Mr BONSON - 2002-08-14
Would the Chief Minister please detail how Territorians fared at the recent Commonwealth Games? Could the Chief Minister also explain to the House how the Northern Territory government supported the Commonwealth Games effort?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to talk about the Commonwealth Games. If anyone in here had a chance to watch some of the activities, our Australian athletes did us proud. Our Territory athletes did us proud as well.
It was a bit embarrassing in the end how many medals we won; 206 is an enormous number of medals of which 82 were gold medals. The fact that the second closest was England with 165 medals of which 54 were gold shows that the real commitment of Australia and the Territory to sport generally and elite sport is certainly paying dividends.
The success we saw at the Olympic Games is not just a one-off, and was carried strongly to our performance at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. It was our largest team ever and I am sure this House would like to congratulate all the athletes. They did a fantastic job. They were great ambassadors for Australia as well as being great athletes.
I would like to highlight the Territory contribution. In hockey, Mark Hickman was the Kookaburras goal keeper. He is an Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Mark has become the number one goal keeper for Australia and helped steer us to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. It was a great contribution from Mark Hickman. Another NTIS athlete performing was Jan Palazzi. She was in the Ladies Fours in the lawn bowls and performed wonderfully. Unfortunately, that team missed out on a medal. The NTIS hockey coach Terry Evans was an assistant coach and video analyst with the Kookaburras. One of our NT hockey administrators, Pip March, was one of the judges at the games.
Greg Chan, whose reputation as a clay target coach is going from strength to strength, coached Michael Diamond and Russell Mark who were medallists at the Commonwealth Games. When you consider that Greg did so fantastically well with Michael Diamond at the Olympic Games, he really is someone we ought to have enormous pride in.
We are having a welcome home this evening on the Speaker’s Green - thank you, Madam Speaker - for those Territory athletes who went to the Commonwealth Games, but also some other athletes who went, and we thank Telstra for their sponsorship of this. This afternoon we will see shot-putter Justin Anlezark and boxer Paul Miller who actually hails from the Territory. Justin’s win was the first time an Australian male shot-putter has won gold at anything like the Commonwealth Games, so that is at the World Championships, the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games. A tremendous effort. Boxer Paul Miller performed well for us, too.
Then there are others who were at the Commonwealth Games who have a Territory connection: national cycling road coach, Shayne Bannan, and cyclist, Cadel Evans, spent time in the Territory before moving south. Australia and the Territory put in a good effort at the Commonwealth Games, and we would like to encourage everyone to go to the reception this evening and congratulate our athletes.
This Territory government is pleased to continue the previous government’s strong support for Territory sport. When you look at how we contributed to Australian athletes preparing for the Commonwealth Games, the athletics team spent a month here in July before going off to Manchester. We were able to assist with transport to and from the Arafura Stadium, also with a minor upgrade of the athletics track. I am sure those Australian athletes who spent time at the Arafura track before Manchester will be delighted to hear we have put $800 000 into resurfacing that track. It needed it. We will be able to use it for more of the pre-competition training that athletes from other parts of our country and the world need before major competitions. We should be very proud of our athletes, both Territory and Australian, and be proud to welcome them home tonight.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to talk about the Commonwealth Games. If anyone in here had a chance to watch some of the activities, our Australian athletes did us proud. Our Territory athletes did us proud as well.
It was a bit embarrassing in the end how many medals we won; 206 is an enormous number of medals of which 82 were gold medals. The fact that the second closest was England with 165 medals of which 54 were gold shows that the real commitment of Australia and the Territory to sport generally and elite sport is certainly paying dividends.
The success we saw at the Olympic Games is not just a one-off, and was carried strongly to our performance at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. It was our largest team ever and I am sure this House would like to congratulate all the athletes. They did a fantastic job. They were great ambassadors for Australia as well as being great athletes.
I would like to highlight the Territory contribution. In hockey, Mark Hickman was the Kookaburras goal keeper. He is an Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Mark has become the number one goal keeper for Australia and helped steer us to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. It was a great contribution from Mark Hickman. Another NTIS athlete performing was Jan Palazzi. She was in the Ladies Fours in the lawn bowls and performed wonderfully. Unfortunately, that team missed out on a medal. The NTIS hockey coach Terry Evans was an assistant coach and video analyst with the Kookaburras. One of our NT hockey administrators, Pip March, was one of the judges at the games.
Greg Chan, whose reputation as a clay target coach is going from strength to strength, coached Michael Diamond and Russell Mark who were medallists at the Commonwealth Games. When you consider that Greg did so fantastically well with Michael Diamond at the Olympic Games, he really is someone we ought to have enormous pride in.
We are having a welcome home this evening on the Speaker’s Green - thank you, Madam Speaker - for those Territory athletes who went to the Commonwealth Games, but also some other athletes who went, and we thank Telstra for their sponsorship of this. This afternoon we will see shot-putter Justin Anlezark and boxer Paul Miller who actually hails from the Territory. Justin’s win was the first time an Australian male shot-putter has won gold at anything like the Commonwealth Games, so that is at the World Championships, the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games. A tremendous effort. Boxer Paul Miller performed well for us, too.
Then there are others who were at the Commonwealth Games who have a Territory connection: national cycling road coach, Shayne Bannan, and cyclist, Cadel Evans, spent time in the Territory before moving south. Australia and the Territory put in a good effort at the Commonwealth Games, and we would like to encourage everyone to go to the reception this evening and congratulate our athletes.
This Territory government is pleased to continue the previous government’s strong support for Territory sport. When you look at how we contributed to Australian athletes preparing for the Commonwealth Games, the athletics team spent a month here in July before going off to Manchester. We were able to assist with transport to and from the Arafura Stadium, also with a minor upgrade of the athletics track. I am sure those Australian athletes who spent time at the Arafura track before Manchester will be delighted to hear we have put $800 000 into resurfacing that track. It needed it. We will be able to use it for more of the pre-competition training that athletes from other parts of our country and the world need before major competitions. We should be very proud of our athletes, both Territory and Australian, and be proud to welcome them home tonight.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016