STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr WOOD (La Trobe) (13:45): I'd like to acknowledge in the gallery today Wayne Lawes. He's joined by his wife, Alice, and friends David and Gaynore. David is a former swimming coach.

As a local Berwick resident, Wayne has dedicated 43 years to coaching and developing young Australians in swimming. His dedication has even taken him to the Olympic stage. In 2016, he was awarded the Australian coaches association award for outstanding contribution to Australian swimming.

In Tokyo, he worked with Brendon Smith, who went on to win the bronze medal in the 400-metre individual medley at the 2020 summer Olympics, and Matthew Temple, who had the time of 50.25 seconds, blitzing the national record of 50.45 at the Tokyo Games. It takes a lot of hard work and coaching to reach the Olympic level, as we all know, and close to only 0.0001 per cent make it.

Pair that difficulty with Victoria's peak of lockdown restrictions from Labor; that's when Wayne was in Beijing. I make a special thanks to all our swimming coaches right across the nation. My daughter swims and gets up at four in the morning, but the swimming coaches do it for year after year.

If you ever wonder why Australia does so good in the Olympics, you just have to go to any local swimming pool to see the coaches there with the kids. Again, congratulations, Wayne, for the work you've done for Australia.