House debates

Friday, 23 September 2022

Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Ii and Accession of His Majesty King Charles Iii

Address

9:42 am

Photo of Luke GoslingLuke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Queen was a truly remarkable person. For me, as a young fella growing up in the country, it was really the face on our coins that was my relationship with the Queen, as it was for so many young Australians. You were doing your jobs or your chores, you were getting some coins, and there was her face. I never met her, but you didn't need to meet her to understand that she was a remarkable person, and we have seen her now mourned by hundreds of millions of people, including millions of Australians, since the news of her passing.

I want to start by telling a quick story from one of my constituents, Harry Barnett. We were chatting down the pub the other night—the Buff Club in Darwin—and he told me about his encounter with the Queen. He grew up in Melbourne, and it was arranged for him as a nine- or 10-year-old boy—he can't quite remember—to meet Her Majesty. So he'd been rehearsing quite a bit, and his role was to say: 'Good morning, Your Majesty. Welcome to Australia. I hope you are enjoying your time here.' But Harry then says: 'I looked at her, and she was so beautiful, and I got it wrong, so I ended up saying: 'G'day, Mrs Queen. How ya going?' And he had this sense as a young man that he had done wrong, but he says the Queen gave him a wry little smile, patted him on the head and said, 'What a delightful young man.' Harry got a medal for meeting the Queen and for doing his duty. Harry's mum, who still lives in Melbourne, is in her 90s now, and she has Harry's medal. With all due respects, Mrs Barnett, Harry wants his medal back!

So, with my duty done to pass on Harry's message, I just want to reflect on her comments, quoted by the Prime Minister and so many others, which ring so true in these days that we live in, and that is, 'Grief is the price we pay for love.' It's such a poignant remark and observation of life.

Reflecting back to her coronation in 1953, there were over 7,000 Australians and 250 Australian military personnel who took part in the Queen's coronation. We saw again members of our armed services go over recently to the Queen's funeral. I pay my respects to the Queen for her own military service. She joined the war effort in World War II as a truck driver and as a mechanic when that was not required of her by her station in life as a royal. Thirty years after that coronation, Her Majesty came to Darwin to open the Larrakeyah naval base. Ten years later, 40 years after her coronation, I received my Queen's commission as an Army officer, when I was posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. To receive a Queen's commission means that you are granted the authority to lead Australian soldiers. It's an incredibly great honour. So, on behalf of all those in my electorate, the people of Darwin and Palmerston who miss her greatly, and on behalf of all those who were so proud to serve her when they served in the Australian military with her as the Queen, I simply say:

God save our gracious Queen!

Long live our noble Queen!

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen.

(Time expired)

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