Dr LIM - 1999-06-02
Many Territorians like myself had the opportunity to witness and also participated at last week’s Arafura Games. I was asked by one of my colleagues not to mention dragon boat racing so I will not do that. I had hoped that he would participate.
Along with the obvious economic return to the Territory, our relationship with our near neighbours has been further encouraged and enhanced. I ask the minister if planning for the 2001 Arafura Games has started?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question and I thank him for not highlighting his membership of the dragon boating. But in fact I’d also like to congratulate the work that the dragon boat organisation has done in such a short period of time.
If anyone had attended the closing ceremony of the Arafura Games on Saturday they may have seen the official Arafura Games sticker for 2001 being distributed. That was, I suppose, the first visible sign that plans are already well in place for the Arafura Games of the new millennium, the games of the Centenary of Federation. The fact of the matter is what we have to build on for the games, the 6th games, is probably the biggest base that we’ve had in the past. We went into these games suspecting that the numbers would be down, particularly considering the situation with some of the economies to our north, and to our delight and, due in no uncertain terms to the standing of the Northern Territory and this government in the region, we ended up with a record number of competitors.
Quite frankly, if we went down by 30% or 40%, that would have been quite understandable given the circumstances. It should not in any way underestimate or understate the standing of the Northern Territory in the region that we can come through those times in such a fantastic way. 80% of the countries that turned up went away with medals and there were some surprises along the way. We are already having discussions with several sports which are keen to be part of the games in the future, and, of course, we need to talk to the existing sports about the changes we can make and how we can best implement and improve on the situation for the next games.
I thank honourable members who actually took part and supported the games. There was a contribution from both sides I must admit, too. Unfortunately, though, we’re still waiting on a reply from the Leader of the Opposition, which is very disappointing because we did ask the Leader of the Opposition if she’d like to take part and present a few medals …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ADAMSON: As I said I do acknowledge the support, even of opposition members. We did try to make this a situation where all members of the community had a chance to take part, including the opposition. Some of those members on the opposition bench took up that opportunity. As I said, the Leader of the Opposition is yet to respond. That’s unfortunate because we had offered to share this all around but that’s probably a mark of the person in that chair at the moment.
I thank the many thousands of volunteers, the thousands of athletes and officials who took part both in the Northern Territory, interstate and overseas. The 5th Arafura Games were the most successful yet on record and I’m sure the 6th Arafura Games will be no exception.
Along with the obvious economic return to the Territory, our relationship with our near neighbours has been further encouraged and enhanced. I ask the minister if planning for the 2001 Arafura Games has started?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question and I thank him for not highlighting his membership of the dragon boating. But in fact I’d also like to congratulate the work that the dragon boat organisation has done in such a short period of time.
If anyone had attended the closing ceremony of the Arafura Games on Saturday they may have seen the official Arafura Games sticker for 2001 being distributed. That was, I suppose, the first visible sign that plans are already well in place for the Arafura Games of the new millennium, the games of the Centenary of Federation. The fact of the matter is what we have to build on for the games, the 6th games, is probably the biggest base that we’ve had in the past. We went into these games suspecting that the numbers would be down, particularly considering the situation with some of the economies to our north, and to our delight and, due in no uncertain terms to the standing of the Northern Territory and this government in the region, we ended up with a record number of competitors.
Quite frankly, if we went down by 30% or 40%, that would have been quite understandable given the circumstances. It should not in any way underestimate or understate the standing of the Northern Territory in the region that we can come through those times in such a fantastic way. 80% of the countries that turned up went away with medals and there were some surprises along the way. We are already having discussions with several sports which are keen to be part of the games in the future, and, of course, we need to talk to the existing sports about the changes we can make and how we can best implement and improve on the situation for the next games.
I thank honourable members who actually took part and supported the games. There was a contribution from both sides I must admit, too. Unfortunately, though, we’re still waiting on a reply from the Leader of the Opposition, which is very disappointing because we did ask the Leader of the Opposition if she’d like to take part and present a few medals …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ADAMSON: As I said I do acknowledge the support, even of opposition members. We did try to make this a situation where all members of the community had a chance to take part, including the opposition. Some of those members on the opposition bench took up that opportunity. As I said, the Leader of the Opposition is yet to respond. That’s unfortunate because we had offered to share this all around but that’s probably a mark of the person in that chair at the moment.
I thank the many thousands of volunteers, the thousands of athletes and officials who took part both in the Northern Territory, interstate and overseas. The 5th Arafura Games were the most successful yet on record and I’m sure the 6th Arafura Games will be no exception.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016