Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Unlike the parties that brought back knights and dames, the Greens are very proud republicans. We do support an Australian head of state, just as the Prime Minister and opposition leader say they do. And we do hope that the people of the United Kingdom celebrated the Queen's Sapphire Jubilee last Monday. We hope they had a great time. Good luck to the Queen. We wish her well.

Our opposition is not to the Queen; our opposition to this motion is because we do not support having a foreign head of state, which this motion supports. Indeed, the motion attributes 'Australia's remarkable democratic and constitutional stability' to the Queen. Well, the last time I checked, Australia's most serious constitutional crisis, the dismissal, saw the Queen's representative, the Governor-General, dismiss a sitting Prime Minister. Australia's stability is due to its democratic institutions that underpin our nation. May that long continue with an Australian head of state and a flag to call our own.

Question agreed to.