Thursday, 7 March 2024

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (10:14): I rise to speak about the Sports Star of the Year Awards. I went to the gala dinner in Bendigo recently, and it was a fantastic night. It celebrates athletes and sportspeople that are doing work at an amazing level, representing Australia around the globe in sports like basketball, swimming, athletics, canoeing, shooting and cricket. It started in the 1960s, and next year it will be celebrating 60 years. There was a record field of 24 recipients in the scholarship awards. We had Todd Murphy, who has been spinning out batsmen in India and England, and Alessia McCaig and Blake Agnoletto: they hurtle around the velodrome. The class of 2023 includes multiple monthly winners of the award, such as the Bendigo Braves women’s basketball team, Emma Berg, Jontee Brown, Col Pearse, Maddy Theobold and Aaron Wilson. It was fantastic that Todd Murphy was the overall winner, so it was great to hear from him via video on the night. Champion cyclist Glenn O’Shea was added to the Bendigo sports hall of fame.

Bendigo had a golden girl, Faith Leech. She was an Olympic champion at the four-by-100-metre relay at the 1956 games in Melbourne. She was among the first to be awarded a Bendigo sports star hall of fame at Red Energy Arena. It was wonderful that Robyn Powell was recognised on the night for her contribution as a cricket scorer over many years. I just want to congratulate all the athletes for their commitment and all the award finalists, sponsors, families, coaches and friends for the part they play. We are all looking forward to the Paralympic Games, which are about 143 days away, and many from northern Victoria will be part of that.