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PARLIMENTARY ADDRESS BY THE ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR YOUTH AND SPORTS – HONOURABLE ILIESA DELANA
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Madam Speaker,
The Honourable Prime Minister;
Leader of the Opposition; and
Respected Members of Parliament
Let me begin by thanking His Excellency the President for his address at the opening of this session. I share his commitment and vision for our young people, in particular. And will do my part to help realise the lofty goals that he set out. I also would like to applaud His Excellency on his personal commitment to combatting the spread of NCDs in Fiji, as this is a goal that I personally hold dear to my heart and that is deeply engrained in the work of my Ministry.
The past two years have been active on both the youth and the sports front. The Honourable Minister will outline many of our achievements and plans for the next two years when he addresses the House later this week. I am honoured to serve this country in this portfolio, to travel around supporting our youth as they overcome challenges to achieve great things and contribute to moving Fiji forward.
At this juncture, I would like to thank the Government and every Fijian, especially the sporting community, for their immense contributions towards sporting development in Fiji. This year has been a successful sporting year for Fiji, with many Fijian sportsmen and women participating, not only in international events abroad, but also in numerous events hosted right here at home.
Madam Speaker,
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Fiji National Sports Commission and Fiji Sports Council for their support and outstanding organisational assistance that has boosted
Fiji’s ability to host internationally recognised and sanctioned tournaments, supported by my Ministry. Through Government support and prudent management, Fiji has indeed established itself as the sporting hub of the Pacific.
Madam Speaker,
This year alone, we have hosted the Oceania Volleyball Championships and Oceania Weightlifting Championships in May; the Oceania Swimming Championships held in June and the Super Rugby match between the Chiefs and the Crusaders in July. Next month, Fiji will again host the Fiji International Golf tournament in Natadola – the third year of our five year agreement. Later this year we will again host the Under 18 Oceania Basketball Championships – a world sanctioned and qualifying tournament for the U19 World Championships to be held in Egypt and Italy next year.
Madam Speaker,
Our gold medal win in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio was a significant return on Government’s investment in our ruggers and a true testament to our ongoing collaborative work with all of our stakeholders and sporting federations in Fiji. We created history by winning the first ever Sevens Rugby gold medal and instantly became an online hit as searches for Fiji reached record popularity. This has proven to us and the rest of the world what we, in Fiji, already know – that Fiji’s sporting brand is marketable internationally. And every penny spent by Government towards sports development locally and internationally will surely have immense benefits for our economy.
Madam Speaker,
Allow me to elaborate on Government’s support, through the Fiji National Sports Commission, for the disabled and special needs community.
Madam Speaker, no Government in our history has done more to give people living with disabilities greater access to opportunities than this Government. I am extremely proud to see the amount of effort and resources that have been set aside to place people living with disabilities into the mainstream of society. I can tell you, as a disabled person, that never before
has such focussed mainstreaming taken place, not only in the arena of sports, but across every level of socioeconomic development.
It is always great to see disabled people pursuing their passions, regardless of whatever challenges they face in life. And we saw that happen again with student Naomi Lewakita’s inspiring reading of our Constitution in Braille. This Government understands that every step we take forward as a nation must be a step taken together, and Naomi’s performance was the epitome of the kind of opportunities that inclusive, equitable environments can help create for our young people.
Last year, the Commission helped to fund Fiji’s first ever participation at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles – an event initiated by the Kennedy-Shriver Foundation in the 1970s for athletes with intellectual impairments. Fiji sent six athletes and returned with eight medals – including four gold medals. The Commission also provided funding for Paralympics Fiji to host its 2015 National Games in Suva and funded two of our para-athletes’ travel to the Australian National Para Table Tennis Cup earlier this year as part of their preparation for the Rio Paralympic Games, which finished just over a week ago. The Commission also supported Fiji’s participation in the 2014 Pan Pacific Games for the Deaf and will support our Deaf athletes’ participation in this year’s Australian Deaf Games, a qualifier for Deaflympics in 2017.
In the same way we mainstream those living with disabilities, we must also ensure that none of our young people are left behind from sports outreach, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion. We have to be everywhere that our young people call home. Because every boy and girl in Fiji can up their participation in athletic activities and enjoy the benefits of a more active lifestyle. So, in the upcoming year, we will redouble our efforts to engage with all of our communities, with inclusion at the top of the priority list.
Madam Speaker,
The Commission has continued to conduct coaching clinics and basic sports awareness programs in rural and urban communities around Fiji.
This year, the Commission established a “Fitness Leader” program that identifies leaders in villages who are trained to conduct fitness and physical activity programs in their community
in an effort to help combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs). To date, 67 Fitness Leaders have been trained and appointed to villages in Macuata, Cakaudrove, Bua, Namosi, Serua and Nadroga.
Madam Speaker, I am delighted that my Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts to ensure that physical education is a key lesson taught to our children. We recognise the need to ensure that there are proper PE lessons offered so that our children are able to develop athletic skills and keep themselves fit.
Through PE and sport, we also learn how to win and lose graciously, how to play as a team, how to recognise our strengths and weaknesses and how to focus. There is no doubt that we have immense talent in our country but we need to harness that and instil a sense of discipline. Having been an elite athlete, and hoping to be one again, I can describe first-hand the sacrifices that need to be made in order to achieve and represent Fiji well.
With support from the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, we are working to provide PE in our special schools and for those children with impairments in mainstream schools. It is through such teamwork that we will create more opportunities for our disabled community and promote an inclusive society rooted in equality.
Madam Speaker, The Fiji Sports Awards Committee has recognised the contributions of two people involved in sport for the disabled at this year’s Ceremony. Molly Esther of Special Olympics Fiji was awarded the prestigious 2015 Fiji Tattslotto Sportswoman of the Year Award. The second, Special Olympics Administrator, Mr Bishwa Nadan Sidal, was recognised as the Sports Administrator of the Year. This is indeed a boost for Special Olympics and disabled sports federations throughout the country. Government and the Ministry will continue to foster an environment for disabled members of our community to excel in sports and other areas in life. We are investigating the possibility of hosting the 2017 Pacific Special Olympics – a first for the region and Fiji. If we do this, Fiji will yet again make history and become a champion for disabled athletes in the region.
Madam Speaker,
I just recently returned from the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio and I thank Government again for its support towards our Paralympians. I became Fiji’s first Minister to be given the honour to present medals at the Paralympic Games. And I was humbled to represent Fiji and put our country in the spotlight in front of an estimated audience of four billion people over the 11 days of competition.
One of the ways to acknowledge the value and achievements of people living with disabilities is through increased media coverage. I hope soon to see and read about our disabled athletes’ achievements on a regular basis, including at the Paralympic, Deaflympic and Special Olympic Games. This is a challenge I put to our media houses in Fiji because it is what our athletes deserve as we work to change the public’s perceptions of our disabled community.
Madam Speaker,
We support the need to combat our NCD problem head on and use sport as a socio-economic advancement tool that promotes national unity. To do this, we need a strategy to ensure that new schools include a multi-purpose facility as part of the initial design and that an appropriate space is allocated for this. We should ensure adequate equipment is available for both new and current schools. We need to put proper sporting facilities in every school, and my Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Education to do so. These facilities should also be made available to the community, including those living with disabilities; so that we can keep entire communities active and give our young people a constructive avenue outside of school hours.
Madam Speaker,
We need to develop more creative ways to leverage the power of sport to ensure that the private sector supports our talented athletes if we want to build upon our international success. To date, we have provided a tax rebate of 150 per cent, in some instances, and the private sector is looking for further increases. However, the marketing benefits derived by sponsors should contribute to a real public-private partnership developed for the benefit of our athletes. Perhaps a more realistic incentive approach can be sought through discussion and debate, and my Ministry will be reaching out to sports organisations and the private sector to move this forward.
Sport can, and does, contribute to the economy through the construction of facilities, the selling of merchandise, providing employment opportunities and bringing in flows of income during the hosting of events. With increased economic development through sport and physical activity, we can foster the inclusion of marginalised groups, improve our health and cement our national identity.
My Ministry, alongside the Sports Commission, Fiji Sports Council, other sporting organisations and other Ministries form a powerful team that can harness the power of sport for the benefit of our nation. We have our work cut out for us, as we reinforce the success of our Sevens team and expand what we have learned to other sports and professions. We have to defend our world title next year and Olympic title in four years’ time. I can attest to the fact that time will pass quickly, so we have to match that pace and begin preparations. We have no time to lose.
To conclude, the Ministry recognises sport as a key contributor to economic growth, social inclusion and national unity. With the rise in the number of Fijian affected by NCDs, the promotion of sports and athletic activity is more important than ever. And I hope to see our gold medal win inspire many of our young people to become more active and adopt healthier lifestyles. Of course, sport is also a major industry, with the potential to generate huge revenues, and employment opportunities for our athletes.
Madam Speaker, allow me to conclude by reaffirming my belief that sports are an extremely effective development tool that create pathways for our young people to secure their future, and the future of our country. As stated by His Excellency, it is our duty to “provide young Fijians with every opportunity to have prosperous and satisfying futures,” and that is a responsibility my Ministry will strive every day to meet.
Vinaka and God Bless Fiji.