Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise to acknowledge Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne of England. Whatever you might think of monarchies, the Queen is admired throughout the Commonwealth and around the world. She has been a beacon of stability and tradition at a time of unprecedented change. When she was born in 1926, she was fourth in the line of succession and it was not believed she would ever be Queen. Her uncle Edward's decision to abdicate in 1936 thrust her father, George, onto the throne, something for which neither he nor Elizabeth had been prepared. Less than three years later, Britain was drawn into a world war in which it would have to fight for its very survival. Like many children her age, Elizabeth was evacuated from London when it came under attack in 1940. She was only 14 years old when she made her first public address on the BBC, speaking directly to the many children who'd been evacuated and separated from their parents. When she turned 18, she insisted on joining the war effort, enlisting in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She wasn't given a special rank in this role, although she had already been made an honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards. The future queen trained as a mechanic in the ATS, and the word is that she still knows her way around an engine.

Elizabeth came to the throne 70 years ago, in 1952. Her coronation a year later was televised around the world—the first time this had ever happened. At the time, our Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies. Scott Morrison is now the 15th Prime Minister of Australia to serve during the Queen's reign. That is fully half of all the prime ministers we have had. The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a platinum jubilee. Few Australians alive today have ever known a time without Elizabeth as the Queen.

What I admire most about the Queen is her steadfast support for democracy in Australia as a constitutional monarchy. The Queen understands her role in this model like few others. The Queen understands it is the Australian people who govern our nation, and she has never interfered in our government or our elections. The Queen knows her history very well and knows that the authority of the Crown has been limited ever since the signing of the Magna Carta, which was in 1215. The last British monarch who tried to interfere directly in parliamentary government, by marching into the House of Commons to arrest some MPs—that was Charles I—started a civil war and was beheaded for treason. His descendants tried to restore the absolute rule of kings and queens, but in the end they failed. The authority of the British people, exercised through their elected parliament, has prevailed ever since. The authority of the people prevails in Australia too, or, at least, it did until this pandemic.

Our constitutional monarchy works well when its democratic principles are followed. This is why I do not support Australia becoming a republic. We are already in charge, not the Queen. We already have an Australian head of state, in our Governor-General. The Governor-General only acts on the advice of the elected Prime Minister of Australia. This system works, and, because it works, there is no need to change it. For those who do support a republic, I have this warning: the political class in Australia will never let you vote for a president; they will install their own president, and you will have no say over it. I shudder to think who might be installed. Let me think—Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Fitzsimmons, or maybe Paul Keating? Or let's go with Christopher Pyne! Can you imagine the chaos? There's no need to go down such a divisive road. In a constitutional monarchy there is no division over an appointed head of state. It's a figurehead role by convention, and that's the way it should stay. If any future Governor-General should get it into their head to go beyond this role, they have the Queen's example to show them what a stupid idea that would be.

I thank the Queen for her service to Australia and the Commonwealth and congratulate her on the unique achievement of a platinum jubilee. But I must also make my comments, or my thoughts, known with regard to the bedwetters and the haters. Where would they be, these ones that are complaining and whingeing about the monarchy and the Queen's service to the Commonwealth, if this country had been invaded—as they say, rather than 'settled'—by France, Spain or some other country? Would you have had the same opportunities to migrate here and have the life that you have? Here we have senators on the floor of parliament, such as the Greens, whinging, bitching and complaining about the monarchy. The fact is that it's because of the monarchy—and we are part of the Commonwealth—that you were given the opportunity to migrate to this country. You sit in the parliament now, under the Westminster system, the system under which you were elected, and have a very good lifestyle and a say in your country. It's called democracy.

So don't put out there the factors of why you believe the monarchy has destroyed our democracy, because it hasn't. We became a federation in 1901, voted on by the people in this nation. The whole fact is to push your agenda of what is actually happening in Australia, and you want to hand it back to the First Nations people? I can imagine what this country would look like. I don't agree with it. It comes down to the fact that the people of this nation voted in 1999 against a republic: the politicians' republic—the people who want to take over control and tell the people because they think they know better. I don't think that is right.

So I'm here to congratulate the Queen. I have the utmost respect for her, as do many other people. To raise her family and what might be happening there is not what we're celebrating today or acknowledging. I'm sure a lot of families can look in their own backyards to see the problems they have within their own families. They are no different from a lot of people around the world. Yes, they hold positions and, yes, they are quite well to do, but the fact is that they are still a family. To sit there and criticise this woman who's given her whole life to her country, above and beyond her family and her husband—I admire the woman. I admire her greatly for what she's done. That is called dedication, loving your country and your people and doing the job that you didn't even think you would ever have but took on because of a set of circumstances. So, to the Queen and to those people who believe in the monarchy, let's celebrate her 70 years on the throne and congratulate her. And I do from the bottom of my heart.