Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Here is an acrostic tribute:

Today, as in recent days, we again give thanks for the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Her Royal Highness has passed from this life, but her legacy will long live on.

Across the world, tributes have been given and gratitude shared for an iconic figure.

Never before has an English monarch enjoyed such affection in life and in death.

Kings and queens have always been looked up to from afar by their subjects, yet Elizabeth was able to transcend the way the Crown once ruled and was accessible and available like no monarch before her.

Shedding tears is not needed for someone who has lived a full and good life and departed at age 96.

Yes, it is sad that she has gone, but we should be ever grateful we had her as Queen at all given the circumstances of her accession, let alone for as long as she was on the throne.

Over recent years there has been a growing push for a republic in Australia, yet even those who are not within the Commonwealth or those within royal realms who are avowed republicans have been touched by her 8 September passing.

Understandably, good people with good hearts have not rushed to question our constitutional monarchy at this time of grief and loss.

Reigning for a record 70 years, the Queen brought her own unique sense of devotion, duty, service and self to the demanding role.

May she be always remembered for her dignity, grace and style.

A woman who, as a princess, paid for her own wedding dress in 1947 using ration coupons because of austerity measures after World War II.

Just imagine for a moment the enormous pressure on this young lady who, from a young age, was heir to the throne after the shock 1936 abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII.

Elizabeth did not wish for the crown, it is said, and as a very young girl apparently prayed for a brother so the crown could pass her by.

So it was, however, that at just age 25 she became the monarch upon the death of her father, King George VI.

The crown was a perfect fit, and she would become much loved at home and abroad.

Yearning to be seen as a queen for all, Elizabeth wasted little time before she travelled overseas and, in 1954, came to Australia.

Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Australia, won everyone's heart on that first of 16 visits Down Under.

Until that inaugural visit, no reigning English monarch had ever been to Australia.

Even country centres were on the itinerary, and the Queen toured the countryside—including my home town, Wagga Wagga, on 13 February.

Everyone who saw her on that special day, Wagga Wagga's greatest day, remembers her being so beautiful, radiant and smiling.

Never before and certainly not since has our city enjoyed such an occasion.

Elizabeth II's ability as Queen to be there for her people always shone through, whether they were the sheep farmers and woodchoppers at the Wagga Wagga Showground or the civic leaders on that hot summer afternoon.

Legend has it a stray woodchip came hurtling towards the Queen as she watched the demonstration by the axemen, which Her Majesty deftly deflected with her umbrella.

I met her with a group of daily newspaper editors in 2000 and was impressed by her instant recall of her visit to Wagga Wagga—'a market town', as she put it—46 years earlier.

Zeal, commitment, faith, allegiance—all are attributes the queen gave and was given in return during her reign.

At all times through the most traumatic social changes in human history, the Queen was a rock for Great Britain and the world.

Being so steady, such a constant, gave Britons and people from other nations a sense of pride, patriotism and belief that tradition still mattered in an ever-changing world.

England's Queen, our Queen, was an exemplar of what a leader should be in difficult and trying times.

The economic and military upheavals which beset the world would have been enough to test the resolve of any monarch.

Her own family challenges pushed the limits.

Through it all, however, the Queen remained true and unwavering.

Her stoicism and that of her late husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were an inspiration to all.

England's monarchy is a 1,000-year institution.

Symbolism is an important part of any organisation with the history and power of the English sovereignty.

Elizabeth II's Westminster Abbey funeral and committal in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on Monday had all the grandeur, ceremony and pomp you would expect.

Certainly it was a service and an occasion fit for a queen.

Only a monarch of the extraordinary qualities of Elizabeth II could have drawn the worldwide outpouring of love and respect afforded at her farewell, watched by billions across the globe.

Now it is up to King Charles III to carry his mother's torch and forge his own identity, and may he live long to do just that.

Doubtless, whatever happens in the future, we can say we were blessed to live in this great, second Elizabethan age and may I respectfully say: thank you, ma'am.

See this speech in context