Paris Olympics
David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:28): We have heard a lot, unfortunately, in my community about antisemitism, but I want to share a really good news story. We are all tuned into the Olympics at the moment, and there are so many proud Jews that are celebrating and working really hard for Australia. The first one is Jess Fox. How good is Jess Fox, Australian flag-bearer at the Olympic ceremony. She won gold, and of course she will be back with the K1 to defend her previous Olympic title. She is also joined at the Olympics by her sister Noemie, and we wish her all the best as well. Jemima Montag, a Melbourne local competing this week in the women’s 20-kilometre race walk, launched Play On, alongside Maccabi Victoria, to give young women the opportunity to learn more about sport and also about feeling confident in themselves. I also want to give a big shout-out to other athletes – Sienna Green, Josh Katz, Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, Jess Weintraub and Josh Giddey – that are also competing.
It also gives me an opportunity to talk about Maccabi and the great work that they do in community sport and particularly the all-abilities team. I want to shout out Caren Lubofsky, the all-abilities program manager, and the various sports including cricket, Dolphins basketball and the Ajax all-abilities football club, which I am a proud sponsor of, and thank you so much to Jeff Israel for his great work with that team.