Mrs BRAHAM - 1996-08-21
On Monday of this week, the Alice Springs Paralympian, Hamish McDonald, set a world record in Atlanta during the 1996 Paralympic Games, on his 22nd birthday. What support has the Territory government provided to our Paralympians in their quest for gold at Atlanta?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am only too pleased to outline the support we have provided to our Paralympians. In my second-reading speech on the Appropriation Bill, I noted some of the additional funding we are providing in the 1996-97 financial year to assist disabled sportspeople in the Northern Territory. It is generally recognised that Australia - as can be seen clearly from medal counts - is miles ahead of the rest of the world in the provision of support to disabled sports and, within Australia, the Northern Territory is recognised as leading the country in the provision of support and assistance for disabled sportspeople. That is reflected in the fact that we have 4 athletes competing at the Paralympic Games. I will address that shortly.
We provided to our Paralympians exactly the same support that we gave to our Olympic athletes - that is, anybody who gained a place in the Paralympic training squad earlier this year, and who was not already on a full AIS scholarship, as Hamish McDonald was, received a $10 000 sponsorship from our government. Each athlete who was selected for the Australian team for the Paralympic Games received an additional $5000 sponsorship. That eased substantially the financial pressures on those people, enabling them to focus and concentrate on training for this very important event. I remind members that the whole Paralympic track and field team for Australia came to Darwin for its pre-games training. The athletes trained in Darwin for acclimatisation. I believe that will contribute to their performance as it did for the women's Hockeyroos and the Australian Opals basketball team which also used Darwin for their acclimatisation training. Both performed exceptionally well.
Even such an avid and dedicated watcher and lover of sport as myself was becoming somewhat numbed by the end of the able-bodied Olympic Games after their being on television 18 hours a day for 16 days. The contrast is striking when it comes to coverage of the Paralympic Games. We have the odd snippet in the last 30 seconds of the news bulletin, the odd shot of an event and the medal counts. Some of the performances of these Australian athletes, including the Territory athletes, have been far too much underplayed. I wish the media would give a little more coverage because the effort and dedication of these competitors in the Paralympics is extraordinary. Their commitment to training, their ability to overcome their physical and other disabilities while striving for elite performance is something of which every person should stand in awe.
Hamish McDonald is a good example of that. Hamish has cerebral palsy and competes in the C4 classification. I will briefly outline his road to glory. Just over 12 months ago, the world record for the shot-put in C4 was 7.18 m. During the course of the last 12 months, Hamish has regularly increased that world record. I think he has broken 3 or 4 world records in various performances. In July of this year, he registered 9.45 m - obviously a new world record. He has achieved more since then. In Atlanta, on his 22nd birthday, he again broke the world record with a throw of 10.45 m. He has lifted that world record by over 3 m in 12 months. That is an extraordinary performance. He competed in Barcelona in 1992 and, in 1994, he set another world record in a 400 m running event. He is competing at these Paralympic Games in the discus, the shot-put, the 100 m and the 4 x 100 m relay race. I am sure we can expect to see much more of Hamish during the Atlanta Paralympics.
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I want to focus on some of the other competitors because the media always seems to focus attention on the gold medalists only. Last night, I am sure everyone was cheering the 20 gold medals won by our athletes in the Paralympics. We are proud of our successful performance, but let us look also at the other competitors who have been at the world's best competition in their particular sport.
Sam Rickard is one of the 4 Territorians there. He ran yesterday morning in the 400 m final, placing fifth. That is not his favourite event. He will compete later in the 1500 m event. That is his favourite event and he should do particularly well. Sam Rickard competed at the 1988 and 1992 Paralympics and at the 1990 and 1994 world championships. Russell Short, another member of our team, holds the world record in discus and shot-put in his category. We should watch for his name very closely as his events come forward. Mark Davies has competed in 3 Paralympics and world championships. He already holds 2 gold and 2 silver medals and I am pleased to say that he is an employee of the Department of Sport and Recreation in Darwin. Our 4 Paralympians are a great credit to the Northern Territory. I just wish many more people would pay much more attention to these extraordinarily dedicated and talented people who are performing at the world's best competition in their sport.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Page 1524
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am only too pleased to outline the support we have provided to our Paralympians. In my second-reading speech on the Appropriation Bill, I noted some of the additional funding we are providing in the 1996-97 financial year to assist disabled sportspeople in the Northern Territory. It is generally recognised that Australia - as can be seen clearly from medal counts - is miles ahead of the rest of the world in the provision of support to disabled sports and, within Australia, the Northern Territory is recognised as leading the country in the provision of support and assistance for disabled sportspeople. That is reflected in the fact that we have 4 athletes competing at the Paralympic Games. I will address that shortly.
We provided to our Paralympians exactly the same support that we gave to our Olympic athletes - that is, anybody who gained a place in the Paralympic training squad earlier this year, and who was not already on a full AIS scholarship, as Hamish McDonald was, received a $10 000 sponsorship from our government. Each athlete who was selected for the Australian team for the Paralympic Games received an additional $5000 sponsorship. That eased substantially the financial pressures on those people, enabling them to focus and concentrate on training for this very important event. I remind members that the whole Paralympic track and field team for Australia came to Darwin for its pre-games training. The athletes trained in Darwin for acclimatisation. I believe that will contribute to their performance as it did for the women's Hockeyroos and the Australian Opals basketball team which also used Darwin for their acclimatisation training. Both performed exceptionally well.
Even such an avid and dedicated watcher and lover of sport as myself was becoming somewhat numbed by the end of the able-bodied Olympic Games after their being on television 18 hours a day for 16 days. The contrast is striking when it comes to coverage of the Paralympic Games. We have the odd snippet in the last 30 seconds of the news bulletin, the odd shot of an event and the medal counts. Some of the performances of these Australian athletes, including the Territory athletes, have been far too much underplayed. I wish the media would give a little more coverage because the effort and dedication of these competitors in the Paralympics is extraordinary. Their commitment to training, their ability to overcome their physical and other disabilities while striving for elite performance is something of which every person should stand in awe.
Hamish McDonald is a good example of that. Hamish has cerebral palsy and competes in the C4 classification. I will briefly outline his road to glory. Just over 12 months ago, the world record for the shot-put in C4 was 7.18 m. During the course of the last 12 months, Hamish has regularly increased that world record. I think he has broken 3 or 4 world records in various performances. In July of this year, he registered 9.45 m - obviously a new world record. He has achieved more since then. In Atlanta, on his 22nd birthday, he again broke the world record with a throw of 10.45 m. He has lifted that world record by over 3 m in 12 months. That is an extraordinary performance. He competed in Barcelona in 1992 and, in 1994, he set another world record in a 400 m running event. He is competing at these Paralympic Games in the discus, the shot-put, the 100 m and the 4 x 100 m relay race. I am sure we can expect to see much more of Hamish during the Atlanta Paralympics.
Page 1525
I want to focus on some of the other competitors because the media always seems to focus attention on the gold medalists only. Last night, I am sure everyone was cheering the 20 gold medals won by our athletes in the Paralympics. We are proud of our successful performance, but let us look also at the other competitors who have been at the world's best competition in their particular sport.
Sam Rickard is one of the 4 Territorians there. He ran yesterday morning in the 400 m final, placing fifth. That is not his favourite event. He will compete later in the 1500 m event. That is his favourite event and he should do particularly well. Sam Rickard competed at the 1988 and 1992 Paralympics and at the 1990 and 1994 world championships. Russell Short, another member of our team, holds the world record in discus and shot-put in his category. We should watch for his name very closely as his events come forward. Mark Davies has competed in 3 Paralympics and world championships. He already holds 2 gold and 2 silver medals and I am pleased to say that he is an employee of the Department of Sport and Recreation in Darwin. Our 4 Paralympians are a great credit to the Northern Territory. I just wish many more people would pay much more attention to these extraordinarily dedicated and talented people who are performing at the world's best competition in their sport.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016