Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the electorate of Brand in Western Australia, I rise to offer condolences upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth stands as one of the most important and remarkable figures of the past century. Not only does her passing mark a significant moment in history; it is also a marker for the passing of a generation to whom we owe a great deal. It is the generation sometimes referred to as the greatest generation—that is, the generation that confronted and defeated evil on a grand scale in Europe and the Pacific. It is the generation that put service before self, that put the greater good ahead of individual gain—which is not to say that consequent generations have not done the same. We see demonstrations of selflessness and service and constancy all around us every day in our communities, but it was the challenge of the global conflict of World War II and its consequences that serve as a continuing example to all that follow. Few of that generation typify this dedication to duty and selflessness more than Queen Elizabeth II. Hers was a life of perhaps unrivalled privilege, granted by circumstances of her birth, but the price was a lifetime of service, equally unrivalled. I watched her funeral earlier this week with my husband, Jamie, and my mum, Diana. Mum is 10 years younger than the Queen and she remembers King George VI and the coronation and we recalled how my dad, John Harvie Morris, would tell us the story, often, of how he slept overnight with friends and thousands of others in Green Park by The Mall on the eve of her coronation in June 1953. Hundreds of thousands of people, like my dad, filled London on that summer day in June 1953 to catch a glimpse and be part of a momentous event. That commitment and dedication was replicated last week, nearly 70 years later, as we all watched the queue in all its British magnificence and then the crowds that gathered in their hundreds of thousands to say farewell.

Her Majesty will be remembered for her success in preserving the monarchy and the Commonwealth through turbulent times. Under her reign the monarchy survived the tumult that followed the Second World War, the retreat of British influence around the world and waves of social change. Her Majesty served as a constant in a fast-changing world and as an example of how to 'carry on' in difficult times. As former Prime Minister Paul Keating noted, 'Queen Elizabeth II was an exemplar of public leadership who committed herself to a lifetime of political restraint, and she was the embodiment of every good instinct and custom that the British people possess.'

In my home state of WA, Her Majesty is regarded with unique affection, and, in particular, in Brand, which enjoys a high proportion of migrants from the United Kingdom and all Commonwealth nations. She was the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil and visited Western Australia on seven occasions, with engagements stretching from Kununurra to Albany. She made her first visit to Perth with Prince Philip in 1954, when Western Australia was a very different place and most still regarded themselves as subjects of the British Empire. She was greeted with equal excitement in WA when she visited for what would be her last time, in 2011, at the age of 85, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Her remarkable 70-year reign is unlikely to be matched, either in length of time or in the reverence in which a monarch can be held. With her passing, we are reminded of the values of selfless public service and duty that she embodied for an entire generation.

For those of us that grew up in households where the Queen's Christmas speech was as compulsory as watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the Boxing Day Test the very next day, it is the passing of someone who we never knew but who was so familiar and tied us to family and friends—and, in my case, my father—that were of her generation and that are now no longer here. We pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Our deepest condolences to her family that remain, and, of course, we wish King Charles III every best wish upon his ascension to that throne. Vale Queen Elizabeth II. God save the King.

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