Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on what I believe is an important debate, acknowledging the longest reigning monarch in history, Queen Elizabeth II, who visited Wagga Wagga, my hometown, on 13 February 1954. The Daily Advertiser produced a special edition on the occasion with the headline, 'Wagga's greatest day'—indeed it was. It remains so, for our young monarch spent 145 minutes in town. The population of the city was then about 8,000 and yet 18,000 turned out to throng the streets lined with bunting. Flags were waved proudly, school children were there in their masses, and it was just, as I said, Wagga's greatest day.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana spent time at Woomargama, just down the road from Wagga Wagga, when they visited in 1983. There were obviously some important close connections with the earlier visit by Queen Elizabeth II. I have to give credit to Rhonda Schipp—wife of the former member for Wagga Wagga Joe Schipp, a Liberal—who maintains a very strong and proactive role in the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy in Wagga Wagga. When the recent debate, the perennial debate, occurred about whether Australia should become a republic, Mrs Schipp came out swinging, as you would expect her to. She said that she believes our current system with the Queen as our head of state provides the nation with a platform of stability. And indeed it does.

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