E&OE...................................................................................................
Well, thank you very much. To Kim Beazley the Leader of the Opposition,
to Steve Waugh and the victorious Australian Cricket Team, to many
others - first time I've had all of you cheering for me - but ladies
and gentlemen it is a tremendous pleasure tonight to have everybody
along and I want to particularly welcome the members of the Australian
Women's Cricket Team who are amongst us as our special guests as well.
Tonight is one of those rare occasions where the guns of political
battle are stilled, that everybody, irrespective of their differences
of opinion on other issues, come together to pay tribute to a remarkable
sporting achievement. To pay tribute to a group of men who have demonstrated
their tremendous capacity on the sporting field, have brought immense
pleasure and immense delight and immense national pride to all Australians.
And the performance, Steve, of you and your colleagues to win seven
in a row, the third and second last of those two being amongst the
most exciting one-day cricket matches that I think any of us have
ever witnessed, I think it is fair to say that these sleep deprivation
syndrome of members of Parliament and of their staff and indeed millions
of Australians all around the country was very intense indeed.
Australia is a great sports loving nation, Australia is a great cricket
loving nation. And cricket in a way unites all of us like no other
sport because it is in every sense of the word our true national sport.
And to you, Steve, in particular tremendous credit is due. You followed
two very fine Australian Captains, you experienced, along with your
colleagues during the early stages of the World Cup tournament, you
experienced a tremendous degree of criticism from some sections of
the press. There were many people who at various stages were willing
to say that Australia was not going to make the semi-finals let alone
the finals let alone take out the trophy. But you persevered and you
yourself with that marvellous 123 - one of the best if not the greatest
one-day innings that I have ever seen. You kept your cool in remarkably
difficult circumstances. You showed tremendous grit, tremendous leadership
and when we think of the true Aussie spirit and the true Aussie grit
many Australians will instinctively think of your personal performance
in that particular match. And, of course, one doesn't have the time
to talk about all of the individual performances but collectively
the team has done us proud.
And to all of you can I say that nothing has quite brought such sporting
joy to a sporting nation as much as did your victory. And the reception
that you have received in Melbourne, in Sydney today, the reception
that I saw a number of you receive at Stadium Australia on Saturday
night before the rugby test between England and Australia, the gathering
here tonight which brings together Members and Senators, Ministers,
Shadow Ministers, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, staff and most
importantly of all the cricket loving youngsters of the parliamentary
family. And because every time we do well on the sporting field, every
time we do well on the cricket field we build something that is most
important to all of us who are cricket lovers and that is a renewed
enthusiasm for the greatest sport of all amongst the young people
of Australia. And that is what your victory has done more than anything
else, it has brought fresh enthusiasm and pride and love of this wonderful
game to the young people of Australia. And can I say of all the gifts
and of all the pleasure that you have given to the people of Australia
I think the most important thing you have done is once again to enthuse
and re-enthuse and re-ignite the passion of young Australians to the
great and noble game of cricket.
Can I say on behalf of the Government, on behalf of the people of
Australia and I know my sentiments will be echoed by my colleague
Kim Beazley in a few moments, thank you very much for what you have
done, you deserve tremendous credit. I hope you and your families
now have the opportunity of a bit of a break before you join the fray
again but you really have done us proud. You are a tremendous group
of sportsmen and you have brought a great deal of joy and a great
deal of pleasure to all Australians. Thank you very much.
[ends]