Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

MVAKINOU () (): Queen Elizabeth began her reign as a very young woman, unexpectedly, and it was filled with many, many challenges. Yet, as her 70-year reign has proven, Elizabeth II stood firmly in the place she was given and from there she went on to move the world, redefining and modernising the British monarchy and bringing together the Commonwealth of Nations that she was so devoted to—earning along the way the love, admiration and respect of her subjects, of leaders and of people across the world.

In the course of her 70-year reign and certainly in the aftermath of her death, she has been praised for her unwavering sense of commitment to duty and for being steadfast and resolute in her reign; praised for her dignity and stoicism, her wisdom and values; and admired and respected for the many roles she performed, firstly as the Queen, the defender of her faith, and then as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a mother and a great-grandmother—and a tradie also. It's well known that she was a car mechanic servicing army trucks during World War II, and I'd say that she would be a great model today for encouraging young women to actually go into the trade and help us deal with our skills shortages that we're enduring at this moment.

I migrated to Australia in 1963 and, as a child of migrants—or 'new Australians', as we were called—I remember my primary school years throughout the sixties were all very much about understanding and learning to become an Australian. Naturally, I had to learn the English language, and in our school hall at Brunswick South Primary School we would sing our national anthem, 'God Save the Queen', every morning, and we would listen to the BBC once a week. We traded in pennies, shillings and pounds, and Queen Elizabeth was the essential symbol upon which I was building my understanding of what being an Australian was. In fact, at that time, post Second World War migrants to Australia built their integration and new Australian identity around the persona of the Queen as our head of state. In acquiring citizenship in those days, it was, as my late father said, 'signing up to the Queen'.

I reflected on this when I visited the grade 5 and 6 students of Meadows Primary School in my electorate on the Friday morning after we'd heard the news of the Queen's passing. I shared my primary school memories with the students so that they could understand the significance of Queen Elizabeth to my generation almost six decades ago, because they too, being children of migrants and refugees, are developing a sense of being Australian and developing their own Australian identity but in a different era, one in which as Australians we have grown and matured, understanding ourselves as being a nation of early settlers, migrants and refugees with an Indigenous inheritance of our First People, who we continue to strive to appropriately recognise and reconcile with.

My dear friend Mary Elizabeth Calwell has spoken to me about the many times that she met the Queen. In fact, during the royal tour of 1963 she accompanied her father, the late Arthur Calwell, who was federal Leader of the Opposition at the time and who had also been Australia's first migration minister, to a dinner at Yarralumla. She recalls that the Queen conformed to the convention of withdrawing with the women from dinner after dessert to allow the men to enjoy port, cigars and conversation. Mary Elizabeth recalls that the Queen had to initiate all conversation and that she was, 'highly intelligent, knowledgeable and friendly, and throughout her reign the Queen adjusted to the changing mores of society that enabled the monarchy to become more identified with the wider community'.

My constituent, Nayana Bhandari, putting aside the turbulent history associated with India's independence, told me, 'I liked Queen Elizabeth II as a woman who served the community and her family in such a dignified manner.' Another constituent, Ali, who migrated from Turkey in the late sixties, just after the white Australia policy was dismantled, said to me emphatically: 'I liked her very much. She was a strong leader. There are not many leaders like her.'

I met the Queen here in Parliament House during her visit in 2011. As she moved through the crowd in the Great Hall, she did so effortlessly, with such grace and warmth. I fondly remember sharing small talk with the late Prince Philip; it was something along the lines of our shared Greek heritage. To see them both together gave you a full understanding and appreciation of their relationship, their teamwork. They were totally in sync with one another, and it was clear why she referred to him as her 'strength and stay'.

On behalf of the people of Calwell, I extend my condolences to King Charles III and the royal family. Long live the King, and may she rest in peace.

See this speech in context