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- Thank you Rob and Swimming Australia, distinguished guests and thank you swimmers…
- Before I begin, I want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet the Turrbal and Jagera peoples.
- Together Australians stand on the shoulders of 1,600 generations of First Nations people and that is our shared history.
- I am honoured to be here today… and I'll be short because this is your day.
- But I do want to note a few things as Australia's Sport Minister.
- Cricket, AFL, league etc are great… love them.
- But they aren't swimming.
- Football… netball… tennis… love them.
- But they aren't swimming.
- Swimming is Australia's true national sport.
- I think that's evident through the fact people refer to you as the swimming team… not the men's or women's team… but the swimming team.
- Again… those other sports are still catching up… they aren't swimming.
- From the day Freddie Lane, our first Olympic swimming champion, emerged victorious from a muddy Siene River in the Paris 1900 Olympics… to Timothy Hodge emerging from the Paris Aquatic Centre last week, gold around his neck, no mud to be found… swimming has been a uniquely Australian endeavour.
- One of my early childhood sporting memories is going to Chandler, 30 minutes from here, with my dad to watch Olympic trials… seeing Kieren Perkins qualify.
- And now I've had the privilege of being at the Olympics and Paralympics with our ASC CEO Kieren… to see Ariarne Titmus win gold on night one in Paris.
- Which was one of the more surreal nights as a sport Minister.
- I walked in with John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
- Just down from me in the stands was the First Lady Jill Biden, there to watch the great Katie Ledecky of course.
- And then standing above me… pacing up and down the aisle, magnificent hair bouncing, was Dean Boxall.
- And as his pupil began piling on the pressure… every 15 seconds Dean would scream "Break her Arnie… break her Arnie…" with a few other words thrown in of course…
- And everyone was resigned to knowing that yes Arnie… you would… and you did… break her.
- I know, I know, we love Katie, she's great… but… god that felt good.
- Not as good as the life-affirming celebrations of Alexa Leary, Ahmed Kelly and Scooter Patterson.
- And while we all know their incredible stories… what about their incredible performances… elite athletes taking on the world.
- And that's part of why the Albanese Government funded the same financial medal incentives for Paralympians as Olympians… because high performance sport is exactly that… no matter the body it's performed in.
- And the national pride… the identity… the bond swimming creates in this coast-loving nation is why our government spends more money funding elite swimming than any other sport… year after year.
- You also save lives… seriously… your exploits encourage people to learn how to swim.
- In fact, our record haul in the pool at Melbourne’s 1956 Olympics, when the iconic Dawn Fraser helped Australia to 8 of 13 gold available, created a boom in public swimming pools being built… a boom in people learning how to swim.
- You all reward us so much… this is your day to embrace how good you are… and you deserve every applause.
- Because…there’s a lot of great sports… but they aren’t swimming. Thank you.
Minister: