Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My grandmother is the same age as Queen Elizabeth was and has now outlived her. She was part of the 70 per cent of Australians who turned out to see the Queen while she was visiting Australia. She had a fleeting interaction with the Queen, and it became an anecdote to be passed down the generations. I find it hard to imagine the pressure of every moment of small talk turning into a treasured anecdote for someone, let alone for 70 years.

The depth of mourning for the Queen across the world is largely because we know that we lose something extraordinary as we mark the passing of her and her generation. She was part of the generation who grew up in the Depression and spent their formative years in a world war. They were shaped by service to community and country and making the best of it. There was to be no complaining. People had manners, treated each other with compassion and focused more on their own obligations than on their rights. Life was about community, and she spent much of her energy recognising people's contributions to community. These are core virtues that have not been tested in a generation like mine in Australia. Living through relative peace and economic prosperity has shifted our focus inwards. In many ways, we are the poorer for it.

The world has changed so much in her 96 years, from radio to internet and from empire to Brexit. The role of the Crown has shifted and will continue to shift. There must have been times when she didn't know how to fulfil her duty, when the modern world and the millennium-old institution she was upholding came into conflict. She must have felt frustrated by decisions of the leaders who served alongside her, unsure about how to respond to the long-term impacts of colonisation and bemused by the shifting values of those around her. But she never showed it. She knew that her role was to provide stability and dignity, and she delivered that to the end, through 16 Australian prime ministers and 40 corgis. She was the custodian of the British culture of self-restraint.

For many, the Queen's passing is a painful reminder of the impact of colonisation. I learnt yesterday of the passing of another cultural leader, Mr Woolagoodja, a respected Worrorra man and artist from the Mowanjum community in the Kimberley region, whose art of the wandjina, a sacred creation spirit, was the centrepiece at the opening of the Sydney Olympics and whose cultural role it was to maintain wandjina cave paintings for his people and pass on knowledge of his country and culture to younger generations. He too, like the Queen, worked hard to preserve his culture following his people's removal off their country to Mowanjum community near Derby, leaving a legacy for emerging community leaders. I pay my respects for his passing too. Mowanjum is a long way from London, but, at this time of mourning across the world, we can learn from First Nations people's deep respect for their elders.

The Queen spoke to people of all ages with respect, and they returned her respect. The pre-primaries from Hollywood Primary in my electorate shared their thoughts about the Queen. River said:

She was the Queen. Her job was to tell people what to do and some things she had to do like helping people.

Andy said:

When the Queen dies everyone needed to do less work because they needed to remember her. Her job was to look after the government. Her crown had jewels and she wore it so everyone knew that she was the Queen.

Jack said:

She bossed the Prime Minister.

Ollie said:

Her job was to work a lot.

Yolanda said:

I love her care. She cared about everyone.

These kids will remember her in name only, but those of us who witnessed some of the changes during her 70-year reign, both good and bad, will remember her quiet and committed service as we watch the world continue to change rapidly. The world will never see another like her.

On behalf of the people of Curtin, I extend my condolences to the family and the peoples of Queen Elizabeth.

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