1 September 1999
E&OE………………………………………………………………………………………
Well, thank you very much Jackie. To Kim Beazley, the Leader of the Opposition, to Terry Gathercole, Don Talbot and all the members of the Australian Pan-Pacific Swimming Team, my parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
I simply want to say on behalf of all of the members of this magnificent team how immensely proud we are of what you have done over the last few weeks. And we decided to put on this little gathering - and I thank Jackie for organising it - just to say on behalf of the Commonwealth Parliament, to say on behalf of all of us, wherever we come from, how inspired we were by the astonishing achievements of all of you as a team.
I don’t single anybody out. I address all of you as a magnificent team for the contribution you made to further enhancing the fantastic reputation of Australia in every field of sporting endeavour. It really is quite amazing what we have been able to celebrate in sport as Australians over the past few months.
And we had a gathering here recently to celebrate the achievements of one Australian sporting team, we had another one to celebrate another achievement, we are having another one tonight. And many of us in different ways have celebrated the sporting achievements and rejoiced in them over the past few weeks in so many areas of sporting endeavour.
And in paying enormous tribute to all of you for your personal dedication none of us should forget, of course, the mums and the dads, the brothers and the sisters, the boyfriends and the girlfriends who inspire and encourage you because it is hard work. Anybody who wants to achieve anything whether it’s as a swimmer, as a footballer, as a cricketer, or any other field of endeavour you have got to work very hard, you need a lot of people behind you.
And can I simply say to you, Terry, and to Don and all the other people that have been associated with the coaching of the team, you have really done us all proud beyond our wildest expectation. We are very excited about our prospects for the Olympic Games in just over a year’s time. But most importantly of all, we are proud of young Australians who have done their best and achieved so much for themselves and for their country. And that is the most important thing.
And all of us here want you to know in a very uncomplicated simple way that we at a political level representing the Australian people here in the national Parliament honour you. We thank you, we admire what you have done and we wish you all good fortune between now and including the Olympic Games in Sydney next year. Thank you.
[ends]