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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3711 ..

deserves that accolade. These are some of the Canberrans participating at Athens. We should be proud of them.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The Minister’s time has expired.

MR HARGREAVES: My supplementary question to the Chief Minister is whether there is any local connection to the athletes you have just mentioned?

MR STANHOPE: Yes, there is, and I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. One of the other aspects of Australia’s participation in the Olympic Games—a fact of some relevance and a great credit to the ACT public school sector—is that 43 Australian Olympians have attended Lake Ginninderra College. That must almost be something of a world record—that a single college in the ACT has educated a total of 43 Australian Olympians. That really is quite significant. It is a great credit to Canberra, it is a great credit to public education and certainly a great credit to Lake Ginninderra College that over the years it has educated a total of 43 Olympians. That is something about the public school sector that we can be enormously proud of. Currently, three Lake Ginninderra College students are part of the Australian Olympic team—Tim Cuddihy, Melissa Munro and Sarah Paton. It is a little-known fact that one of the schools in the ACT, part of the public school system, plays such a role in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport. It is simply remarkable that a single school has now educated 43 Olympians.

I do not think I have mentioned that Katrina Powell, the Hockeyroos captain and a Canberran, yesterday represented Australia for the 240th time in an international. It is an interesting commentary on an issue we face in relation to women’s sport and the recognition that women athletes achieve, and perhaps it bears some closer analysis—we do not want to look too closely at it—that many significant Australian performances we have witnessed in Athens to date have been achieved by women athletes. It is interesting, as we brace ourselves for George Gregan’s 102nd cap and the media that has accompanied the fact that George Gregan is about to represent Australia for the 102nd time, that at the weekend Katrina Powell, captain of the Hockeyroos, represented Australia for the 240th time.

It is interesting in the context of the debate about the recognition that women athletes achieve, that Katrina Powell will not receive that same level of recognition or support that George Gregan most certainly deserves. There is not doubt about that, and I do not suggest that George Gregan is not entirely worthy of the accolades and recognition that he receives as the greatest captain of the greatest provincial rugby team in the world. He certainly does.

Mrs Dunne: He is not the captain. Sterling Mortlock is.

MR STANHOPE: I just mentioned the captain of the greatest provincial rugby team, why do you not listen? I did not say country, I said provincial. Is he the captain of the Brumbies or not?

Mr Smyth: No.

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