E&OE...........
Your Majesty, it';s a great honour for me as host Prime Minister and as Prime Minister of Australia to read the following tribute from the Commonwealth heads of state and government.
“At the opening of their meeting in Coolum the Commonwealth heads of Government have asked me to convey to Your Majesty there sincere greetings and congratulations on your completion of fifty years as the head of the Commonwealth. We warmly appreciate your presence at Coolum notwithstanding the pressures on you at this time. We are grateful for your dedication in the service of the Commonwealth and your strong commitment to the association over half a century. We wish to reaffirm the warmth and the esteem in which you are held.
Our aim at Coolum is to chart a clear course for the future of the Commonwealth which will preserve its relevance and credibility as a major force for good in global affairs and enable you to remain proud to be the head of our association. We are confident that our deliberations will strengthen the Commonwealth ethos of mutual understanding and cooperation and deliver practical action consistent with their own dedication to and work for the Commonwealth family.”
Ma';am, we are delighted that you have been able to join us once again as head of the Commonwealth and as somebody who more than anybody in this room, has faithfully served over the years served the ideals of our organisation.
When I watched the video of the Opening Ceremony today and I watched that great historical panorama of personalities, of leaders, of people who have shaped the affairs of our nations over the last fifty years, there was one constant in it all that was yourself. And it';s been a remarkable influence. You have been eyewitness to extraoridnary events and you';ve dealt with as great a range of men and women in government that any person could deal with in half a century. And through all of that time you have of course been assisted so ably by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and we';re delighted that he';s also with us tonight.
I can but say to both of you thank you for half a century of loyalty, fidelity, dedication and commitment to an organisation which has its many critics, has constantly and wrongly over the years been dismissed as an anachronism, yet in the wake of as I said at the opening today the terrible events of last year, its multiracial, its religious diversity, its great spread of ethnicity, is an organisation that presents opportunities for reaching out to each other that perhaps none other in the world offers.
It is therefore my very particular pleasure ma';am to say but two other things to you. Firstly the words that I';ve read from, the declaration will be suitably subscribed by each of the heads of government present here at Coolum and will be placed in that magnificent folio and then sent to you within the next few weeks. And finally and very importantly I have very great pleasure on behalf of all of my colleagues in inviting them to rise and to join me in a toast.
And that toast is to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth. Her Majesty.
[Ends]