years, even after people have stopped actively participating.

There are many reasons to support sport in general, and we should be very proud in South Australia of our level of participation and involvement, particularly when it comes to the Commonwealth Games. This year, there were 413 Australian athletes at the Commonwealth Games, (199 female and 214 male) and of those, there were 37 South Australian athletes (17 female and 20 male). While our state's population share is approximately 7 per cent of the national population, we actually had a 9 per cent share of those athletes who went to the Commonwealth Games.

We can be proud of the fact that, at the top level of sport in our nation and internationally, we are contributing per capita more than our population share, but we should be exceedingly proud when we consider the number of medals won. We in South Australia have 7 per cent of the national population and contributed 9 per cent of the athletes to our Australian team, but our athletes won 20 per cent of the medals. By any standard, that is an absolutely outstanding result and something that our South Australian athletes should be very proud of.

With regard to individual medals won by South Australians, Jack Bobridge won the men's cycling 4,000-metre individual pursuit, the cycling women's 10-kilometre scratch race was won by Annette Edmondson, the cycling women's sprint was won by Stephanie Morton, the cycling men's keirin was won by Matthew Glaetzer and, in shooting, the 25-metre rapid fire pistol for men was won by David Chapman. Of course, we won some medals in team events as well. The cycling men's team won the 4,000-metre team pursuit, we won swimming medals in the 4x100-metre medley relay, and South Australians won medals participating in the women's hockey team and also in the netball team. Those are all gold medals.

In addition to that, we won silver medals in cycling's 500-metre time trial, swimming men's para-sport 100-metre freestyle S9, cycling men's 1,000-metre time trial B2 tandem, cycling women's 3,000-metre individual pursuit, cycling men's 4,000-metre individual pursuit, cycling men's para-sport sprint B2 tandem, swimming women's 200-metre breaststroke, cycling men's 20-kilometre scratch race, cycling men's individual time trial. South Australians won bronze medals in athletics women's marathon and a bronze team medal for the cycling men's team sprint.

That is an absolutely outstanding performance, by any measure. All of South Australia can be exceptionally proud of the South Australian young men and women competing at both the Commonwealth Games and the Para-Sports Commonwealth Games representing us. They did extremely well. As I said, we have 7 per cent of the population, 9 per cent of the participants and 20 per cent of the medals won. Something that I really want to focus on here is part (b) of my motion:

commends the Commonwealth Games Federation for integrating para-sports into the main Commonwealth Games program.

We would all be aware that there are the Olympic Games and, when the Olympic Games are over, there are the Paralympic Games. For that to have ever taken place was a gigantic step forward in recognising the extraordinary achievements of genuinely elite Paralympians. In my time as shadow minister for recreation and sport and engaging with representatives and participants from many different sports, including disabled people, a message that came through loud and clear is that they wanted competition for disabled people to be part of the main competition, and they have certainly achieved that with the Commonwealth Games and I think that is absolutely outstanding.

It was a very common message that came to me that people representing disabled athletes did not want a representative body for basketball and then a different representative body for disabled basketballers—or swimmers, or shooters, or any other sport. They wanted the sporting body that represented the sport as a whole to not only represent men and women, young people and older people, but also simultaneously represent able-bodied and disabled athletes.

For that to have happened at the Commonwealth Games I think is extraordinary. It is a very positive step forward with regard to our broader society giving opportunity and recognition to people, whether or not they happen to be physically disabled; and that, at that extremely elite level of international sport (which the Commonwealth Games are), the same recognition should go to a disabled athlete as it does an able-bodied athlete.

The Paralympics and the para-sports program in the main Commonwealth Games program is not a second tier. It is not an also-ran competition. In exactly the same way as women's sport should be recognised and valued just as highly as men's sport should be, top tier elite levels of sport, undertaken by athletes with physical disabilities, should be considered and recognised just as highly as fully able-bodied athletes. It is absolutely outstanding that the Commonwealth Games internationally has decided to take that up. I know other members of this house will want to join me in congratulating a South Australian athletes and supporting this motion. I look forward to both sides of this house being unanimously supportive of this motion.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (12:35): I am pleased to support this motion. Australia enjoys an outstanding international sporting history, and the Olympic, Commonwealth and Paralympic games provide an opportunity for our country's finest athletes to compete against the world's best in a competition which promotes friendship, solidarity and fair play. Indeed, the Commonwealth Games, also known as the 'friendly games', are built on three core values: humanity, equality and destiny.

This year, Glasgow hosted the 20th Commonwealth Games, which featured 6,500 athletes from 71 countries. These athletes competed in 17 sports over 11 days, from 23 July until 3 August 2014. Sports included athletics, cycling, gymnastics, rugby sevens, shooting, aquatics and netball. The 2014 Commonwealth Games featured a total of 22 para-sport events across the five sports of athletics, swimming, lawn bowls, powerlifting and, for the first time, track cycling.

I am pleased to acknowledge that South Australia was well represented by our nine athletes who completed in these para-sport events in Glasgow. The South Australian government, through the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI), has long supported Commonwealth Games, Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Its high performance and Paralympic scholarship programs offer financial and service assistance to targeted individual athletes who have typically achieved an elite level of performance at the senior open level in Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games' sports.

Each year, up to 20 Paralympic and 20 Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes are awarded SASI scholarships, with grants of up to $4,000, and access to SASI facilities and services, including physiologists, psychologists, coaches and performance analysts. Each year, approximately $95,000 is allocated to these scholarships: $60,000 to high performance, $35,000 to Paralympic. In the sports of swimming and cycling, the Paralympic athletes work closely, wherever possible, in an integrated program of testing and servicing with the SASI Olympic stream athletes.

Since 2002, the South Australian government has supported a joint appeals process for the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games appeals. The Joint Appeals Committee is co-ordinated through the South Australian Olympic Council and funded through the Office for Recreation and Sport. In 2012-13, the state government allocated $110,000 to the South Australian branch of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Appeal.

At the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Australia's total medal haul included 49 gold medals, 42 silver and 46 bronze—a total of 137 medals won by athletes from across the nation. As we know, the 137 medals placed Australia second in the medals tally behind only England, with 174 medals, and ahead of Canada, with 82 medals.

The Australian team consisted of 417 athletes, including 41 South Australians. While South Australians made up just 9.83 per cent of the team, our state's athletes contributed an incredible 19 per cent of Australia's total medal tally. SASI is able to boast a contribution to Australia's tally of 20 per cent of all gold, 26 per cent of all silver and 11 per cent of all bronze won at the games in Glasgow.

The South Australian Sports Institute is proud of its 23 Commonwealth Games medallists who, individually, won 26 medals across the seven sports, including athletics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, shooting, swimming and cycling, with South Australia's cyclists collectively winning an impressive 17 medals. Their fantastic sporting achievements significantly contributed to Australia's total medal haul for Commonwealth Games events and included 10 gold medals, 11 silver medals and five bronze medals, with medals in team sports and team events being counted only once per team, rather than per member.

Nine SASI cycling athletes broke five Commonwealth Games records. I have to say what an achievement it was by Anna Meares, Glenn O'Shea, Jack Bobridge, Luke Davison, Alexander Edmondson, Matthew Glaetzer, Stephanie Morton, Kieran Modra, and his pilot, Jason Niblett. SASI swimming coach, Peter Bishop, and former SASI cycling coaches, Tim Decker and Ben Cook, along with former SASI hockey coach, Craig Victory, were all selected to the Australian coaching teams.

South Australia was strongly represented in the cycling coach and official selections demonstrating the quality and the excellent standard of support available to South Australian athletes trained through SASI's programs. The state government congratulates every Australian athlete and official who helped achieve these results for our country in the 20th Commonwealth Games. All athletes who represented Australia at the games in Glasgow deserve congratulations for their dedication, their skills, their talent and their commitment.

The list of all Australian athletes who have distinguished themselves at this prestigious event is considerable with 137 medals won for Australia. On behalf of the state government, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the South Australian 2014 Commonwealth Games medallists, many of whom were already world champions before their selection to the Australian team and remain a source of inspiration for young athletes across the nation. We are extremely proud of their dedication and achievement and I congratulate them all:

Jessica Trengrove won the bronze medal in athletics for the women's marathon;

Rohan Dennis won a silver medal for cycling in the men's time trial;

Jack Bobridge won a gold medal in the men's 400-metre team pursuit and a gold in the men's 4,000-metre individual pursuit;

Luke Davison won a gold medal in the men's 4,000-metre team pursuit;

Alexander Edmondson won gold in the men's 4,000-metre team pursuit and silver in the men's 4,000-metre individual pursuit;

Glen O'Shea won a gold medal in the men's 4,000-metre team pursuit and silver in the men's 20-kilometre scratch race;

Annette Edmondson won gold in the women's 10-kilometre scratch and silver in the women's 3,000-metre individual pursuit;

Matthew Glaetzer took out gold in the men's keirin and bronze in the men's team sprint;

Anna Meares won a gold medal in the women's 500-metre time trial and a silver medal in the women's sprint;

Stephanie Morton won a gold medal in the women's sprint and a silver medal in the women's 500-metre time trial;

Kieran Modra, along with his pilot, Jason Niblett, won a silver medal in the men's tandem 1,000-metre time trial and a silver medal in the men's tandem sprint for athletes with a disability; and

Breanna Hargrave piloted for Brandie O'Connor, and together they went on to win a bronze in the women's tandem sprint and in the women's tandem 1,000-metre time trial.

South Australia is also home to interstate athletes who base their daily training environment here in Adelaide, including cyclist, Scott Sunderland, who won a gold medal, and Nathan Hart, who won a bronze medal.

In South Australia, where the Tour Down Under is so close to our hearts, and the nation cycling program is based, we are especially proud of the enormous success of our cyclists who continue to shine on the world stage. I would also like to congratulate the South Australian members of the gold medal winning women's hockey team: Jane Claxton, Karri McMahon and Georgie Parker; Wayne Ruediger, who won a bronze medal in the men's fours lawn bowls team; and our fantastic Adelaide Thunderbirds team members, Natalie Medhurst and Renae Hallinan, who were part of the gold medal winning Australian Diamonds team in netball. I have said before in this chamber that I had the privilege of playing friendly games with the Australian Diamonds as part of the federal parliamentary team, and it was an experience I cherish.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What position did you play in netball, member for Torrens?

Ms WORTLEY: Wing attack. In shooting, David Chapman won a gold medal in the men's 25-metre rapid-fire pistol and competed at the Commonwealth Games with his daughter, Hayley. In swimming, Sally Hunter won gold in the women's 4 by 100-metre medley relay and silver in the women's 200-metre breaststroke. Of our athletes with a disability, I congratulate Jesse Aungles, who won a silver in the men's 200-metre individual medley SM8, and Matthew Cowdrey, who won silver in the men's 100-metre freestyle S9. We congratulate every member of the Australian Glasgow 20th Commonwealth Games team, particularly those athletes who have called South Australia home.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You might like to continue your remarks at the end of the motion because you have run out of time, member for Torrens.

Ms WORTLEY: I will continue my remarks at the end.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:46): It gives me great pleasure to make a contribution to the member for Stuart's motion on congratulating our Commonwealth Games team, particularly our South Australians who were part of that great team. The Commonwealth Games were a fantastic spectacle and, as we saw on the screen, stadiums were largely full, with plenty of interest around the 17 sports on display. I am pleased to note that South Australian athletes took out 20 per cent of the Australian gold medals at the Commonwealth Games which, as others have mentioned, were 11 days of high activity, high colour, great competitive individual efforts and great team efforts from those 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 countries.

There were 41 South Australians competing at the games, winning 26 medals in seven different sports, with local athletes particularly dominating in cycling. I think South Australia has a proud history in cycling, not only in the Commonwealth Games but further afield in the Olympic Games. We can all be very proud of the cycling program here in South Australia, and I pay tribute to my old trade school teacher, Charlie Walsh, who never used to get off a bike. He would ride from machine to machine and from schoolroom to schoolroom. He was one great South Australian who inspired many, but I digress.

I think athletes from South Australia were phenomenally successful at the Commonwealth Games, and the campaign came to an end with the curtain going down at Glasgow. We all remember the athletes; we have affiliations with some more than others. I must say that Jess Trengove's personal best in the marathon was an outstanding effort, and Paul Raison, Margaret Gayen and Sean Roberts produced performances that saw all of them finish in the top seven in their respective events.

There were nine gold medals, 10 silver medals and three bronze medals from those South Australian athletes in cycling. There were three hockey gold medals, two netball gold medals, one shooting gold medal, one swimming gold medal and three silver medals and one bronze in athletics and lawn bowls. I must pay tribute to the two Riverland girls, who were gold medal winners in hockey: Karri McMahon and Georgie Parker. They are outstanding role models for all young South Australians and all young Australians, and their performances were well noted.

I would like to highlight some of the remarkable performances by South Australian athletes. We all watched in awe the great cyclist, Anna Meares, as she broke Commonwealth Games records, claimed Australia's first gold medal at the games and became the first female cyclist in history to win the same Commonwealth Games cycling event three times. She was the first athlete to earn a track cycling award at four editions of the quadrennial event and drew level for the most games track cycling gold medals.

Fellow 23-year-old South Australian Stephanie Morton won silver in her games debut in a fantastic effort and went on to win gold in the women's sprint. Jack Bobridge, of course, Luke Davison, Alexander Edmondson and Glenn O'Shea dominated the men's team cycling sprint, claiming gold to defend their 4,000-metre team pursuit. They led at every point of the 16-lap race and broke the games record, and that was outstanding. I must say that is one of the memorable events at the games.

The netballers included Natalie Medhurst and Renae Hallinan. I had the pleasure of meeting Renae at a Sport SA Awards nomination breakfast recently. She is an inspiration not only to all women in sport but she is also an outstanding role model to all young aspiring athletes. I commend Renae both on and off the field. In women's hockey, the two Riverland girls, SA players Karri McMahon and Georgie Parker, and, of course, Jane Claxton claimed gold in what I would call a nail biter against England. It was to the late equalising goal and then a frenetic penalty shootout that got Australia across the line.

While South Australian representatives were not as successful in the athletics field, I think that Jessica Trengove put on an inspired performance to claim the bronze medal. Again, that personal best is always a great achievement by any sportsperson. It was to the cheers of her family and supporters who packed the Alma Hotel. After she returned home she said that that was one of her inspirations that really pushed her to the absolute end to get that bronze medal. Hoyleton shooter David Chapman claimed a gold medal, with a record finals shoot at the Commonwealth Games in the 25-metre rapid fire pistol men's final. It was already a special games for David as he was selected with his daughter Hayley, who finished sixth in the semi-finals of the women's 25-metre pistol event.

It was a great recognition by the Commonwealth Games Federation to incorporate para-sports into the main program, with para-sports athletes competing in such events as athletics and aquatics. There were many great and memorable moments, but I think that one of the important points is that South Australia is preparing for a Commonwealth Games bid in 2026 and potentially 2030, with the Gold Coast hosting the event in 2018. Already, we have had a desktop audit of all facilities in South Australia, but there is still plenty of work to do. The South Australian government needs to continue to work and fully support the development of our athletics. The cutting of one of our high-performance programs this year and a reduction in scholarships is no help, but I would like to make sure that the government does recognise the importance of the Kidman Park facility and the SASI program down there.

I recently toured the facility. It is an ageing facility, but we are doing the best we can with that facility. There is scope for this government to look into the future so that we can inspire not only our young to stay in South Australia to train and to be part of a national team but also to bring other international sportspeople to the state, to have a world-class facility, like other states are embarking on at the moment. I ask every member in this chamber to be mindful that, when we are lobbying for better facilities, upgraded programs and high-performance programs, we put money behind those programs to promote our great athletes.

As I have said, I will be working in a bipartisan way with the Minister for Recreation and Sport to bring the Commonwealth Games to South Australia. I think that it is a great event that South Australia has missed out on. We will be looking closely at how the Gold Coast performs, and we will be looking very closely at how we put our tender to the international body to make sure that Adelaide is on the agenda.

Our South Australian athletes who competed at the Commonwealth Games certainly did the state proud and should hold their head high. Many of the athletes were competing at their first Commonwealth Games and they will only learn from the experience. We must also acknowledge the effort that goes on behind the scenes, whether it be support staff, coaches and volunteers who help prepare those athletes. Once again, I congratulate all our athletes and look forward to seeing them continuing to shine into the future.

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (12:55): It is a pleasure to support this motion. Aspirational targets have been mentioned by a few and they are critical to all of us in life, but every level of sport involves some person challenging themselves to get a result and, when those results are achieved, they go to that next level and you never know what comes from it. I think that the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games are the absolute top of the tree that any person could ever aspire to. I pay tribute not just to those who are successful in getting selected for it, but to those who—and I hate to even try to determine what the number of hours would be—want to do things. It is inspirational and part of the Australian psyche, I think, to do our absolute best. Sport is one of the key things that we love.

I will not repeat the names and the details that have already been quoted, other than to commend all people on the achievements they have undertaken. There are two people I want to mention, David and Hayley Chapman, who reside in the Goyder electorate. I have met both of them—I know David better than Hayley—and they are outstanding people. David is 49. He competed in the Olympics in 2000 and 2012. He has competed in the Commonwealth Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014. He is not a man of substantial stature but he is committed to what he does. He is a farmer. He still runs the farm and will always run the farm. He is a member of the Balaklava Sports Shooting Club. He is always available to help mentor and coach other young shooters. I was just doing some research on him and learnt that in his teenage years he had a vision that by the time he was 35, so in the year 2000, he was going to do something big. I do not think you can do anything bigger than get selected for a home Olympics in Sydney. He achieved it.

After having been a shooter for about 10 years, taking up a love that was his father's, he got married and started a family and withdrew from shooting for a 10-year period to consolidate things and then came back into the competitive side of shooting and was good enough to get selected for an Olympic team within five years. He has continued through with his love of that. He is very much a wonderful example that no matter what age you are, no matter how good your eyesight might be—and I am 52 and my eyes are on the way out, so I am not sure how a shooter can still focus that well at the age of 49. It is wonderful for him and it is not just an individual success because it has taken him years to get to that stage to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal. I pay homage to him and congratulate him on that.

His daughter, Hayley, is only 22. She competed in the Olympics in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games in 2014. She notes that her sporting hero is her father. I think that is just wonderful that through three generations of family, they have all been inspired by what their parents have done. It is wonderful that a young person took it up in her teenage years and has been coached by her dad and also has external coaching now and goes to university. She has not got onto the dais yet to receive a medal, but she will because she has instilled into everything she does the will and the commitment that has been demonstrated by her dad. I pay homage to both of them, I congratulate them on their efforts and I see them as being examples of so many people (in the hundreds of thousands) around Australia who commit to sporting activities. Very few manage to reach it, but the rest of us, no matter what we have done in our life, respect them tremendously for it. Well done.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (12:58): I will be very brief in my comments but I support this motion. I concur with what everyone else has said here this afternoon and congratulate all the South Australian athletes and all the athletes who took part in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. We have mentioned some of the big names like Jess Trengove, Jack Bobridge and Anna Meares but I would like to single out a couple of athletes who come from the electorate of Mitchell.

Two of those are teenagers Emma Adams and Jack Rossiter, both shooters from the Reynella Small Bore and Air Rifle Club. They are wonderful young athletes who did incredibly well to actually make it to the Commonwealth Games. Their club and state coach, Carrie Quigley, said they always stood a chance and their performance was very impressive, and they are earmarked for big things at the Olympic Games in Rio.

Both Emma and Jack produced outstanding results. Jack finished 10th out of a field of 21, just out of qualifying in the top eight to go on to the final, but he did very well to finish 10th. Emma finished 14th out of a field of 28, just missing out on qualifying for the final eight to go on to the final. I commend them for their efforts. Emma is currently a student at Reynella East High School and, as I said, well on her way to going to Rio, along with Jack.

Swimmers from the Marion Swimming Club were Sally Hunter, Matt Cowdrey and Jesse Aungles, with coach Peter Bishop. They are three great athletes. Sally won an individual silver and relay medals as well. Matt Cowdrey, who it is suggested is in the twilight of his career, came second in his swimming event, the men's freestyle S9. He was beaten by Australian teenage sensation Rowan Crothers, who set an unofficial individual world record—so a great performance there. Matt has just been a stellar performer in the Paralympic field. Jesse Aungles, as was pointed out a little earlier, is also a Paralympic swimmer and he won silver in the 200-metre individual medley.

In closing, I hope to witness a Commonwealth Games in Adelaide in my lifetime; 2030 would be fantastic. I hope we do get those games so that we can watch many more great athletes.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (13:00): I appreciate the support from all members of this parliament. I know that the member for Morialta would have liked to make particular mention of Matthew Glaetzer from his electorate. Bring on the Gold Coast in 2018 and hopefully one day we will have a Commonwealth Games in Adelaide.

Motion carried.

Sitting suspended from 13:01 to 14:00.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert will not catch things thrown into the chamber from the Speaker's gallery, but it was a good catch.

Mr Pederick: He can do it from the other gallery.

An honourable member: The upstairs gallery.

The SPEAKER: Yes, that would be more challenging.

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