The Queen was a remarkable person mourned by millions of Australians since news of her passing shook the world.

The Prime Minister quoted the Queen’s words which ring so true in these dark days: “Grief is the price we pay for love.”

Over 7,000 Australians and 250 Australian military personnel took part in the Queen’s coronation in London on 2 June 1953.

She was the first and only Monarch to visit Australia in 1954.

200,000 people came to see the Queen on her stop in Sydney.

7 million or 70 percent of our population came to see her.

She greeted 70,000 ex-service men and women on that tour.

The Queen visited every state and territory [but not Darwin] in 1963, in the first ever royal visit to the Northern Territory.

During her 1973 visit to open the Opera House, the Queen praised the Australian national spirit and the warmth of our people. She became the “Queen of Australia” on this visit.

When she opened this Parliament in 1988, the Queen praised this monument to “Australia’s faith in parliamentary democracy” and reminded us that we must defend it:

“Parliamentary democracy is a compelling ideal, but it is a fragile institution. It cannot be imposed and it is only too easily destroyed. It needs the positive dedication of the people as a whole, of their elected representatives, to work.”

• The Queen would make 16 such visits to Australia in her reign.
• And she was Queen across 16 Australian prime ministers.
• Many have noted the Queen’s deep affection for Australia.
• Family (nanna quote on the Queen).
• When she visited our country in 2000, Her Majesty said:

“Since I first stepped ashore here, I felt part of the rugged, honest, creative land. I've shared in the joys and sorrows, the challenges and the changes that have shaped this country's history.”

• And in 2006, again in this Parliament, she praised Australians’

“creative energy…genuine warmth…generosity and humour…hard work and a competitive spirit…[our] diversity…proud record of defending freedom and democracy when it is threatened [and] the courage and professionalism of [Australia’s] defence personnel…”

• I pay my respects to the Queen for her military service in joining the war effort in WWII as a truck driver and mechanic when this was not required by her station in life as a royal.
• I received my Queen’s commission as an Army infantry officer in the Royal Australian Regiment in 1993, which is the head of state’s authority to lead Australian soldiers.
• As an MP, I swore an oath to the Queen in 2016, 2019, 2022.
• In 2025, I fully intend to give an oath to King Charles.
• Had the privilege of meeting now King Charles in Darwin.
• Many Territorians met the King on his five visits to the NT.
• I wish the new Sovereign all the best and will faithfully serve our British head of state “whilever [our] nation abides”.