House debates

Friday, 23 September 2022

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

Address

9:47 am

Photo of Bert Van ManenBert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a privilege to rise in this House today to speak on this condolence motion and to pay tribute to what many have reflected on was a most remarkable woman of our generation, Queen Elizabeth II, who sadly passed away on 8 September. I wish to take this opportunity to express my condolences to our new king, King Charles III; all the members of the royal household; the residents of the United Kingdom; and the citizens of our great Commonwealth on this sad loss. I would also like to pass on what I am sure are the heartfelt condolences from my constituents in the electorate of Forde, who live in the city of Logan and on the northern Gold Coast.

The young princess ascended to the throne in 1952 at the age of just 25. Prior to her death, at 96 years of age, she was the oldest monarch in the world and had reigned for more than 70 years—longer than any British monarch in history. A truly remarkable story and a truly remarkable life. Queen Elizabeth was the monarch to 14 countries, in addition to the United Kingdom, and she was also head of the Commonwealth, which consists of 54 nations today. During her speech to mark her 21st birthday in 1947, Queen Elizabeth declared that her whole life, whether it be long or short, would be devoted to the service of her subjects across the Commonwealth—a vow, we've all recognised in this place, that she held through to her passing. During her record-breaking reign, the Queen visited 117 countries and clocked up more than 1.5 million kilometres. That's the equivalent of 42 trips around the world. The Queen was a frequent visitor to Australia from her first visit in 1954, when she also became the first and so far only reigning monarch to set foot on our soil.

There were two things I found amazing about this tour. The first was the number of places the Queen visited with her husband, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. They visited 57 towns and cities in just 58 days, in a time and age when transport was nowhere near as easy and simple as it is today. They traversed the country by plane, train, ship and car, from Cairns in the north to Broken Hill in the west and Hobart in the south. An estimated three-quarters of the Australian population turned out to see the then 27-year-old monarch. Admittedly, our population in 1954 was just under nine million, but it was an incredible figure nonetheless. But it was the subsequent visits, 16 in all over the years, that brought home to Australians right across this country the importance that the Queen placed in Australia and the joy she had whenever she visited here. During many of those stays, she came to my home state of Queensland. She visited Queensland eight times and visited our national capital some 14 times.

Due to the longevity of her reign, the advances in travel—in particular air travel—the breadth of the domain and the frequency of her trips, the Queen probably met more people than any other monarch or person in history. It's interesting to reflect on the number of people that she came across in her reign and, importantly, the number of leaders that she outserved—14 US presidents, 15 British prime ministers and 16 Australian prime ministers. I remember her visit here in 2011, her last here, and a brief encounter where I had the opportunity to shake her hand and wish her well. It's something that I'll never forget.

As we mourn her passing, there are already plans underway to erect a permanent memorial to the Queen on the Gold Coast, and the mayor has indicated he's going to invite King Charles to officially unveil it during his first visit to Australia as our now sovereign. This would follow the Queen's first visit to the Gold Coast back in March 1963. Those of us here from South-East Queensland, I'm sure, know how much the Gold Coast has changed. (Time expired)

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