Australia commits to Brisbane 2032 Games benefits reaching the Pacific Islands

May 11, 2023
TRANSFORMING OCEANIA SPORT SERIES
The Hon. Anika Wells MP, Minister for Sport, Australian Federal Government, delivering the Opening Address at the ONOC Inaugural Brisbane 2032 STEP-UP OCEANIA Conference in Brisbane. | Photo: ONOC

The Australian Government is determined to ensure the Green & Gold Runway culminating in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games’ benefits extend beyond Australia and reach the Pacific Islands.

Speaking at the Oceania National Olympic Committees’ (ONOC) inaugural Brisbane 2032 STEP-UP OCEANIA Conference, Hon. Anika Wells MP, Australia’s Minister for Sport said, “The Australian Government understands the importance of working in genuine partnership with Pacific Island countries.

“Brisbane 2032 will extend legacies of the Games beyond Brisbane, beyond Queensland, and beyond Australia’s borders to the Pacific and Oceania region.

“We must do more than take the opportunities and seize the moments; we must generate the opportunities, we must create the moments, and ensure they ripple outwards to the Oceania region.”

B2032 Sport for development outcomes, focus on women and girls, diversity 

Hon. Wells said, “Our mission for Brisbane 2032 is to foster greater participation in sport so more people reap the preventive health, social inclusion, and connectivity benefits it provides.

“Brisbane 2032 can be the driver for greater sporting equality in Australia and beyond.

“We need more pathways for female leadership, more incentives for girls to pursue sporting passions, more mechanisms that protect our vulnerable, more professional competitions that foster talent, an ecosystem where genders are treated equally.”

Hon. Wells added that the role of Minister for Sport is to ensure that the Australian Government’s AUD$3.4 billion commitment to investing in ensuring world-leading, purpose-built infrastructure is for people.

Australia’s support, debt of gratitude to Pacific neighbours

Hon. Wells said, “The Australian Government is proud to invest in the Pacific-Aus Sports Program, which creates new opportunities for pacific athletes to train, play and grow together, and unlock the potential of a new generation of sporting champions. 

“Australia’s support to ONOC and its members during the final preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Games further highlights our shared agenda.”

Hon. Wells went further to pay tribute to the Pacific Islands, saying Australia owed a debt of gratitude to its Pacific neighbours.

Hon. Wells said, “Thank you for teaching us how to be better sportspeople.

“We have learned so much from you about grace, about faith on the field, about warmth towards rivals, about pride in culture, [and] about treating teammates as family members.

“These elements have brought a needed revolution to the Australian sporting psyche and I thank you for this.”

Our TRANSFORMING OCEANIA SPORT SERIES

This is part of our TRANSFORMING OCEANIA SPORT SERIES. 

Running from 8 – 31 May 2023 it brings you the strategic discussions, headline decisions, inspirational organisations and people that featured at our pre-AGA ONOC Brisbane 2032 Step-Up Oceania Conference, the Sport and Sustainable Development Goals meeting, and the Olympic Solidarity Highlights.

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For more information, please visit the following links:

Oceania National Olympic Committees
Australian Olympic Committee

Green & Gold Runway to Brisbane 2032

International Olympic Committee

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About ONOC 
Established in 1981, the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) is one of five Continental Associations. It looks after the interests of 17 member nations in the Oceania Region, including Australia and New Zealand as well as seven associate members. 

ONOC has an office in Guam where Secretary General Mr. Ricardo Blas is based and the Secretariat in Suva, Fiji, where the Office of the President Dr Robin Mitchell is located.

All services and-programmes are based on the ONOC Strategic Plan for 2018-2021, and its 4 Core Functions of (1) Building and Strengthening NOCs Capacity (2) Cultivating Strategic Partnerships (3) Contributing towards Sporting Excellence and (4) Leading by Example.

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For more information, please contact;

Shivneel Narayan
Chief Communications Officer (Acting)
shivneel@oceanianoc.org

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