Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

From 1952 to 2022, Her Majesty was served by 16 Australian prime ministers. I stand here representing a seat named after her first, and perhaps most devoted: Sir Robert Menzies.

To those who engage in generalities, it may be of significance that almost two-thirds of the families in my electorate are first- or second-generation migrants. Some may fairly ask, 'Why would the Crown matter to families who do not come from the United Kingdom?' This is the problem with generalities: they turn a blind eye to the virtue and value of tradition in any culture. Migrants come here with eyes and hearts wide open. They come here recognising the role tradition plays in binding us to those who have come before and those who will come after. There is, perhaps, no better example of this than Her Majesty's historic visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, the first by a reigning monarch in a century, and in the country of my birth. By any measure, it was perhaps one of the toughest audiences that she could have faced. Yet, after Her Majesty spoke at Dublin Castle, the newspaper Irish Independent recounted the reception as follows:

It was a moving speech delivered in her clear cut crystal voice and after the toast the room stood and applauded. Not just polite applause but sustained heartfelt appreciation of the bridge that the Queen herself had built … she had the look of a woman for whom the weight of history had just got a lot lighter.

I stand here, deeply moved by Her Majesty's passing, deeply grateful for a life of service and deeply proud of Her Majesty's devotion to the Crown's role in defending democracy. It may seem to be a paradox that an institution headed by a person there by birth can defend democracy. Maybe it is the mark of a first-rate democracy that these two ideas—a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy—work in tandem as they do. In Sir Robert Menzies's own memoir, Afternoon Light, he addresses the point with precision:

… the focal point is also an office, the Crown, now occupied by a woman, the Queen. Her actual powers are small … She never enters the political lists … The Queen is seen, in all the countries within her allegiance as the foundation of honour, the protector of the law, the centre of a Parliamentary system … a fixed point in the whirl of circumstance.

In every key speech to this institution—and we've heard them told in many the wonderful condolence motions—Her Majesty made this point abundantly clear. At the opening of this building, she said:

Commitment to parliamentary democracy lies at the heart of this nation's maturity, tolerance and humanity. This is surely one of the characteristics that has attracted so many people to come to Australia …

The gift and genius of Her Majesty's reign was the lightness of her touch. That restraint is no easy thing. To be absolutely impartial is, arguably, not human. We see it in our newspapers today, with many advocates claiming that their cause is the exception for interference by a monarch. In her restraint, the Queen deferred to the people through their representatives here. In doing so, the Queen gave Australia room to grow and mature as a nation. For that, and on behalf of the people of Menzies, I say thank you.

To our new King: when Sir Robert Menzies died after a heart attack in 1978, you flew from Britain to attend the state funeral in Melbourne as the Queen's representative. I was proud to see our representatives from this place fly to your side in your time of grief. We know you will make a fine King. More than that—we know you will defend democracy and you will make your mother proud. I thank the House.

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