Page 3532 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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SYDNEY OLYMPIC 2000 BID
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM SPEAKER: I have received letters from Mrs Carnell, Mr Cornwell, Mr De Domenico, Mr Humphries, Mr Kaine and Mr Lamont proposing that matters of public importance be submitted to the Assembly. In accordance with standing order 79, I have determined that the matter proposed by Mr Lamont be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
ACT Government support for the Sydney Olympic 2000 bid.
MR LAMONT (3.19): Madam Speaker, Canberra's association with the Olympic movement goes back to 1924, when the boy from the northern suburb of Braidwood - Bungendore - Nick Winter, who had come to Canberra in the building boom in Canberra's early years, won gold in the hop, step and jump at the Paris Games. A picture of this earliest Canberra Olympian can be seen, appropriately, in Blundell's Cottage. Canberra's association with the Olympic swimming tradition also has heroic beginnings, when one realises that swimmers at Manuka pool in the 1920s would have been doing their laps with the great Andrew "Boy" Charlton, a medallist in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. Legend has it that his spirit can be seen to this day on the site of the Civic pool; but close observation shows that it is Mr Duby inspecting the con-dome down there.
The first Follett Government actively supported the Victorian Government's Olympic bid. The Follett Government at that time recognised the importance of there being unity of purpose amongst all the governments in Australia if the Melbourne bid was to have any chance. That bid was unsuccessful, but the principle has not changed. Practical support for the Melbourne bid was also offered by the Follett Government. We offered ACT facilities for warm-up training and pre-Games trials. I am pleased to note that the offer of this assistance has been extended now to the Sydney bid. The Chief Minister has also offered the New South Wales Premier assistance in lobbying diplomats in Canberra, and this offer and the offer of support facilities have now been accepted.
The Government has already hosted senior members of FIFA, who are also voting members of the OIC selection committee. Members of FIFA will be in Canberra on 9 December to inspect Bruce Stadium during the Australia-Brazil youth soccer game sponsored by the ACT Government. In the last couple of months the Minister for Sport, Wayne Berry, and the New South Wales Minister responsible for the Olympic bid, Bruce Baird, have jointly announced regional support for the Olympic bid. The board of the Australian Institute of Sport have announced that their training facilities will be used for acclimatisation by visiting Olympic teams should the bid be successful. I understand that the ACT will also be tailoring appropriate grants towards potential local Olympians. A good example of this has been the support it has been giving to the ACT young rowing development squad. The Sydney Olympic Bid Committee has acknowledged, along with FIFA members, that Bruce Stadium is of international standard, and it has actively considered giving Canberra quarter- and semi-finals in the soccer.
Support for the Sydney bid has been widespread within the Canberra community. The Australian Institute of Sport, the Canberra Business Council, the Building Owners and Managers Association, the ACT Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Hotels Association, and even the Liberals' 250 Club have seen the benefits of such a bid. It is worth considering that by the year 2000
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