HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-27 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Motions

Modra, Mr K.

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (11:31): I move:

That this house expresses its deep regret on the passing of Paralympian Mr Kieran Modra AM and acknowledges his long and meritorious contribution to the sport of cycling, the Paralympic movement and our state.

Kieran John Modra AM was born 27 March 1972 in Port Lincoln to Theo and Sylvia. Sadly, as I am sure all in this house are aware, on the 13th of this month we lost Kieran. He was hit by a car travelling in the same direction on the Sturt Highway near Kingsford just north of Adelaide. He was cycling from his home in Hallett Cove to his uncle and aunt's house to join them for a ride in the Clare Valley.

Kieran Modra was born with a visual impairment—juvenile optic atrophy—caused by damage to the optic nerve, a condition that caused his eyesight to deteriorate over time. He grew up on a farm; however, he went to boarding school at Immanuel College here in Adelaide, I believe at the same time as the Premier. Kieran was a self-described country lad who loved daredevil adventure. Through nearly all his life that daredevil nature manifested itself in one form of sport or another, whether that was the pole vault or javelin in his early athletic career, backstroke through his period in the pool, or, more notably, his long and distinguished career on the bike, which commenced in 1995.

Kieran was by all definitions a pioneer in tandem cycling. His Paralympic record was near unparalleled. He competed in three sports at eight consecutive Paralympic Games and won five gold medals. His career reads as follows:

at the Seoul Paralympics in 1988 he competed in athletics;

in Barcelona in 1992 he competed in swimming. He won a bronze medal in the men's 200-metre backstroke and men's 100-metre backstroke;

in Atlanta in 1996 he won gold in the mixed track 200-metre sprint tandem;

he competed at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000;

in Athens in 2004 he won two gold medals in the track sprint tandem and the individual pursuit tandem, and a bronze in the men's road race;

in Beijing in 2008 he won a gold medal in the men's track individual pursuit and bronze in the men's track one-kilometre time trial;

in London in 2012 he won the men's individual pursuit gold; and

in Rio in 2016 he won the men's time trial bronze.

Kieran's achievements, however, tell only a small fraction of his story and only partly describe why he was a true legend. Kieran was resilient and a fierce competitor. There were many occasions over his career when many other athletes would have just given up or called it a day, but not Kieran. Prior to the 2004 games, a selection issue nearly saw him miss Athens altogether.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) long-running appeal process and final ruling ultimately saw him deselected from the team just weeks before the games. He and his pilot trained in isolation for the remaining weeks, holding out hope that there would be a reprieve. That hope was justified when a discretionary spot was awarded on the eve of the games. His subsequent performance was just one illustration of a trait that came to define his career: the ability to perform in the face of adversity. Kieran won two gold medals and a bronze in Athens despite those challenges. Australia is grateful that Kieran was able to compete in Athens.

His ability to perform in the face of adversity was required again in December 2011. Kieran had an accident while on a training ride, colliding with a car. He broke two vertebrae in his neck. Despite, I am sure, the advice of doctors and, I imagine, a range of others close to him, he got back on the bike in short time and retained his place on the team for London. Again defying the odds, he won gold in the individual pursuit less than 12 months after the accident.

Kieran was an exceptional athlete but also an exceptional leader. He was well respected locally, nationally and internationally, both for his performances and for the way he went about things. This is evidenced by the number of people here today to recognise Kieran's contribution to our state. When looking through tributes placed for Kieran on the Paralympic group page, it was clear that people will remember him for his positive can-do attitude, for his cheeky smile and for his willingness to give his time freely and generously, whether to mentor younger athletes, contribute to disability service organisations or assist anyone who asked for assistance. Three words appeared more than others, and I believe them apt in describing him: proud, loyal and humble.

There are a couple of stories about Kieran that are almost legendary within the Paralympic community, and I thought sharing these today would again assist in remembering Kieran's contribution and his approach. The first is around Kieran's ability to snap more bike chains than anyone thought possible. I am certainly no expert, but I understand that snapping a chain is something that happens more frequently with tandem bikes. However, Kieran's ability was unparalleled. I remember hearing this story while at the games in London. Kieran and his pilot, Scott, were at the start of the time trial event, and straight after the gun, on first impact, snapped their chain due to the force exerted. Unable to restart, Kieran was noticeably dismayed, but just shrugged his shoulders and said, 'That's cycling.'

The second relates to the opening ceremony of the Beijing games. The movement was much more professional in Beijing than it had been just four years earlier, and much to Kieran's dismay, which he had voiced, the team hierarchy had put in place a blanket rule that any athlete competing on the first two days of the games was not allowed to march in the opening ceremony—a rule designed to improve performance. Usually, the athletes are left out the back standing up for hours before they march into the stadium.

I can quite safely say that I was tucked up in bed that night, but Kieran, on the other hand, had other ideas. The Australian team departed for the stadium, and Kieran was ticked off as remaining in the village. The story goes that the chef de mission of the team, the former Paralympic CEO Jason Hellwig, was getting ready to lead the team out. He turned around and was met with a cheeky smile by none other than Kieran. 'How did you get here?' Jason asked. Kieran replied, 'I waited for you to leave and then I jumped on the bus with the Chinese.' Kieran won gold the very next day.

The famous quote from the movie Cool Runnings, 'I feel very Olympic today,' in many ways embodies Kieran's approach to the games. He wanted to be part of them, every single part of them, and he had trouble stopping. During the launch of Kieran's book, titled The Way I See It,by His Excellency the Governor Hieu Van Le just last year, his uncle Andy, who is here today, talked about Kieran's ability to un-retire. His uncle said:

After each of his eight Paralympic games, spanning 28 years, (and winning many medals for Australia in a variety of sports), Kieran would retire…and then 'un-retire'. This was not entirely Kieran's fault.

Being such an excellent and successful athlete, the APC would invite Kieran and wife Kerry to a lavish lunch, where they would successfully tempt Kieran back on to a bike saddle by telling him about the tourist delights on offer at the Games.

Kieran Modra was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours, for 'significant service to sport as an athlete representing Australia at Paralympic Games, and to people who are blind or have low vision'.

To Kieran's wife, Kerry, to his three beautiful girls, to his wider family, friends and to the Paralympic community we express our most sincere condolences. Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Officer Lynne Anderson said it best:

Kieran is a giant of Australian Paralympic sport, not only because of his competitive success but also because of his wider contribution to the Paralympic movement across multiple sports over many years. He has left a legacy that will live on.

There are no truer words. Vale, Kieran Modra AM.

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:41): Thank you very much to the member for Colton for bringing this motion to this place, and for his lovely, insightful words today. I, too, rise to offer my deepest condolences, love and sympathy to the family, friends, coaches, cycling partners and cycling and broader sporting teammates of Kieran Modra AM. A loving husband, father, son and friend taken way too soon when tragically killed when hit by a car a fortnight ago.

I know that Kieran's death has been deeply felt by people around the world who have been shocked by his passing. He will be gravely and sorely missed by many for years to come. Kieran was a giant of the Australian and global sporting community and of the Paralympic movement—not only for his many gold medals and his legendary willpower, grit and extraordinary determination, but also for his role as a leader, mentor and ambassador.

As many friends, colleagues and commentators have said of Kieran, he wanted to share. He was relentlessly caring. He was driven to do things for others, to empower them and to see everyone do and be their best. He extended the hand of friendship and mentorship to local people and to athletes and others across the world. It is clear that Kieran's kindness and willingness to lift others was a gift to all he encountered and mentored. Through living his life so well, with such positivity and so generously, he made a difference to many.

Kieran has been described as humble, positive and respectful and as always wanting to show what was possible and what could be achieved. In a community that loves sport, sportspeople are powerful in terms of the messages they can convey, in terms of how they can shift and shape attitudes and in terms of how they can make people consider things and people differently. It is clear that Kieran's leadership and message was absolutely focused on encouraging everyone to follow their dreams and that whatever your ability, with hard work, passion and determination, you can achieve them.

Kieran used his power and leadership as a sportsperson to shift attitudes. In doing so, he immeasurably and indelibly strengthened and lifted our discourse and our way of accepting, including and celebrating all people. He took the time and used his energy to mentor others, to give them this message to positively influence them on their journeys. I understand that doing so brought him great joy.

As well as excelling on the track, including tandem cycling, Kieran was also an acclaimed backstroke swimmer and track and field competitor. He was multitalented, inspiring and very well loved and admired by all. After debuting at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, Kieran went on to win five gold medals across track and field, swimming and cycling.

Throughout his career, as has been mentioned, he showed incredible mental, physical and emotional resilience, including overcoming serious injury to win gold at the 2012 London games. Despite breaking two vertebrae in a 2011 training accident, he went on to win those two cycling gold medals in London in what was an incredible feat of human endurance and perseverance.

At the 2004 games, Kieran recovered from a shocking crash in the semifinals to go on to win gold in the individual pursuit. In 2014, as was mentioned, he was rightly awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for services to the vision-impaired and sport. His five gold medals across three vastly different events over eight Paralympic Games is an incredible achievement. Friends and colleagues have described Kieran as being a relentlessly focused and determined athlete whilst being a kind and loyal gentle soul out of the arena.

Throughout his career Kieran showed us what people of all abilities can achieve, and he showed us all how you can live in a way that enables and encourages others to live their best possible life. Lynne Anderson, Paralympics Australia's Chief Executive says: 'His legacy will live on in future generations of athletes with disability.' I quote Ms Anderson, again:

Kieran is a giant of Australian Paralympic sport not only because of his competitive success but also because of his wider contribution to the Paralympic movement across multiple sports over many years.

This sentiment was certainly echoed as together our South Australian sporting community honoured Kieran with words and then in silence in deep unity at last week's South Australian Sports Awards.

For those who are left behind, particularly his wife, Kerry, and his beautiful daughters and all who loved him and who were touched by his generosity and kindness, again I offer my condolences and love to you. In doing so, I also say that I know that Kieran's legacy will live on, that he will continue to inspire future generations of sportspeople to achieve their best, that he will continue to make many children believe that they can follow and achieve their dreams and that he has shaped our community, our humanity, for the better. Vale, Kieran Modra.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (11:46): I rise as well to speak today on the motion put forward by the member for Colton and commend him for doing so. I would like to take the opportunity to say a few words about Kieran Modra.

I did not have a personal relationship with Kieran. I did have the good fortune to admire and watch him from afar. In a previous life, I worked as a sports journalist and I did get to report on his great achievements on a number of occasions over more than a couple of decades, and he truly was an inspiration. He was from the West Coast. He was a good country person, and I will go on to talk about that country upbringing and how he was perceived by people he knew.

As we have heard, he represented Australia in the Paralympics in the sports of athletics, swimming and cycling and won medals in swimming and cycling. His wife was his pilot in his career at a number of games and, of course, the couple went on to have three lovely daughters as well. I will come back to that story talked about at the SA Sports Awards about how he met his wife and how he got her to pilot his bike.

His achievements were outstanding. In 2014, he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia medal for significant services to sport and to low vision people. He attended eight Paralympic Games, from 1988 to 2016, winning a total of five Paralympic gold medals and five bronze medals across the two disciplines.

Modra trained incredibly hard, and on top of that he was a great bloke, and that is where I refer to that country upbringing. He was said by his coach to be a very quiet, humble and respectful person, which is truly to be admired, and they were the sentiments that came to me any time I spoke to people about Kieran Modra—again in my journalistic life or more recently as the minister.

Our own Premier, Premier Marshall, in fact went to school with Modra and remembers him as a great bloke as well. He was a great athlete. He represented Australia on the world stage. Every South Australian felt enormously proud when he was on the dais time and time again with the gold medals hanging around his neck, the Premier has been quoted as saying, and I think we all concur with that.

I would like to refer to the SA Sports Awards just the other night where Kieran was honoured. I know there were a couple of tables there of family, friends and supporters who played a big part in his career. A couple of stories were told, and it is often those stories that are told behind the scenes or in the back stalls that resonate with people. The member for Colton has already mentioned his Athens deselection, and I think it is one story that needs to be touched on again for a moment.

Imagine, in the lead-in to the games you are deselected and moved out of the village. You are told, fundamentally, that you are not going to compete. All the work, all the preparation, all the training that has gone into it—and you are removed from that. The emotional let-down, the emotional impact that would have on anyone, from my mindset, would have pretty much ruled you out of being able to physically get on the bike and, in Kieran's case, compete.

But after an emotional, lengthy battle, he was reinstated to compete at those games. It just shows the character of the person and the great intestinal fortitude he had to front up, get on the bike, put all that to one side and have the strength of mind and the physical capability to go on and win in that case two gold medals and a bronze on the tandem bike at those games. It is truly inspirational; and it was a very strong focus of conversation around the SA Sport Awards the other night.

Another story that really tickled my fancy relates to his wife and really put a smile on my face. He was looking for a partner on his tandem bike, as the story went. He said that Kerry would be the right person, so he arranged for that to happen. As his coach said, Kieran Modra was a very clever man. He got Kerry onto the bike, but he had an ulterior motive. He had a partner in the saddle, but she was a partner he wanted to court and wanted to date. It is a lovely part of their journey. Of course, they went on to have three beautiful girls, which is absolutely outstanding. I love the way he went about his business, and no-one was really surprised with the way he courted Kerry.

Another story left a smile on my face. It was relayed to me that when they were riding together in the lead-up to a competition Kerry had what they thought was an injury concern. She was not performing as she needed to be and questions were being asked. They were looking at what might be wrong and what the injury might be. It turned out to be the best sort of injury you could have—she was pregnant.

Again, that is another little part of their relationship that shows what a wonderful bond they had. It is fantastic that they had those wonderful memories of competing together, living together and having a life together, and no doubt Kerry and the girls are now sharing in the grief. My heart goes out to them and their family. If you can take a positive from this, it would be that they have so many wonderful memories together. I would implore them to cherish those memories because they are great memories.

As a sports journalist who got to watch his achievements on the television and report on them at times, as the Premier has said, every time he stood on the stage—and the picture is with me, as I am sure it is with everyone in this house—he had a beaming smile on his beaming face whenever he would get on the podium. The member for Colton described his cheeky nature very well. He competed for his country and competed for his family with great pride. He did his absolute best every time he got in the saddle, most specifically, in the bulk of his career when he was riding a bike, and we truly admire him for that.

Again, my heart goes out to the family. Kieran Modra will be remembered as an absolutely outstanding athlete, a wonderful competitor but, more importantly, a great bloke.

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (11:53): I often meet people within the role of human services and spokesperson for disability who are inspiring, awesome and amazing, and I lament the fact that I did not meet Kieran Modra. I am quite envious of people who talk about him as a personal friend, training partner and athlete. I would like to share some of the thoughts I have about him and also share some tributes that have been offered to me to read out from the various people whose lives Kieran inspired and touched.

It is really a tragic loss to South Australia and the Paralympic community. At the time of the tragedy, they were in Dubai at the World Para Athletics championship. Following the news, I was in contact with a former teammate of Kieran (confusingly, another Kieran), Kieran Murphy, who is also a paracyclist and who was in Dubai. Kieran is here in the gallery today. He said that the loss was being felt hard by the Australian team in Dubai, but they were trying to focus on winning for Kieran.

Kieran Modra was an amazing athlete. I remember watching him in 1998. My husband and I would watch two flies crawl up a wall. Make no mistake, we are absolutely addicted to watching sport and competition and do try to cheer for the opposite side if we can just to put a bit of fun and spice into it. I remember, back in 1988, Kieran Modra being involved in athletics. I had to double-check myself on things because it is quite a journey to go from athletics to swimming to cycling.

I understand he won two bronze medals in 1992 in Barcelona in swimming. I do not think I can say I remember that, but I understand that to be the case. We have mentioned that he competed in a number of Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, and finally the Rio games as a tandem cyclist. I remember watching that particular race and cheering him on—I do not think he could hear me but I was as loud as I could possibly be—and at that point he won a bronze in the time trial.

We have also already mentioned that in 1997 he was given a medal, the Order of Australia, for significant service to sport as an athlete representing Australia at Paralympic Games. I think we could fill the entire day listing the achievements and the ways in which Kieran Modra inspired not just those of us in here but particularly those in the low vision and blind community. Kieran was a giant in the community, as has been said, as well as an inspiration and a visionary for everybody.

We have here today representatives from the Royal Society for the Blind, Guide Dogs SA and Can:Do 4Kids, as well as other people Kieran Modra has been friends with throughout his amazing life, and I am pleased to be able to read out a few tributes on their behalf. From the RSB we hear:

Kieran was a long-term friend of many and a huge supporter of the organisation. Kieran Modra had a profound impact on many individuals in the vision loss community. Generous with his time, over the years many young vision-impaired people have been mentored and supported by Kieran. From young kids just needing a few words of encouragement to potential Australian Paralympians benefiting from his mentoring and experience, Kieran showed a keen interest in them all.

It did not matter if they were going to make it or not, it did not matter what the level of talent or commitment, Kieran's message was simple and always about being the best person you can be. While others will speak of his great personal sporting achievements, of which there are many, at the RSB we will greatly miss the positive impact and influence he had on hundreds of young vision-impaired people over many years, for this is in many respects his true legacy.

Can:Do 4Kids, who are also here today, said:

Townsend House is proud to have been a part of Kieran Modra's journey. As a student at Hove's Townsend House, Kieran was known for his great wit and uncompromising zest for life. Going on to achieve international recognition as a gold medal-winning Paralympian, he overcame his severe vision loss and made a success of everything life threw at him.

As a Can:Do 4Kids ambassador, Kieran continued to inspire those around him—both children and adults, blind and sighted—to make the most of all life has to offer. Kieran will be greatly missed by the staff and clients of Can:Do 4Kids, and our deepest condolences are with Kerry, Makala, Holly, Janae and everyone whose lives Kieran touched.

Lisa Pearce, who is a long-time friend of Kieran Modra, has also come today. She says:

He was my friend. He was a great inspiration to me and many others from the vision-impaired community. He was, and always will be, a reminder that it is not the vision impairment that will hold you back but how you approach life with that vision impairment.

I have also been speaking to another friend of mine, Rachael Leahcar, who cannot be here today. Rachael is a huge inspiration in the blind and vision-impaired community. She wants me to read the following tribute:

This world has lost a powerful soul in Kieran Modra. He was a passionate sportsman and inspired that uplifting spirit in everyone he met. He was a prominent and valuable member of the vision-impaired community, living his dreams and achieving goal after goal. He will be sorely missed but his legacy will live on.

As you can see, Mr Speaker and all here, Kieran Modra was truly a wonderful member of our community, loved by so many, no more so than his family and close friends.

The grief right now would be simply the worst thing that they have ever felt. The physical pain that this translates to is the most awful pain that just cannot be relieved. To Kieran's wife, Kerry Golding, and his three daughters Makala, Holly and Janae, nothing I nor any one of us can say today will ease your pain right now, but I and others in this chamber hope that you will one day find some comfort and happiness in the knowledge that Kieran was so loved and respected by South Australia, and this legacy is one you will carry with you forever. Vale, Kieran Modra. I commend the motion.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (12:00): I rise today to speak to and support the motion that has been brought here by the member for Colton. I thank him for doing that and thank other members who have contributed. The motion reads:

That this house expresses its deep regret on the passing of Paralympian Mr Kieran Modra AM and acknowledges his long and meritorious contribution to the sport of cycling, the Paralympic movement and our state.

Kieran Modra was a Paralympic tandem cyclist, competing in eight Paralympic Games across three sports, winning five gold and five bronze medals from 1988 to 2016—an extraordinary career. Kieran was born in Port Lincoln in 1972 and was born visually impaired, with juvenile optic atrophy. I know the Modra family quite well. I did not know Kieran, unfortunately, because he had moved from the district before I had the opportunity to meet him, but certainly I know his parents, Theo and Sylvia, and brother, Mark, who still farms on Lower Eyre Peninsula.

Kieran was born in 1972. He spent his early days out on Thistle Island, off the coast of Port Lincoln, which his father, Theo, owned. Like a number of the other islands off the coast of South Australia, it was run as a sheep station. Theo and the Modras generally were very hardworking and innovative farmers, and Theo came up with all sorts of wonderful systems through which he could manage his sheep station out on Thistle Island, but distance and geography became more difficult as the family grew older because the time came for the children to go to school. They did consider School of the Air. Father Theo also flew his own light aircraft and they did, for a short time at least, fly backwards and forwards between Thistle Island and Port Lincoln, but that was unsustainable of course.

On speaking to his older brother, Mark, it was an idyllic lifestyle. Who would not want to grow up on an island, being carefree, fun loving and having just the other family members to worry about? They moved back to the mainland and the family bought a property at Green Patch, just outside Port Lincoln, which they still own and continue to farm.

Our association with the Modra family goes back further than that. When my grandfather Colin moved from the Mid North to the Yeelanna district in 1926, his first job was with the Modras. He worked as a farmhand for, I guess, Kieran's great-grandfather it would have been, so, there you go, we have had a long association. The family farm has expanded and they are now near neighbours of mine at both Edillilie and Yeelanna.

But we are here to talk about Kieran, and what a contribution he has made to the sport of Paralympics. He started his sporting career in athletics at the Australian All School Championships and the Seoul Paralympic Games. He then moved to swimming following a knee injury. This led to Kieran attending the Barcelona Paralympic Games, where he competed in both athletics and swimming, winning two bronze medals.

He switched to road and track cycling in 1995. He then attended the Atlanta games in 1996, where he was piloted by his future wife, Kerry Golding. They married in 1997 and had three children; my condolences go to them. With a long list of achievements to his name, Kieran also broke many world records and came home with many medals.

Awards he has received over the years include the Medal of the Order of Australia, in 1997; Australian Sports Medal, in 2000; Australian Paralympian of the Year; and South Australian Sports Institute Athlete with a Disability of the Year with Scott McPhee, in 2011. He was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours for significant service to the sport as an athlete representing Australia at the Paralympic Games and to people who are blind or who have low vision. Also in 2014, he was the South Australian Sports Institute Male Athlete with a Disability of the Year with Jason Niblett. His list of Olympic achievements have already been covered well this morning.

Kieran heroically rode in his third consecutive Paralympic Games in London, one year after a significant setback due to a severe cycling accident that resulted in him breaking two vertebrae in his neck. His commitment to the sport and to the Paralympic Movement was significant, and the Paralympic Movement is indebted to Kieran's contribution. He left his sport in a better place than when he began. To quote his brother, Mark, whom I spoke to just a couple of days after Kieran's accident, 'Nothing was impossible [for Kieran], absolutely nothing. There was no such thing as can't.'

Our commiserations and condolences go to the Modra family: to his wife, Kerry, to his three children and to his mum and dad, Theo and Sylvia, whom I still see often in Port Lincoln; they are still out and about. I understand the hurt that they must be feeling. My condolences also go to his brother, Mark, and his sister, Tania, and their families. He was a larger than life human being. Not only has he left his sport in a better place than when he began, but this world is also a better place as a result of his contribution. Vale, Kieran Modra.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (12:07): I rise to make some brief remarks on the motion brought to the house by the member for Colton. The member for Colton, himself a distinguished athlete and Olympian, should be congratulated for bringing this motion to us to consider, because the life of Kieran Modra has been not only one filled with extraordinary successes but one that has been very influential for many South Australians, both within the sporting community and beyond the sporting community.

Perhaps a bit like the member for Gibson, I did not know Kieran, but I was certainly aware of his remarkable sporting achievements. I cannot think of many other examples of a South Australian sportsperson who has had such a varied, successful and long sporting career. I perhaps know Kieran Modra in the same way that many other South Australians would: through reading in TheAdvertiser of his substantial successes and through seeing those reported on the nightly news. It is worth remembering that he became a successful Olympian, competing at the very highest levels, beginning at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, more than 10 years before the first Tour Down Under race was held in South Australia.

I raise that because now we regard cycling as a fairly popular pastime for a lot of South Australians, but that is only a recent phenomenon. During the course of his extraordinary career, Kieran Modra was one of the first South Australian sportspeople to really place cycling in the upper echelons of sports that could be pursued by South Australians.

I think it says a lot that someone from Port Lincoln can throw themselves into not just cycling but a range of sports and excel at each endeavour. I think it says a lot that someone from humble South Australia and from such a wonderful part of South Australia can do that. For South Australians who view that remarkable career, particularly children, that instils the realisation that any one of us, given sufficient talent and endeavour, would also be able to achieve the sorts of sporting highs that Kieran did.

Although I did not know Kieran, I have in recent years come to know his sister, Tania, and her husband, Simon, as fellow residents of Largs Bay. It is remarkable that only 18 months before the Sydney Paralympics Kieran's sister, Tania, was introduced to tandem cycling to compete at the Sydney Paralympics. She not only competed as a pilot but also won, I understand, two gold medals, which is an absolutely remarkable achievement.

I cannot imagine how Kieran Modra's family must be feeling at such an awful tragedy. To have Kieran taken in such a tragic but also completely unforeseen circumstance must be literally wrenching to experience. I convey certainly my, and also this chamber's, sincerest condolences and sympathies to the family and the love, compassion and prayers that go with that for Kieran Modra. Vale, Kieran, for a life well lived.

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (12:11): I thank the Minister for Sport and the members for Reynell, Hurtle Vale, Flinders and Lee for their contributions to the motion this morning. I also thank the opposition for their goodwill in ensuring that Kieran was rightfully acknowledged in this place today. To the many family, friends and supporters, on behalf of the whole South Australian parliament, we again express our deep sympathy and condolences to each and every one of you. Today, we remember his absolutely monumental contribution to our state. I wholeheartedly support the motion.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT