Administrator, Lady Green, Simon Crean the Leader of the Opposition, your Excellencies, ladies and gentleman.
This occasion above all others is one to reflect upon the personal qualities of the person who has been Queen and sovereign of Australia and the United Kingdom and many other countries now for a period of more than 50 years.
It's a very different world now from what it was 50 years ago, when you think that in our own case Sir Robert Menzies was only, or Robert Menzies as he then was, was only four years in to his long period of 16 years in Government, and Winston Churchill was still the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. And you think of all of the changes, you think of the 10 Australian Prime Ministers and the periods they covered that have been in office since then and by a statistical quirk, the same number of British Prime Ministers during that period of time. And through all of that and whatever views people may legitimately have within a democratic society about the role of the monarchy in our community, the most remarkable thing has been the constancy of Her Majesty's commitment to her obligations, to her duties and to the responsibilities of her office.
There would be few people in the world as versed in an understanding of statecraft and would have a better knowledge of the events of the world and the various influences and fashions which have shaped the different times over which she has reigned. And during that time, of course, the Queen has had a particular association with Australia. She's visited our country on 13 occasions since she was crowned and on each of those occasions, although with a passage of time the responses have inevitably been different, they have nonetheless been extremely warm and extremely welcoming. The Queen's remarkable sense of humour has added to her great sense of commitment and her great sense of duty and she has been in every way an impeccable constitutional monarch. She has always respected the robust independence of the political arrangements of this country and the robustly independent view that Australia has taken regarding its place in the councils of the world.
So this is an occasion in which we can celebrate together, without arguing particular personal qualities of somebody who has been at the apex of our constitution over a period of 50 years and has in every sense of the word been faithful to her coronation oath of providing proper constitutional monarchical leadership, acting on the advice on all occasions of her ministers and being in every way a very committed, a very dedicated and a thoroughly worthy occupant of what is after all the second oldest institution in western civilisation.
And on that occasion and in those circumstances, I join the Administrator in thanking her and congratulating her on what she has done and what she has achieved and we all wish her well for the years ahead.
Thank you.
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