Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the condolence motion for the late monarch Queen Elizabeth II commemorating her life, a life dedicated to service—service to family, service to people and service to the Commonwealth.

I start my contribution with acknowledging the National Day of Mourning held yesterday, 21 September, where Australians across our great nation took time to pause, to reflect and to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in their own way. Here in Canberra the national memorial service, held in the Great Hall, saw the coming together of over 600 guests to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her life, her service and her reign.

I do not have a personal story to tell about meeting the Queen; I did not have that honour. However, when I was about six years of age I do recall gathering in 1970 with other students from my school—Warrane primary—along the verge of Cambridge Road in Warrane, flags in hand, waiting, as we were told, for a very important person, the Queen, to come past. We were very excited, squealing in delight, as the cavalcade of cars went by. We caught a glimpse of whom we were sure was the Queen, waving furiously, and receiving nods and waves in exchange—a good day out for any six-year-old!

Her Majesty visited Tasmania on numerous occasions. In addition to her seven visits to Hobart, she visited Launceston five times, Wynard and Burnie twice. There were also visits to Devonport, Latrobe, Cressy and the Huon Valley—indeed, the Queen stayed overnight in Cressy in 1954. School children and young people were always a strong focus whenever Her Majesty visited Tasmania. Other activities ranged from school athletics carnivals, learning about our agricultural industries, participating in civic life and activities of the cities and towns of Tasmania and our volunteer community.

During the 1998 visit, the Queen granted and proclaimed city status for Burnie in Tasmania's north-west. Burnie's quest to obtain city status became even more urgent when the town down the road, Devonport, gained city status in 1981 after a proclamation by the then Prince Charles.

Of course, the arrival of Her Majesty's vessel, the Britanniapulled alongside at Princes Wharf in 1963—marked another visit to Tasmania by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and I imagine caused quite the buzz around Hobart.

Today we pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth's remarkable reign of 70 years of dedicated service to communities throughout the Commonwealth. Her commitment to visiting Commonwealth nations throughout the world has contributed to the Commonwealth nations' unity of purpose and shared vision.

In paying tribute, I also wish to acknowledge and reflect that for a lot of the time that Her Majesty was the head of the Commonwealth she was the lone woman. There were no female prime ministers, female presidents or female governors-general. Hers was a life lived in the public eye, with Commonwealth nations looking to her for strength and leadership in times of conflict, challenge and trouble; a life of service and commitment until the very end, never deviating from war service to civic service, sitting alongside the many obligations and requirements as head of state.

As Prime Minister Albanese said yesterday at the national memorial service:

Monuments to the Queen dot our landscape. The name of Elizabeth lives in nearly every city and town. Perhaps the greatest tribute we can offer her family and her memory is not a marble statue or a metal plaque. It is a renewed embrace of service to community. A truer understanding of our duty to others. A stronger commitment to respect for all. This would be a most fitting memorial, to a magnificent life…

On behalf of Tasmanians, I offer our deepest sympathy to King Charles III and his family for the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. May Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II rest in peace.