Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

A little over a month ago I was speaking to the assembly at Boronia Heights Primary School as we officially opened the ring of trees planted around the oval to mark the Queen's jubilee. I said to the children that the trees and the accompanying new seating were to honour and to recognise one of the most remarkable people of the last century and that, hopefully, in years to come, children will sit on the marked chairs and reflect on who she was and her incredible service. Today, with the Queen's passing, I have no doubt that this will occur, as it will occur at the hundreds of existing monuments to Her Majesty and the many more that will be erected in the months and years ahead. This will occur not just because of who she was and her longevity as a monarch but because of the values she represented and those we may have lost.

The longevity of the Queen's reign is remarkable in itself. Few of us in this parliament were even born when she came to the throne in February 1952. She was the longest-serving English monarch in history. She witnessed 16 Australian prime ministers, from Menzies to Anthony Albanese, and 15 British ones. As senior journalist Paul Kelly notes, 'At every juncture she upheld constitutional propriety.'

She loved our country. She visited often, but she always respected the wishes of our nation. Even when Prime Minister Paul Keating informed her of his desire to become a republic, she replied impeccably, saying:

I will, of course, take the advice of Australian ministers and respect the wishes of the Australian people.

When she became Queen, it was almost a different world both here and globally. We were just 10 million people. We were a relatively inward-looking country then. We were largely monocultural. Television had not even come to our shores. Today the world is so different, with the internet, globalisation, modern multicultural society and alternative powers. But through it all the Queen endured. She was the constant in our lives for 70 years. She was the North Star—or, in our case, the Southern Cross—that was always there no matter what social and cultural change was occurring beneath our feet. Through all seven decades, she practised and exemplified a constant set of values: of faith, of stoicism, of grace and humility, of duty above self, of love of country and above all of service literally until her dying days. And these values did not deviate over seven decades.

With her passing, do these values also die or at least diminish? British author Douglas Murray wrote that she seemed at times 'to be single-handedly holding back so many ugly forces challenging these values'. Deep down, is this the reason that so many of us deeply mourn her passing? Is it not just because of the loss of an incredible servant leader but because of the potential loss of the values that she represented—the official passing of an age, the official cutting of the last link to our greatest generation. I hope our fears are not realised, and perhaps the reflections occurring today and at monuments of Queen Elizabeth in the future will cause us actually to be more like her. I'm sure her son, King Charles III, will continue to serve and honour the legacy his late mother has left behind, and we wish him well.

In the condolence motion for the passing of the former monarch, King George VI, the Queen's father, on 7 February 1952, in this very place Prime Minister Menzies said of the newly crowned 25-year-old:

As she goes through her sorrow to her great responsibilities it would be the wish of all of us to say to her that we have faith in her ; that … we are resolved to do all that we may to make her reign as rich and kind and good and memorable as that of her illustrious father.

That faith was more than warranted. Her reign was richer than anyone could have possibly imagined. I thank Queen Elizabeth for her service. May she rest in peace.

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