Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the characteristics of history is that we do not realise we are living through it until after the fact. As senior US presidential advisor, cabinet member and author John Gardener put it, 'history never looks like history when you're living through it'. However, today is one of those occasions on which we should appreciate a moment in history as it occurs, because the symbolism of the moment is one of rich significance for our country. Today, as senators will be aware, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning monarch to occupy the throne. In observing that occurrence today, I believe we are doing more than marking the achievement of an individual sovereign, remarkable though it is.

Today's occasion is as much as tribute to the institution of the Crown itself as it is to the remarkable woman who has occupied the throne for 63 years and 217 days. Those who sing the words of 'God Save The Queen' pray that the monarch is 'long to reign over us'. We should of course be thankful that prayer has been answered.

It is entirely in keeping with the dignified and graceful approach to her duties as sovereign that the Queen herself has requested that today be one of simple observance, rather than one of celebration. After her lifetime of service and devotion to duty, it is entirely appropriate that Her Majesty's wishes be respected in this regard. At the same time, it is opportune to reflect on the values and traditions for which the Crown stands and which have undoubtedly sustained the Queen and nations of the Commonwealth alike over the long period of her reign.

They are values which are timeless and which the Queen herself pledged to preserve in a broadcast made on the very evening of her Coronation, on 2 June 1953:

Parliamentary institutions, with their free speech and respect for the rights of minorities, and the inspiration of a broad tolerance in thought and expression—all this we conceive to be a precious part of our way of life and outlook.

During recent centuries, this message has been sustained and invigorated by the immense contribution, in language, literature and action, of the nations of our Commonwealth overseas. It gives expression, as I pray it always will, to living principles, as sacred to the Crown and Monarchy as to its many Parliaments and Peoples. I ask you now to cherish them—and practise them too; then we can go forward together in peace, seeking justice and freedom for all men.

I think it is significant that at the moment she was crowned, the Queen's mind was very clearly focused on freedom of speech and the protection of minorities as being the ones that most clearly defined the values of the Crown and the Commonwealth it serves.

This spirit was also captured by an editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald, which appeared the day after the Queen's coronation, that noted the occasion was one for Commonwealth nations to 'count up anew the benefits of their unique association', because the Commonwealth stood 'as a bulwark of sanity and order in a bewildered world'. It went on to suggest that Her Majesty's coronation was auspicious; the dawning of a new Elizabethan age that could:

...forge within the Commonwealth a unity of purpose and a concentration of influence that could write a chapter...worthy to rank with the bravest chapters of the past.

I would contend that there was much prescience in that observation. Think about the role the Commonwealth played in the fight against apartheid in South Africa or the injustices perpetrated by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe—both situations in which Australia played a leading role.

Then, of course, there is the more recent Charter of the Commonwealth, signed by the Queen in 2013, which noted that Commonwealth nations are 'implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds'. In this statement, we hear echoes of the very same sentiments expressed by the Queen in her Coronation address. It is this consistency and sureness of purpose that explains the durability of the Crown in a world that is much changed.

So tonight I think it is appropriate to reflect on the relationship between Australia and the Crown—a relationship that has undergone significant change over the decades of the Queen's reign, but one which endures and remains strong.

The Queen herself has opened sessions of this parliament on three occasions—in 1954, 1974 and 1977, all when parliament still sat at the Old Parliament House. Of course, she also opened this new and permanent Parliament House in May 1988 and has been a visitor to the building on several occasions since, most recently in October 2011. It was in her first address to the Australian Parliament, in 1954, that Her Majesty emphasised the central place of the Crown within Australia's parliamentary structure. At the outset, she noted the very first section of the Australian Constitution, which establishes that legislative power shall be 'vested in a Federal Parliament, which shall consist of the Queen, a Senate and a House of Representatives'. She went on to say:

It is therefore a joy for me, today, to address you not as a Queen from far away, but as your Queen and as a part of your Parliament. In a real sense, you are here as my colleagues, friends and advisers.

She then went on out outline those institutions for which the Crown stood and which are the foundation of the unity between the Commonwealth of Nations—being parliamentary sovereignty, a democratically controlled executive and the just and impartial administration of the law. As she noted:

They have, in this century, survived the greatest trials of war and economic hardship.

She also described Australia as a nation where 'growth and progress are manifest, a country of freedom, eloquent of that true democracy which dignifies and expresses the individual human being'. Those words ring as true today as they did when Her Majesty said them during her first visit here in 1954. This is not by accident, or chance.

The strength of the Crown endures because, in subtle but important ways, it is an institution that is constantly evolving, in a way that promotes its continuing relevance. The very fact that Australia's democracy is one of the longest-enduring in the world is a testament to the fact that the sinews of our system of government do not break under strain; they are supple and they flex to take account of modern needs.

For the myriad of cultural, language and economic differences that could potentially divide the nations which make up the modern Commonwealth, they instead remain bound together by commitments to personal liberty, religious freedom, the right to freedom of expression and an inherent understanding of the dignity and worth of every individual. In a 21st century context, these are the values that sustain support for the Crown across geographic boundaries and give it ongoing relevance in a changing world.

For supporters of the Crown within a parliamentary democracy, the continuing task is to highlight the role the Crown plays in promoting these shared values in a dignified, non-political manner, which strengthens unity and protects democratic ideals in the face of challenges from other ideologies around the world. Again, this is something which our present monarch has done with great acumen, with an eye to consistency and with enormous dignity.

On this day, when the Queen becomes our longest reigning sovereign, I am sure all parliamentarians would wish to join with me in acknowledging and thanking Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her lifetime of devoted service and dedication to duty. Long may she reign.