Jackie Kelly the Federal Member for Lindsay and my Parliamentary Secretary, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It's great to be out here at Penrith. It's great to be in the company of Jackie who is one of those dynamo federal representatives who seems to know everybody and everything in the area she represents, and has a very strong identification with her community. As a parent, I can remember when my children were very heavily involved in junior sport. They, like the last awardee, started playing soccer at the ages of six and seven and then progressed and they're now both in their 20s and they still play soccer from time to time. And that great community association we had with the Greenwich Soccer Club in inner Sydney was one of the nicest periods of our family life because it brought us into contact with other mothers and fathers in exactly the same situation, and it built a great community spirit and it drove home to me the tremendous cement that holds together a sport as part of the Australian way of life, and that is its community base.
We all know how fond Australians are of sport, but it goes deeper than the sheer enjoyment of the game. We might like whatever it may be. It's also a way that brings us all together and it's something that dissolves barriers. When you have sporting contests, whatever your differences are on other things, they are put aside and everybody is united. And when this country is able to host great sporting events, as we did at the end of last year - the Rugby Union World Cup, and we do it with tremendous distinction as we did it in 2000 with the Olympic Games, it gives you an extra charge as an Australian.
So not surprisingly when we were giving thought to the sale of the ADI land, which was announced on the 22nd of January, as a result of a lot of representations that we received from Jackie Kelly in particular and also from a number of other people, we've decided and I'm very pleased to announce today that out of the entire development, as part of the contract that we signed with Lend Lease, there will be reserved a 100 hectare park and sporting precinct. It will form part of the development. The recreation park will include outdoor playing fields, a synthetic all weather field, tennis, netball and basketball courts, cycleways, walking trails, picnic and barbecue areas, and carparking. And I'm told that the precinct to be reserved for those activities will in fact be larger than Centennial Park. It will contribute to the amenities and the facilities of this area. It will respond to the vision that many people such as Jackie Kelly have had, of bringing additional facilities to the people of this part of western Sydney.
And it's part of the contract that was signed by the Government with Lend Lease, and this will have to be constructed by the company as part of its contractual obligations. So as part of this facility, we'll be ensuring that the people of this part of Sydney have this great facility which will provide so many opportunities for people with different sporting interests and different sporting pursuits. It's not going to affect the planned regional park at St Mary's which will be managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
And can I say that nobody has fought harder for this than my colleague Jackie Kelly. She has driven everybody mad, I can say in plain English, to get the best possible deal for the people of western Sydney. She has driven my staff to distraction. So much so that in the end, they just said yes, yes, yes in order to get her off their backs. But the result is a magnificent victory for the people of western Sydney. The result is not only the planned development of this huge area, including national park areas, but very importantly the dedication of 100 hectares towards major additional sporting facilities. I think, and I know all of you will think, this is something that the people of western Sydney and the people of the Penrith district deserve, and I'm very delighted to announce this today and I want to pay tribute to Jackie.
I also want to join her in congratulating people who in an unsung way keep sport going in this country. The great names - the Andrew Gaze's, the Steve Waugh's, all of the great names (inaudible) and deservedly so, they're great players. But it's the people who we've honoured today who provide weekend in, weekend out the opportunity and the support for our young girls and boys to play the sports they like and to grow into fine citizens of our nation. So can I say to all of them congratulations and thank you.
I wish this community well. I thank Jackie for asking me along today and I know that this sporting precinct will bring great benefits and great enjoyment to the people of western Sydney. Thank you.
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