E&OE....................................................................................................
Well, thank you very much, Dr Calvert, to Jackie Kelly, Senator Faulkner,
Mr Michael Knight, the Chairman of SOCOG, Phil Coles, Brett Chivers,
other very distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a particular pleasure for me to be here today to announce and
launch the Oceania leg of the Olympic torch for the Games of the year
2000. As you all know, next to the Olympic rings, the Olympic torch
is the most evocative and noticeable and memorable of all of the Olympic
symbols.
In the modern era of the Olympics the flame was first used during
the Los Angeles Games in 1932. And in May 2000 the great tradition
will be continued when a flame will be kindled by the rays of the
sun at a special ceremony in Olympia in Greece and will be carried
by as many means of transport as possible through the world and ending
at the opening of the Games in Sydney in the year 2000. And importantly,
for the purposes of today's gathering, on the way to Sydney the
torch will visit the Olympic nations of Oceania. And the staging of
the Oceania leg of the relay is a massive undertaking involving the
co-operation of the Commonwealth, SOCOG and the national Olympic committees
of each of the participating nations.
At the South Pacific Forum in Rarotonga on the 17th of
September last year I announced that the Australian Government would
fully underwrite the cost of carrying the torch through the Pacific
island nations. And this recognised that the Olympic Games of 2000
would not only be an Australia-wide event but would also be an event
for the Oceania region. And just as we want the torch relay in Australia
to touch the broadest cross-section of the Australian community and
the Australian experience, so too do we want to showcase the lives
of our near neighbours of the region and help reveal to the world
a little more the rich history and culture of the Oceania region and
its people.
Sport is central to the lives of Australians and also to the lives
of people who live in the Oceania region. And the inclusion of the
nations of the region in the torch relay is a particular recognition
of this.
The torch will travel through many nations in the region with which
Australia has a strong history of sporting links. And they include
Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. And Australia's
links with many parts of the region of course extend beyond sport.
There are links anchored in history, in war, in geography and which
are sustained today by the many people-to-people links.
In Papua New Guinea celebrations will include an opportunity for community
involvement by the people of Kokoda near Port Moresby. And I am particularly
pleased that the route will take the torch to Ower's Corner on
the Kokoda Trail itself.
The Oceania leg finishes in New Zealand with which of course we have
long-standing and very vigorous sporting as well as trade, cultural
and personal ties. The extension of the torch relay to the Oceania
region gives a much greater number of people the chance to have contact
with the Games of 2000.
Another of the great opportunities and challenges of hosting the Olympic
Games is the attention it brings to the host nation or to the host
region. And each nation in our region will have a special opportunity
to provide a particular insight to the lives of their people.
The torch relay and, of course, the Olympic Games themselves provide
a great lead into the Centenary of Federation celebrations in the
year 2001 as the relay itself will visit some of the places where
the foundation stones of the Australian federation were laid. Corowa,
Bathurst and Tenterfield are just some of the places where major events
occurred as part of the monumental march towards the federation of
the then Australian colonies into the nation of Australia.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Games of 2000 in Sydney will certainly be
a great event for all Australians. As someone who completed his leaving
certificate in 1956 at the same time as the staging of the first Olympic
Games in Australia in Melbourne in that particular year, I have special
memories of that year and I can remember the excitement that existed
throughout our country when the torch arrived and as the people competing
in the Games gathered.
Sydney will do Australia proud. I have no doubt that the Games in
Sydney in the year 2000 will be an outstanding success. I have no
doubt that the Games will be an opportunity for the great strengths
and the great qualities of the Australian way of life to be showcased
to the world. I have no doubt that all Australians in the lead up
to the Games will come together in a united, concerted effort to ensure
the success of the Games and to tell the world what a wonderful country
we are, to remind the world of our remarkable achievements of tolerance
and progress and liberty. And, importantly, they will also be an opportunity
to tell the world of the diversity and the vibrance of the region
in which Australia lives and of the very deep commitment that Australia
has to the welfare of the nations of the Oceania region. It therefore
gives me very great pleasure to launch the Oceania route of the Olympic
torch relay.
[ends]