Motions — New Zealand Paralympics Team 2016—Paralympic Games 2016

I seek leave to move a motion without notice congratulating the members of the 2016 New Zealand Paralympics Team.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House congratulate the members of the 2016 New Zealand Paralympics Team. On behalf of the Government, I want to acknowledge all of the athletes, coaches, and support staff, and to congratulate the athletes on their outstanding performance in Rio. Our Paralympians are an inspiration to New Zealanders. The athletes have all travelled many unique pathways in order to compete in this spectacular event. The years of dedication and hard work have paid off, not only for those who won medals but for those who made their debut or achieved personal milestones.

The New Zealand Paralympics Team won nine gold medals, five silver, and seven bronze—a total medal haul of 21. New Zealand placed 13th in the medal table, our highest finish ever. In addition, New Zealand retains its title from the London 2012 Paralympics of No. 1 in the per capita medal table. It was also fitting that our most decorated Paralympian, with 15 medals, Sophie Pascoe, won New Zealand’s 200th Paralympic medal. Also outstanding were those team members who successfully defended their Paralympic titles from London: Mary Fisher, Cameron Leslie, and Sophie Pascoe. The joy on the face of Anna Grimaldi as she won the gold medal in the long jump will be memorable for many New Zealanders. Her win set the scene and the inspiration for other members of the team in their own events, particularly her athletics teammate Liam Malone, who set world records in the 200-metre and 400-metre finals.

The team’s success is further testament to the quality of our high-performance sporting system. I would like to recognise the work of Paralympics New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand for their great work in preparing and supporting our athletes at the games. I would also like to acknowledge the enormous efforts of the coaches, the support staff, and, particularly, the families, who played such an important part in our Paralympians’ performance. Again, I offer, on behalf of the Government, congratulations to all members of the 2016 Paralympic team. They are a tribute to sport in New Zealand and have made us extremely proud.

I join with the Government and support the motion of the Acting Prime Minister, and congratulate the New Zealand Paralympics Team for its outstanding result at this year’s Paralympic Games in Brazil. The team smashed its own target of 18 medals at the games, with their medal haul being the second highest of any Paralympic team since New Zealand started attending the games. Crucially, the team defended its record of having the highest number of medals per capita—because after all, as we know, it is the per capita measure that is most important. Our Paralympians gave us so many achievements to highlight—from Sophie Pascoe becoming our most decorated Paralympian ever, to Liam Malone smashing two games records. That is part of the 11 Paralympic records that our team set at these games.

But beyond just the individual performances, there are some really incredible statistics about the whole team’s performance that I want to highlight. Of the 68 events that Kiwis participated in at these games, we reached the finals in 57 of them, and 52 percent of all events contested saw Kiwi Paralympians deliver personal best times. That shows a team that is absolutely on top of its game. In overall medals, New Zealand came 13th in the world—our best ever performance.

I also want to pass on the condolences of this House to the family of Bahman Golbarnezhad, the Iranian Paralympian who was killed in a crash during the games.

I wanted to end, though, by passing on huge congratulations to our team. They have made New Zealand very proud. The thousands of hours of gruelling training, effort, and dedication have paid off, and they have made every New Zealander very proud.

The last 12 days in Rio have been amazing—to once again see New Zealand athletes triumphing on the world stage. The Green Party wishes to add our congratulations to those of the other parties in support of the Acting Prime Minister’s motion. We too highlight the performance of New Zealand on the gold medals and medals per capita measures, and, once again, we stand on top of the world.

For New Zealanders wanting to get involved, they can contact their own local para-sport programme or local disability sport programme, and we would encourage people to do that. More New Zealanders, more active, more often—it is a great goal for everybody.

Congratulations to all of the Paralympic athletes, coaches, support staff, and the National Paralympic Committee, who have represented New Zealand so wonderfully on the world stage. The Green Party salutes you. We wish you all the best for your continued success and look forward to seeing many of you represent this country again. Although Liam Malone and Sophie Pascoe have been absolute rock stars who have justifiably dominated the news headlines, we are proud of the whole team. Thank you.

I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to join in the chorus of support and congratulations to all of our Paralympians from the Paralympic team who went to the 2016 Rio Olympics. They really did show passion, dedication, and patriotism for our country. Of course, we saw some fantastic results, which have already been echoed through the House today, with the 21 medals that we actually achieved, compared with the 18 medals that we expected and targeted to only achieve—it was something fantastic. We have nine gold medals, which is our best result for any Paralympian ever. Equal to that, we had a total of five silver and seven bronze medals. It is great to see a change of attitude towards sports—and particularly the Paralympics—where people focus heavily not only on the able-bodied sportspeople but on the results of this wonderful team.

I would like to congratulate and thank all the supporters, the coaches, the support staff, and particularly the families and friends who got behind our Paralympians to get them on their way to compete on the world stage and get them that fantastic result.

Of course, there are a number of standouts and I would not take up the time of the House to go through each and every one of them, but I would like to join in that chorus of support for Sophie Pascoe, our very best Paralympian and the results that she has achieved with three golds and two silvers, and, of course, a total of 15 medals in total throughout all of her campaigns at the Paralympics. Liam Malone—to break the world records on two occasions for the two fantastic runs that he did is very, very commendable.

New Zealand First would also like to send our sincere condolences to the Iranian Paralympic team and to the family and friends of Bahman Golbarnezhad, who, tragically, died in the closing days of the Paralympics. Our thoughts are with him and with his family.

I would just like to say that the amount of money that we as taxpayers invest into high-performance sports and para-sports just shows the importance that this has for New Zealanders, to show our patriotic pride and support for going above and beyond, if you like. And it is somewhat disappointing that we struggle to see those games live and free to air. We had to sometimes stay up to midnight to see games and events being played late, and we would certainly again encourage this Government to step up and put games of national significance live and free to air. We are already investing so much. Why not put a little bit more in so that we can all enjoy it? Thank you very much.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. I am proud to take a call on behalf of the Māori Party and add my mihi to those that have been expressed in the House today. This Paralympic team has been the most successful and, as we have heard, first in the world per capita—as it should be.

Although we are proud of all of the team, there are two particularly proud iwi within the Māori nation that will be trumpeting the sporting prowess of the two champions over the coming weeks and years—that is, Cameron Leslie of Ngāpuhi and Holly Robson of Ngāi Tahu.

Cameron Leslie won gold in Beijing and London, and he got the trifecta in Rio with a win in the pool. He was interviewed before he headed off to Rio and he told Mana magazine this. He said: “People don’t see the support staff who are there crunching numbers, figuring out where you can make gains. We have a biomechanist on our team who analyses all my races to give me different tactics in each part of the swim, and then there’s my coach who has a plan and all those support people who help formulate that plan. … Coming from a place like Northland is a big thing for me. People often see you win on the world stage, and while I might not get to see them every day, I remember all of those who have helped me along the way.” He mentioned the people who gave him a $20 cheque to get him to his very first event. They were all in his thoughts when he stood on the winner’s podium.

When standing there, he said it was a representation of “my country, my community of Northland, and my Māori heritage”. And as with every world champion, Cameron said he lives by the whakataukī: “Inā te mahi rangatira.”—the work you put in is the result you get out. I cannot agree more with Cameron, and his words resonate with us in the Māori Party. Of course, Kai Tahu—when Holly Robson flew the flag on behalf of the team, every member of the iwi, as with every member of New Zealand, would have been the prouder for it. We add our mihi to those of the House and congratulate our Paralympic team.

An aphorism that most parents try to instil in their children as they grow up, but which gets, sadly, beaten out of them as they go through the education system and wider society, is that any child can do anything—any child can grow up to be the person who they want to be. I do not think there has been a better demonstration of that philosophy in practice than the Paralympic Games. The triumph over adversity, the triumph of training producing stunning results, the sheer enjoyment on the faces of the athletes and the participants, the sense of excitement that they inculcated in the rest of us, and the fact that we were following most events as best we could, demonstrate, I think, the Olympic spirit at its ultimate. So I want to add to the congratulations that others have put forward to our Paralympic team on their achievements, on the way they represented New Zealand, on their outstanding commitment to sport, and on the fact that they were, as we would say, the very best of ambassadors for our country. We can be proud of them individually and collectively; we can be proud of what they did themselves in terms of their own performances, but also of what they achieved on behalf of our country. They are the ultimate proof that any child can grow up to do anything if the commitment and the dedication is there, and I hope that lesson is not lost on future generations.

Motion agreed to.