Good afternoon.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather today, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples.

I pay my respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to any First Nations people joining us today.

Together we stand on the shoulders of 1600 generations of First Nations people and that is our shared history.

I also acknowledge my federal and state colleagues, the amazing Olympian and Paralympians here today, Australian Sports Commission chair Kate Jenkins and commissioner Dr Bridie Kean along with CEO Kieren Perkins and AIS director Matti Clements.

The AIS is at the forefront of delivering for our athletes and it begins at the top with the organisation’s leadership who I know are passionate and focused in their support of Australian talent in the lead-up to Brisbane 2032.

I am honoured to serve as both Minister for Sport and Minister for Communications.

Two portfolios that often meet in one place: the screen.

Big screens. Small screens. Screens in loungerooms, pubs and pockets.

Screens on Caxton Street, in Fed Square and in stadiums.

Across all of them, sport remains the ultimate unscripted drama - the best reality show of all.

Think about Paris: a nation holding its breath as Australians produced moments of extraordinary courage and brilliance.

Think about Ariarne Titmus v Katie Ledecky and their bout in the pool that captured the imagination of fans around the country.

Think about those moments when everything is on the line and an athlete finds something extraordinary within themselves.

Despite my own personal inclination, I’ve been advised perhaps not to mention the Brisbane Lions’ threepeat as they are unlikely to win a gold medal in 2032, so I will not. 

But those are the moments we remember, the moments we replay, the moments that bring Australians together.

But today, I want to talk about something else.

Not the moment itself - but everything that comes before it.

The years of effort. The setbacks. The sacrifices. The support. The belief. The dream.

Today I want to take you on the journey every athlete travels.

A journey from playground to podium.

And, ultimately, to our collective North Star - the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Every athlete’s journey starts small.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after hitting that clutch three-pointer against Serbia, Patty Mills described it perfectly.

He said:  "You live for those moments. Down two, as a little kid in the backyard, underneath the clothesline in Australia, you imagine yourself in those moments being able to hit a big shot at an Olympic Games."

Under a clothesline, on a school oval, in a local pool. Early on a Saturday morning in the Northern suburbs of Brisbane.

I often think about the little "FIBA Patty".

I think about Cathy Freeman running her heart out on a grass track.

I imagine a young girl pulling on a netball bib on a Saturday morning in winter.

No screens, just dreams. A court or field where screens play no role, where the simplicity of movement and play spark joy.

Where kids are off their devices and onto the fields and courts.

Away from social media, and able to enjoy themselves without the pressure of a notification or recommendation.

Where, who knows? A spark might lead to a flame.

And I think about how we help those dreams become possible.

Because my job as Sports Minister is not to predict which child will become an Olympian or Paralympian.

My job is to make sure the opportunity exists when they dare to dream and - together with the leadership across Australian sporting ecosystem - make sure the settings are right to give them every chance of success.

One of my first priorities when I became Sports Minister was making sure women and girls felt valued, welcomed and supported in sport.

Because for too long, too many girls were being told, directly or indirectly, that sport wasn't designed with them in mind.

That is why I am so proud of the Albanese Government's $200 million Play Our Way program - the largest investment ever made in women and girls' grassroots sport.

Play Our Way is delivering safer facilities, better changerooms, incredible programs, and more welcoming environments right across the country.

Because every athlete deserves a place to begin. And every dream deserves a chance.

Alongside football, Aussie Rules, rugby league, tennis and many other sports, Play Our Way has supported 33 netball projects across Australia - 12 right here in Queensland.

From Cairns to Coolum to Kingaroy, netballers are benefiting from more than $30 million invested in facilities that will support the game for generations.

And who knows?

One of those courts might become the place where an Olympic dream begins.

Back when I pulled on a Bluebirds netball bib at the MacGregor Netball Association here in Brisbane, the prospect of playing netball at the Olympic Games simply wasn’t possible.

Today, it could be.

Today I am publicly committing my support to netball as part of Brisbane 2032.

Netball is quintessentially Australian – and the leading team sport for women and girls here and across our region.

It connects communities, builds confidence, creates leaders and inspires dreams.

Of course, the sport program is a matter for the International Olympic Committee and I fully respect the rigorous process that the IOC is undertaking.

I understand there will be speculation - and headlines - about which sports will be on the start line in 2032.

Headlines aside, this is about backing the biggest female sport in Australia.

There can be no speculation as to my commitment to women and girls' sport - our Government's investment and track record speaks for itself.

I also point to Australia’s leadership in netball – later this month, we'll host the PacificAus Sports netball challenge in Brisbane.

And next year, we'll welcome the world to Australia when Sydney hosts the Netball World Cup, backed with a $6 million investment from the Albanese Government.

And for the millions of Australians with a connection to netball, be it through NetSetGo or walking netball, our beloved Diamonds and Kelpies too, Brisbane 2032 represents an extraordinary opportunity.

As the legend that is Liz Ellis has said:

"It would be game-changing for the sport. It would be a massive moment for the million little girls and women, and increasingly men and boys, who pull on their netball bibs and get out to play."

My final word on this is to say our friends at the IOC: here if you need.

Back to our athletes’ journey. No one reaches the podium alone.

Behind every athlete is a network of remarkable people – coaches, parents, supporters, volunteers, sports science and medicine experts, nutritionists.

I recently had the chance to step into the shoes, and the pyjamas, of some of our high-performance athletes.

Before spending a night at the AIS in Canberra, I sampled the carefully calibrated food at the athlete dining hall with Abbey, Sophie and the others at the selection camp for basketball's under-18 Asian Cup.

I tried out the high-altitude accommodation, where athletes "live high, train low", sleeping at altitude and training at sea level.

And I caught up with gymnasts Jesse Moore and Georgia Godwin, fresh from their Commonwealth Games gold success.

I spent time listening to these athletes' ambitions, their challenges and their hopes for the future.

One thing became abundantly clear - Brisbane 2032 is not some distant event.

Many of the athletes who will compete there are already training today.

Which is why the Albanese Government is making the biggest investment in the AIS since it was established more than 40 years ago.

The $249 million AIS Podium Project is transforming Australia's premier high-performance sporting facility.

It is breaking new ground - literally, as we speak.

It will include a new Testing and Training Centre.

A world-class Sport Dome.

And a fully accessible athlete village capable of supporting up to 200 athletes and staff.

This is where many of our 2032 athletes will train, stay and thrive, where champions will be forged.

The Albanese Government is investing more than half a billion dollars over the next two years into Australia's high-performance sports system.

This commitment backs in the $489 million we invested in 2024.

This means that, together with the investment in the AIS, and our commitment to Games venues, our Government has invested more than $4.65 billion to help Australian athletes be their best, and to look forward to competing at world-class venues in 2032. 

More support by any Federal government, by any measure, than ever before.

The $513 million I announced in June backs athletes, national performance pathways, coaching and workforce development, athlete wellbeing, sports science and medicine and programs for women in sport.

Through this investment we are supporting 68 high-performance programs, up from 54.

We are supporting seven additional national teams, including lacrosse and blind football.

And more than 1,000 athletes across 41 sports are receiving direct support through dAIS - grants paid directly to athletes.

Because elite athletes should be able to focus on training, competing and performing, not wondering how they are going to cover expenses.

And we want to find and support that next generation of athletes which is what initiatives like Future Green and Gold are doing.

Led by the AIS, this national talent search is a joint effort between the states and territories, national sporting organisations and Games partners.

In 2024, Future Green and Gold discovered more than 340 athletes across 40 sports.

This includes talent we hope to see wearing the green and gold in LA in 2028.

Hopefuls like former AFLW Academy player Amelie Prosser Shaw.

Amelie went from attending a talent ID session to representing Australia in Flag Football at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles.

And she was among the first Australians to secure an NCAA scholarship in flag - showcasing her talent at the University of Texas as we speak.

Then there's Para Canoe athlete Susanna Wills.

Susanna progressed through the YouFor2032 Para pathway to join the Queensland Academy of Sport Para Unit.

Less than three years after a life-changing mountain bike accident, Susanna has reached two World Championship Finals.

At 33, after just over a year, Susanna has gone from learning to stay upright in a kayak to wearing the green and gold.

No matter who you are, it takes hard work, dedication and determination to wear the green and gold.

But that is not always enough. Grit and guts don't pay the bills.

For Para athletes like Susanna, having a disability often means extra costs and barriers in training and in daily life.

That is why Para Uplift matters. With more than $100 million committed since 2024, it is the largest investment ever made in Australia's Para sport system, doubling previous funding.

I am incredibly proud to have delivered this for our Para athletes in my tenure as Sports Minister.

Para Uplift is changing the system: identifying athletes earlier, strengthening pathways, expanding specialised coaching and establishing Para Sport Units in every state and territory, including here in Queensland at the QAS.

More than 150 new Para athletes have already been identified and are being supported by these world-leading facilities.

And, as part of that uplift, the Para Athlete Barrier Fund is breaking down the financial and structural barriers that hold Para athletes back.

Take swimmer Callum Simpson, who trains in Buderim, and at just 17, won two gold and a silver medal at the Paris Paralympic Games.

The Para Athlete Barrier Fund has helped Callum access technology that helps him process feedback from his coach and communicate more easily, literally breaking down communication barriers, to allow Callum to focus on his performance in the pool.

Boccia national champion Jean Paul La Fontaine is currently representing Australia – and Queensland –  at the World Boccia Cup in Sao Paolo.

JP said without the fund, he wouldn’t be able to access high-performance training and competition opportunities like the world cup which are necessary for him to be at the top of his game for LA 2028.

Today I am proud to announce that a further 144 athletes from 22 Paralympic sports will be supported in the next round of the Para Athlete Barrier Fund, sharing in more than $427,000 in funding.

Grants of up to $4,000 will go to athletes in sports as diverse as wheelchair rugby, table tennis, climbing and taekwondo.

This includes Beau Vernon and Chris Bond, who are here today, and two of six wheelchair rugby athletes receiving a Para Athlete Barrier Fund grant, a great boost for the Steelers ahead of hosting the World Cup here in Brisbane in 12 months' time.

And to Georgia, Raissa, Sidney, Nathan, thank you all for being here today.

These investments aren't simply removing financial barriers, they are unlocking potential and helping more Australians achieve extraordinary things.

To all the new recipients of this funding: congratulations, and good luck as your journey continues. I will be cheering you on all the way.

The Albanese Government's commitment to women in sport extends well beyond participation – we are focused on the entire journey.

From grassroots sport to elite competition. From coaching to governance, from leadership to life after sport.

This year, women received 51 per cent of all Direct Athlete Support funding.

The Female Performance and Health Initiative is delivering better research, education and support specifically designed around women's health and performance.

Programs like AIS Accelerate and Women Leaders in Sport are helping more women move into leadership positions across Australian sport.

And importantly, we are creating environments where female athletes can thrive through every stage of life, including pregnancy, parenthood and their return to competition.

Because supporting women in sport isn't only about providing opportunities to compete.

It's about removing barriers and building equitable systems designed for everyone to succeed.

And we’re seeing results.

The Women Leaders in Sport program has supported more than 28,000 women and more than 800 organisations since 2002.

AIS Accelerate has helped more than 90 retired female athletes transition into leadership and professional roles.

Targeted investment in Gen32 has provided extended paid apprenticeships, mentoring, flexible work and childcare support for emerging female coaches.

As a result, women’s representation in high-performance coaching has risen from 10 per cent in 2013 to more than 25 per cent in 2026.

The Gender Equity in Sport Governance Policy is also driving structural change.

Women and gender-diverse people now comprise 50 per cent of directors across funded national sporting organisations, helping ensure women have an equal voice in the decisions shaping Australian sport.

As you can see, these investments are about more than getting athletes into the Olympic and Paralympic villages.

We’re thinking about what an athlete’s career looks like, from their first introduction to sport, through training and competing and eventually becoming mentors for the next generation.

In doing so we’re building the structures that will not only support our athletes at the Brisbane 2032 Games, but for generations to come. 

Setting Brisbane 2032 as our north star is the easy part. Charting the path to get there is harder.

A home Games brings both opportunity and pressure.

The good news is that our sporting ecosystem has never been more aligned.

Across governments, sporting organisations, Games bodies, the national institute network and our high-performance system, we are working together with a shared sense of purpose.

We are united in our commitment to success, but not success at any cost.

Success built on integrity, wellbeing, care and pride.

That is what Australia's Win Well strategy represents. Because we don't just want to win - we want to win well.

It’s acknowledging that elite performances come from the exceptional environments our sports create.

Guiding athletes on that journey takes collective action. Our whole sports ecosystem has to define what sustainable success looks like, work through the barriers, and make the hard decisions together.

The question for all of us is how we help athletes move from possibility to performance.

How we help them transform a childhood dream into elite achievement.

Today I am pleased to announce that the Albanese Government, through the Australian Institute of Sport, is committing $2.75 million to partner with the Australian Olympic Committee, Paralympics Australia and Commonwealth Games Australia to deliver the Competitive Advantage Strategic Action Plan for Brisbane 2032.

Competitive Advantage places athletes at the centre of Games planning.

As part of our Win Well Strategy, it brings together multiple levels of government and key sporting bodies.

Because every decision we make between now and 2032 should answer one question: How does this help Australian athletes perform at their best?

After all, Brisbane 2032 is Queensland's Games, but it is also Australia's Games.

And it is our opportunity to demonstrate what happens when an entire sporting nation pulls in the same direction.

I commend every state and territory for the role they play in preparing our athletes. And I encourage governments at all levels to keep asking how their choices on major events, workforce, innovation, tourism and especially infrastructure can lift Brisbane 2032.

I also thank the partners who are already backing athletes directly:

• The AOC, through its Olympians' Futures fund, which supports athletes with selection payments, retirement grants and, crucially, a return-to-sport grant for eligible female Olympians who give birth and return to competition.

• Paralympics Australia, through the Para Lottery

• Commonwealth Games Australia, through the Green to Gold to Great program.

This collaboration extends well beyond our borders - because these are Games for our Pacific family too.

Sport has always opened diplomatic doors.

It builds friendships, it creates understanding and it brings people together.

Through PacificAus Sports, the Albanese Government recently bolstered support to our near neighbours through a $15.6 million investment for the AOC, PA and CGA, to support athletes from 14 Pacific nations with access to high-performance training and qualification opportunities in Australia.

The Olympic Games were originally conceived to promote peace and understanding between nations. This is exactly what Brisbane 2032 will do.

While the Games of course mark a high point on our athletes’ journey, Brisbane 2032 is so much more.

Sydney 2000 gave us moments that united a nation: Cathy's 400 metres. The men's 4x100 smashing them like guitars. Gold in women's water polo and hockey. Louise Sauvage powering down the straight.

And it gave Australians millions of personal moments that were just as important.

Not long ago I spoke to a woman from regional NSW.

She told me her fondest memory of the Sydney Olympics wasn’t the events but it was the day the Olympic torch came through her village.

She took the day off work to stand on the side of the road and watch the torch run by.

She doesn’t remember who carried the torch or who won the medals.

But she does remember laughing as her uncle cracked jokes with the police on duty and seeing friends she went to school with line the streets. She remembers hugging her son tight as the hoop-la rushed past.

When her uncle passed away a few years later she remembered that moment, and thinks of it every time she passes that same spot on the side of the road.

She remembers the open day at Homebush stadium, of taking the train with her husband, son and a friend. She remembers the sign at the end of the 100 Metres track that said “yes, it really is 100 metres”.

Those are her Olympics.

if anyone ever says that the Olympics are just about a 10-second sprint - then they haven’t been someone who volunteered.

I’ve seen volunteer uniforms from the Sydney Olympics more carefully and lovingly stored in wardrobes than wedding dresses. Hung on the wall with pride.

Because far more than medals on our athletes the games are about coming together as a nation.

Cheering on our own, yes. But cheering on each other even more so.

I think of the artists creating public murals for our activation spaces.

I think of the cleaners, the sports administrators, the train drivers.

I think of the workers at Brisbane Airport in my own electorate welcoming planes of visitors. I think of our Indigenous leaders showcasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and language.

These are truly our games. We are putting on this show together, we’re welcoming together.

We are going to create memories together. And have memories in unexpected ways.

And if the idea of hosting the world in our own town, of pitching in, of showing our very best doesn’t make you swell with pride then you must be missing the Queensland gene.

However, if building lasting family memories isn’t your thing, then there’s plenty more to get your heart racing.

I am, of course, referring to infrastructure.

Twenty-six years after the last Australian Olympic and Paralympic Games, Australians are still benefiting.

The Sydney Games turned more than 400 hectares of former industrial land at Homebush into a thriving commercial, residential and sporting hub that still draws millions of visitors every year.

And the rail links and road upgrades built for the Games still serve Sydney today.

We want Queensland to be a global sporting and tourism destination. To get there, we are working hand in hand with the Queensland Government and local governments, so our infrastructure investment lines up with the nation's priorities.

The Albanese Government is providing more than $3.43 billion for 17 new and existing venues across the state, including the Brisbane Stadium, in partnership with the Queensland Government.

These will be venues fit for athletes to deliver the performances of their lives. And places where Australians will play, train, compete and watch sport for decades.

That means investing in sport not just for a bigger medal tally, but because it changes lives. It means building venues not as monuments, but for the moments that happen inside them.

At the same time, we are investing $14.3 billion into transport infrastructure across South-east Queensland.

I’m pleased to say, many of the Games-supporting projects are funded, in procurement or already under construction.

In a very real way, these Games have given us the impetus to fast-track projects that will help Queensland grow for a generation.

Better connectivity, more jobs, stronger communities, greater opportunity and a lasting legacy.

But, like any gold-medal winning team, success requires an all-in effort.

I will be honest: delivering major venues and infrastructure always involves some rough and tumble.

Brisbane 2032 asks all of us, politicians included, to look past the day-to-day fights and focus on the horizon.

It is Team Australia all the way.

That collaboration I spoke of earlier is crucial to delivering a shared vision for our athletes, from playground to podium.

The Prime Minister understands this, I understand this and our government understands this.

I am privileged to have been Minister for Sport for four-and-a-half years and proud to have been the longest-serving member of the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee Board, together with President Andrew Liveris, John Coates, and Rebecca Frizelle.

This consistency and stability on the journey to the Olympic and Paralympic Games has us in good stead.

Anyone who's worked in high performance knows that minimising uncertainty is crucial for athlete performance.

So, with that North Star to aim for and the relationships in place, my wish and goal is we continue to work together through the inevitable roller coaster ride that comes with hosting a Games.

It is shoulder to the wheel for all of us.

 When Patty Mills talks about a little kid underneath a clothesline imagining an Olympic moment, he's really talking about possibility.

Every great sporting story starts with possibility.

It starts under a clothesline, or on a netball court with a bib that's a size too big. It runs through accommodation at altitude in Canberra, a track at a world championship, a pair of running blades, a grant that arrives just right when it's needed.

And one day, if the dream holds, it ends in a tunnel and a roar, in a stadium right here in Brisbane.

Over the past four years, I have set out to make that journey fairer and more certain for our athletes.

A record $200 million for women and girls' grassroots sport. The largest ever investment in Para sport. The biggest investment in the AIS since it opened. More than half a billion dollars for high performance.

And a Win Well culture that says to Australians and to the world that how we win matters as much as whether we win.

But none of it happens by itself.

The Brisbane 2032 Games will be delivered by the people in this room: governments, Games partners, sporting bodies, institutes and academics, coaches, sports scientists, volunteers, partners, and the media who bring it all to the screen. None of us can do it alone.

But all of us can do it together.

So my ask today is simple. Keep the athlete at the centre of every decision. Back them now, not in five years. Plan beyond the closing ceremony. And put aside the small fights for the bigger prize.

Because this is about a young girl on a netball court, daring to dream. It is about stars like Lachie Kennedy and Gout Gout, already taking on the world.

It is about Brisbane, Queensland and Australia, and our north star moment.

We are building a Games where success is measured not only in medals, but in the communities left with the infrastructure they need and the stories they live by.

In 2000, Sydney was famously declared the best Games ever.

As the Olympic and Paralympic Games return to Australia, Brisbane has the chance to not just to match that success, but to surpass it.

Let's work together and make it happen.