 That's for you, Paddy and Aaron. Thank you. I'd now like to invite to the lectern the acting Chief Minister, Andrew Barr. Thank you very much, Tim. Can I acknowledge Aunty Agnes and thank you very much for that very warm welcome to country and also acknowledge the traditional custodians, the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to elders past and present and acknowledge other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are with us today. To my ministerial colleague, Shane Rattenbury, other members of the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Embassy, Tom Doherty and the Mills family. Thank you very much for being here. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, boys and girls. I'd like to thank you all for taking time to be here to mark a really exciting occasion for our city. Whilst it is an exciting occasion for Canberra, it is tinged somewhat by significant international tragedy that occurred overnight that did impact upon Australians. I'd like to take this moment to express the ACT Government's sympathy to families and friends who were affected by the Malaysian Airlines incident. Can I though say it is due to great pleasure to welcome home Paddy Mills, an outstanding athlete and an exceptional ambassador for the city of Canberra. I'd also like to welcome back to Canberra Aaron Baines, Paddy Spurs and Boomer's teammate and a fellow Australian Institute of Sport graduate. I'd also particularly like to thank the San Antonio Spurs for allowing the Larry O'Brien trophy to leave the United States for the first time to be here today with our Australian stars. It goes without saying, ladies and gentlemen, that Patrick Mills played an enormous part in securing that trophy for the Spurs in their NBA Finals victory against the Miami Heat. And during the championship winning game five, Paddy scored an impressive 17 points during his 18 minutes of court time, including what everyone regards as the game-changing 14 points in that third quarter. It's certainly clear that he's a crowd favourite in the US and most particularly here in Canberra and in places as far afield as his traditional home, Thursday Island. But ladies and gentlemen, Canberra is very proud to call Paddy Mills our own. It's fair to say that he's come a long way since his days playing with the shadows in the local basketball competition and as a ball boy for the Canberra cannons. Both Paddy and Aaron spent many hours on the courts here in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport and also attended Lake Jinanderra College. Recently, it seems, ladies and gentlemen, it has been young Canberra athlete has made their mark internationally. Nick Curios recently at Wimbledon, Carolyn Buchanan, Michael Matthews, Melissa Breen and of course our own Paddy Mills. Paddy's not just a gifted athlete though. He's also has a real sense of community. His work with a range of charities to help those less fortunate is gaining increasing attention and this says a lot about his character, his generosity and his compassion. He's an inspiring role model for any kid in this city, in this country or anywhere around the world who's prepared to work hard to be the best that they can. On behalf of the people of Canberra, we're delighted to welcome him back to the city he calls home and it's with great pleasure that I now present the keys to the city of Canberra to Patrick Mills. I'll just grab you over here for a sec Paddy. Welcome home Paddy. It is great to see you here. We're so proud of you and to get the keys to the city. What does it mean to you? It's a complicated question I think. But look, first of all, I want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Ngunnawal people, Aunty Agneshe, Senior Elder, the Acting Chief Minister, the Minister of Sport. I'd also like to acknowledge my teammate Aaron Baines for being here and also Tom Doherty, the Chief of Mission from the US Embassy. Well, first of all, thank you everyone for coming out today. This is an unbelievable turnout. I can't believe the sun is out. I'll make this quick otherwise Aaron Baines might get burnt over here. But listen guys, finally to answer your question, this is great. This is the kind of support that I didn't realize at the time that was going on over in America, in Texas especially. I'm really thankful for the turnout and for the support. Both of us are thankful for the support that you've all been giving us throughout the season, especially the playoffs. And then thank you very much again for the turnout today. Patty, we're going to talk about basketball and what it obviously means to you in terms of basketball. But that's going to come in a very short time. But I just wanted to ask you, how proud of you are you to do it with your mum and dad here and all of your family here. It is great for you to come back and I guess acknowledge the role that they've played in your basketball career as well. Yeah, of course, both mum and dad who are here played a huge part ever since we started here. And everyone else knows that here in Canberra. And I think that they're even more famous than I am in Canberra. Especially my dad with his Facebook updates. But hopefully keeps everyone up to date which is great. But obviously they've been a big part. I'm an only child so they have no one else to worry about. But obviously for them to come over and really witness firsthand experience of the NBA and the NBA finals and obviously to be there in Game 5 along with my uncle Danny Morseau, that was a very special moment for me to get them to experience it because it was such a great achievement and an accomplishment that it's going to be hard for me to stand up here and explain to you in detail what it actually feels like. So I'm glad they got to witness that. Patty, before we let you go for this part of it, what do you hope that your role and your achievements play for young Torres Strait Islanders? How do you hope that this inspires them? Yeah, look, I think the fact that I play basketball and I've worked hard to achieve it now playing in the NBA and obviously for the Australian boomers at that elite level, now I'm just using it to be honest to promote my culture, promote my heritage, represent Australia, represent Canberra and all the people that have had the same dream that I have. At the end of the day I've put it upon myself just as much as Aaron Baines has to be a role model for all Australian kids, especially young Indigenous kids. They can see me up here today. I don't know, there's a few out there today. So you can see it's just me. I'm just a little Indigenous boy from Canberra and that's all it takes. It's nothing special, just hard work, dedication, a couple of sacrifices and the passion and desire to want to achieve greatness and that's all it is. Hopefully I can pass that on to the young ones and then give them motivations to have the same dream. Good on you Paddy. We'll get you back shortly to talk with Aaron about basketball. Thank you. And well done. Thank you. I'd like now to invite Tom from the US Embassy, the Deputy Chief of Mission, just to talk about the impact that Paddy and the San Antonio Spurs have had on American basketball. Thank you. I was promoted at the very beginning here today as the ambassador. Personally our ambassador is in Melbourne today at the NBA's conference and couldn't be here. Very, very much wanted to be here. He does a lot of tweeting on political events all of the time but when the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA this year, he sent out a tweet particularly because of Paddy and Aaron. And I think it's telling it was the most repeated and watched tweet that he sent out with all of the political things and I find that when Paddy's talking about being a role model here and identifying with folks in camera, I'd like to say as an American he and Aaron are terrific role models for kids in America as well. And that we're very, very proud of them. We're going to take credit for them as well. And I think it's fitting, you know, it's a nice winter day here but it is a winter day and probably worth remembering that basketball was invented in the United States. I think in 1891 and it was invented in the winter by a sports director at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts and he did it in order to have something that people could do physical exercise during snowy winters in New England. And within two years it had spread to Europe, to Asia, to the Middle East and then later to Africa and I think it's kind of a symbol of how sports can bring people together and if we needed another symbol we couldn't have asked for a better one than what we have here today with a trophy that's come to Canberra for the very first time. We're real proud of it. We're real proud to be associated. We're real proud that they're graduates of American universities where they played basketball as well and for me, pleasure to be here. Congratulations to them both. Nice to see the trophy here. We look forward to making sure though that we're in the United States along with both Paddy and Aaron. Thank you very much. Again, did Paddy and Aaron just up here to just ask a few questions about basketball and obviously the trip around the world with the Larry O'Brien trophy. Paddy, you're on the recovery phase by the looks of it still with that shoulder. How are things going there? Yeah, so for those that don't know I was carrying an injury throughout the whole season. It was, I had a pain in my shoulder and it just kept getting worse and worse so I knew that it was something bad. I didn't realize how bad it was. Had an MRI after the season and found out that I have a torn rotator cuff that completely came off the bone which meant I had to have surgery two weeks ago. It's looking like a six to seven month recovery so I'll miss the start of the next season. This is why I'm wearing this big pillow and sling at the moment. Yes, and Paddy, you and I we've spoken a lot over the years. I think you were at Marist College when we first came across each other but you're an outstanding track and field athlete. Do you ever wonder what might have been? Yeah, well obviously, you know, Kathy Freeman being a role model of mine and watching her handle the way she does on and off the track. You know, that's who I wanted to be so I did have a crack at the 400. I don't think I was quick enough to give that a go. And how great is it to be travelling around Australia with Aaron? Yeah, this is great. He had such a huge part in the team. This is a team that really came together which is rare in the NBA. We really enjoyed each other's company and Bainzy's craziness was a part of that whole thing in bringing everyone together. The boys are starting to get a little Australian accent and Australian jokes thanks to Bainzy. But this is very special for both of us to have the chance to bring the trophy here. And for everyone that put on this event, thank you very much because this is going to be by far, you know, on behalf of the rest of the country showing the trophy to you guys. Yeah, alright. Aaron, former AIS graduate, obviously you're going to get a rockstar reception when you hit Cairns, I would assume, in a couple of days' time. Yeah, but I won't be counting on this many people coming out. It's a smaller city, that's why. How proud are you though to be representing Australia in the NBA with Paddy? What a team it is, the San Antonio Spurs. Yeah, definitely. It was an honour to be able to carry that flag high after we won up there on the podium when we were getting handed the Lario. So yeah, just any time I get to represent Australia, that's why I love putting on the green and gold every summer and going out there and playing with these bunch of guys, and it was made even sweeter that Paddy and I first played together when I was 17 and he was 15 just down the road here at the Institute and we got to hold this thing together as well, so it's pretty special. Okay, and what about you? Obviously you're hoping that your career continues with the Spurs? You know, that's the business side of things now. That's why I have agents and they're good at what they do, so I'll let them do that and I'll just focus on getting ready for the world champs and representing Australia again. Should ask Paddy how it's done. Paddy, just on a new three-year deal. Well done. A relief. Yeah, very excited to say guys I'm heading back to San Antonio for another three years. It's a great place and Bainzy knows it's a great family vibe, a great environment and the stage that I'm at in my career just as well as Bainzy is we're trying to learn, we're trying to develop, we're trying to get our games to new levels that we don't even know that we can reach and the only way to do that is to be behind Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, so it's not a bad place to be. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for Aaron Bains and Paddy Mills. Now, given Paddy's got his arm in his sling, there'll be no autographs but they will be over there for photographs, all right? So they'll walk over there and because many people want to get photographs with them, they'll do it pretty quickly. But once again, what a great honour this is for Canberra. It is great to see Paddy Mills back in the ACT and representing Canberra so proudly on the world stage with the San Antonio Spurs. And once again, thank you everybody for coming here today. Thank you. Thanks, guys.