Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a great pleasure it is this afternoon to address this congratulation to Her Majesty in the Federation Chamber. It is indeed a great honour to be here on the day of its first operation as the Federation Chamber. I rise today to congratulate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. On 6 February this year Her Majesty marked the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, becoming only the second monarch in the history of Britain, Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth realms to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee. The only other person was Queen Victoria in 1897. On her coronation—I was but a very small child at the time—the 25-year-old Queen declared that 'my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service'. She has lived up to that declaration through extraordinary changes. Times have changed so much and she has become so much admired as a monarch and the head of the Commonwealth of Nations. I know that last week she also repeated that pledge to the people of the Commonwealth—that she will devote her entire life to our service. That was not the exact quote but the original quote stands.

When Her Majesty assumed the throne following the death of her father, King George VI, there were but a handful of Commonwealth nations under the banner of the Commonwealth, and of course Her Majesty the Queen and prior to that King George VI were the heads of the Commonwealth of Nations at that time. But, in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's time, the Commonwealth of Nations has grown to 54 independent member states, including Australia. Being a member of the Commonwealth, I believe, gives a great strength to this nation, and we recognise also through that that we all share something in common—that is, the Westminster system of government. It stood the test of time in the face of world wars, civil unrest and even natural disasters. Being a member of the Commonwealth and consisting of former British colonies, we have inherited the Westminster system of government, which comes from the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, to fit our particular circumstance. It is not a replica of the Westminster system of the House of Commons, nor are the systems of any of the other Commonwealth countries, but I do know that we are the envy of the world because the Commonwealth of Nations is not based on ethnicity, religion or geography. It extends around the world and unites us all in the common cause.

In fact, I had the very wonderful experience of being able to attend the Commonwealth speakers conference in Trinidad and Tobago, at Port-of-Spain, early in January. What was inspirational for me there was to see the numbers of women who are now speakers of their parliaments in their respective nations. I know I digress from the original congratulations to Her Majesty, but I think it is worth putting on the record. It is inspirational to see that Rwanda has been accepted as a member of the Commonwealth. Rwandans attended their first Commonwealth meeting in Perth last year and they attended their first Commonwealth speakers conference—which I attended on behalf of our parliament. It was wonderful to see that it was a woman who was the speaker of that parliament, knowing the history of the genocide and the horror of the civil wars that they have lived through there. The other inspiration for me was Dr Mirza, the speaker of the Pakistan parliament—another Commonwealth country. Dr Mirza is the very first female to be elected a speaker in an Islamic country. I think that speaks volumes about our system of government, being a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and I think it underpins the great leadership and, I think, inspiration that we have had from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II over such a long time. We have seen it grow and we have seen so many countries binding themselves to the principles that are so important to us here in our Constitution and those constitutions which have brought such peace to those countries.

Last year Australians welcomed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to our shores. It was interesting to see. I was apprehensive. I wondered, 'Will many Australians turn out?' I think Perth turned out better than any other state, although we will say that in Brisbane we did very well. She was accompanied, of course, by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. It was their 16th visit to Australia. What will endure for me in many ways, in Brisbane and in many other parts of Australia with the television coverage, is those wonderful scenes of young girls with bouquets of flowers, wanting to present them to the Queen. It said a great deal to me. I think those young girls probably felt like princesses, and it was wonderful to see that and the respect that they had for Her Majesty; that was demonstrated by that young generation. Of course, they are the future of Australia. I also noted that in Queensland construction workers working on buildings, with their hard hats and high-vis jackets, stopped work and put down tools and watched her procession on the boat up the Brisbane River. They too were supportive, I believe, of Her Majesty and all she has given us in this country. I was also proud to represent—as you did at one time, Deputy Speaker Livermore—the town of Longreach in my electorate, Maranoa. We are all still very proud, as is often shown by the many people who visit, that the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Outback Heritage Centre were opened by Her Majesty in 1988, our centenary. The Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Outback Heritage Centre were the inspiration of RM Williams, Hugh Sawrey, Ranald Chandler, Sir James Walker and other great people of the outback. She paid us, the outback of Australia and the early settlers of outback Australia a great compliment by making time available during that visit to open the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Outback Heritage Centre.

On 6 November 1999 Australians had an opportunity to vote in a constitutional referendum on whether Australia should become a republic and whether a preamble should be inserted in the Constitution. Both proposals were defeated, and neither were able to achieve a majority overall, or a majority in any state. That is the wonderful thing about democracy. You can ask the people to vote, you can ask their opinion—that is what really matters in any liberal democracy. I must say that the electorate of Maranoa led the charge to make sure that the Queen remained head of state. More than 75 per cent of the voters in Maranoa voted no to a republic. In fact, we had the highest recorded 'no' vote of any constituency in Australia. I remember that the Prime Minister, John Howard, at the time said, 'How is the kingdom of Maranoa going?' and I said, 'Prime Minister, they were well informed.' All jokes aside, once again, it was democracy at work.

I expect that 2012 will be a great year of celebration here in Australia and across the Commonwealth of Nations. On behalf of the people of Maranoa, I would like to wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II good health and happiness. We thank her for the stability that she has provided to us as our Queen over so many years. Long live the Queen!

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