Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
A couple of years back, Kelly Slater visited Manly in my electorate. There were over a thousand screaming fans – as you would expect when the world’s greatest surfer visited the world’s greatest beach. But as I have seen with my own eyes, Sir, Ma’am, in Manly you are bigger than Kelly Slater, perhaps by a factor of ten!
My friends, this is the 50th royal visit to Australia and it will be remembered as one of the very best.
With young children and with teenagers, sometimes in very difficult circumstances, with Indigenous people, with Australians in all our diversity who have flocked to royal events, your dedication to all your future realms, Sir, and your grace and warmth, Ma'am, have been abundantly on display.
Now, royal visits are a reminder that the best things in life are those that have stood the test of time.
Over centuries, the Crown has come to symbolise the ideals of duty and service at the heart of our culture.
People instinctively warm to those who represent the good to which we all aspire.
We saw that during your previous trip, Sir, in 2011, specifically to meet communities impacted by the Victorian bushfires and the Queensland floods.
As a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot, you know what it's like to endure ‘drought and flooding rains’. You know what it means to serve in the armed forces.
We have seen in you, Sir – during both your visits – through your words and through your deeds, the decency and the sense of duty of your father and the compassion of your mother.
Your great-great-grandfather, the future George V, opened our first Parliament in 1901.
Your great-grandfather as Duke of York opened our first Parliament House in 1927.
Your grandmother, the Queen, opened this building in 1988.
And your father, the Prince of Wales, has been here many, many times.
Many decades, hence, when a currently unknowable Australian Prime Minister welcomes your son, King George VII to this building, that will be a sign of the stability and the continuity in the life of our nation.
Your Royal Highnesses, you have taken such obvious pleasure in this visit and that warmth has been amply reciprocated by the Australian people amongst whom you will always be most welcome.
It is not necessary to live permanently in Australia well and truly to belong here.
This visit has meant a lot to millions of Australians.
Thank you for the joy you have given us.
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