Transcript E&OE
14 October 2009
Doorstop interview - Commonwealth Games swimming venue, New Delhi
Subject: Commonwealth Games.
Minister: this morning I inspected the hockey facility both for the Hockey world cup and the Commonwealth Games. Here I have been very pleased to see the swimming facility for the Commonwealth Games.
Yesterday, when I met with External Affairs Minister Krishna, we spoke about the Games, the preparedness for the games and also the security arrangements.
Firstly, we are very confident that India is going to have a first class Commonwealth Games and we wish India every success in that. Great games would be a good thing for India, a good thing for the Commonwealth and a good thing for Australia. We will be sending our largest overseas team to the Games in Delhi next October.
This morning at the Hockey stadium, I announced that Australia through the Australia-India Council will provide three hockey scholarships- one for a young woman hockey player, one for a young male hockey player and one for a hockey coach, every year to spend two weeks at the elite hockey facility in Perth, Western Australia, my own state.
There are a range of sporting activities which Australia and India share. One is hockey, another of course is cricket. Yesterday I saw the New South Wales team preparing for a 20-20 game.
But the Commonwealth Games is one of the things that binds Commonwealth members like Australia and India together. Australia is very confident that the games here will be a tremendous success. And we certainly wish India well in all of the preparations. I have been very pleased to get a briefing on all of that this morning.
Journalist: How many hockey players will go to Perth?
Minister: There will be three a year- a young woman hockey player, one young male hockey player and a coach to go to the Australian Institute of sport-hockey facility for two weeks to get better coaching skills, to get better playing skills and that will occur every year from now on.
Of course India was once the world's premier hockey playing nation and I was very saddened at the Beijing Olympics where for the first time in 80 years India failed to qualify.
So all of the hockey world, including Australia, wants India to return to its historic place as a great hockey playing nation. We hope that will occur. The new facility at the stadium for the World Cup will certainly help that. But we hope that the small contribution that Australia makes to assist India developing it's players, it's coaching skills will also see India return as a premier hockey playing nation.
Journalist: You visited two venues, what do you think of India's preparedness for the games?
Minister: Both here and at the hockey stadium, from my observation, things are on track. Of course at the hockey stadium the time table is not October, the time table is March, that is when the World Cup will be.
I have seen some commentary which says we worry about the facility being behind schedule. These comments are always made in the run up to any Commonwealth games, any Olympic games. The same was said of Melbourne, in the run up to the Melbourne Commonwealth games, the same was said at Sydney in the run up to the Sydney Olympic Games. These things are always said and in the end you always find that the facilities are ready for the Commonwealth games or the Olympic Games.
I had a briefing here, this morning from Mr. Singh, who has oversight of the nine facilities. He is very confident that all of the facilities are on track and you often see comments that things are behind schedule, will things be ready? The experience has always been that the facilities are ready. And Mr. Singh and the Indian Officials and the Indian Government are very confident that the facilities will be ready for the Commonwealth games and Australia shares that confidence.
Also, we have been briefed on security arrangements, which of course in the modern day is very important. We are being closely consulted as other Commonwealth countries are and we are confident that India is taking all the necessary precautions and arrangements so far as security is concerned as well.
Journalist: What are some of the major concerns that you have?
Minister: We share the concern that India shares about security arrangements. It is tragic that in the modern day we always have to be wary of terrorist or extremist activities. No one wants to see innocent spectators, innocent athletes caught up in terrible attacks but it is a reality of the modern world that we have to take precautions against these things. That is what the Indian Government and the Indian authorities are doing. It is precisely what Australia did for both the Sydney Olympics and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
I have indicated to the Indian Government that anything that Australia learnt through the Sydney Olympics or through the Melbourne Commonwealth games, of course we will make available to India for the preparations for the Commonwealth games. But we always have to be wary of terrorist activities and we are conscious of that as is India.
Journalist: Will the Australian team come in the event of a terrorist attack in India in the months prior to the games?
Minister: Whether an Australian team comes in the course of that will ultimately fall in the individual sporting authority and the Australian sporting organizations.
But at the moment from what I have seen and from discussions we have had we are confident that all of the necessary precautions are being taken.
What of course no one can guarantee, the Indian Government cannot guarantee, the Australian Government cannot guarantee is that terrorists won't try to cause terrible attacks on people. That is why every precaution has to be taken, that is why we cannot be complacent. We need to work together to make sure that every precaution is taken, that every security arrangement that needs to be put in place is put in place.
On the basis of the discussions I have had, we believe that is on track.
[END]
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