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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-01 Daily Xml
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Sport Awards

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:54): I rise today to speak about the 2015 KPMG Celebration of South Australian Sport which I recently attended in my role as shadow minister for sport and recreation. The celebration event featured the KPMG South Australian Sport Hall of Fame, The Advertiser Channel 7 Sports Star of the Year awards and, of course, the Sport SA awards. I would also like to welcome Michael Wright to the role of President of Sport SA, and his speech raised some really important points about how governments should be supporting sport in South Australia.

I would also like to acknowledge Rob Gerard AO. His passion and advocacy for sport is surpassed by nobody and his strong passion and presence in trying to drive and promote the Commonwealth Games coming to South Australia in 2026 was really one of the highlights of his speech.

Five South Australian sports stars were inducted into the hall of fame—Robert Newbery in diving, Sandra Pisani OAM in hockey, Karen Rolton in cricket, Lorraine Eiler in basketball and Norm Claxton in, of course, baseball. I would also like to acknowledge the award winners of the night. The Sports Star of the Year went to cyclist Rohan Dennis. Rohan is a fine young South Australian and I will speak about the conversation that I had with him a little bit later. The Junior Sports Star of the Year is swimmer Kyle Chalmers. The Team of the Year is Adelaide United. They had a spectacular season last year: they are not travelling as well at the moment but I wish them luck for the rest of the year.

The People's Choice Award went to netballer Renae Ingles. Renae was known as Renae Hallinan and recently married Joe. She won the People's Choice Award, and I can understand why. The award for Elite Athlete with a Disability went to Brayden Davidson in athletics. He is a great long jumper. The Tanya Denver Award for Endeavour and Sportsmanship went to Danielle Hill in harness racing.

Administrator of the Year is Sue Dewing from the SANFL. Coach of the Year went to Gareth Jones in SA Golf. The Country Athlete of the Year went to Georgie Seidel, who is involved in rowing. It is a great achievement for a girl who lives such a long way from all the major facilities, and she is still able to achieve what she does. She is a great athlete. The Significant Event of the Year was the Sunday Mail City-Bay Fun Run, and Joe Stevens heads up the fantastic group that organises that run.

Community Event of the Year went to Surf Life Saving SA for their Junior State Championships. I am sure the member for Bright would be very keen about that award. The Official of the Year went to none other than cricket umpire Steve Davis. Steve Davis is a well-known South Australian and has made an outstanding contribution to cricket. I had a conversation with Steve after the awards and he is heading over to the UK to promote cricket in a limited overs series there. It is great to see Steve being recognised.

The Volunteer Award went to James Lang in cricket. The Richard Newman Primary School Sports Award went to Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz. She plays tennis at the Glenelg Primary School and is a great young athlete with a huge future in front of her. The Secondary School Sports Award went to Kyle Chalmers in swimming at Immanuel College, and that is well deserved.

While I have limited time left, I want to touch on Rohan Dennis's achievements. He was awarded Sports Star of the Year for the second time in three years. He is a fine young South Australian and a very humble sportsperson, and I was lucky enough to talk with him for 15 or 20 minutes after the awards when he opened up about the pressures of elite cycling. He has a huge future in front of him. He has had an outstanding 12 months, as I said, having won this award twice in three years. He is a star of the future and a star of the professional cycling world. Rohan Dennis not only won the Tour Down Under but he went on to win the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in the opening stage, the 13.8-kilometre prologue in Utrecht in the Netherlands. His goal was to simply start and finish the Tour de France, yet he was able to beat some of the world's best in that first stage, becoming only the seventh Australian ever to wear the yellow jersey. I will continue my remarks in an adjournment.

Time expired.

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