Motions — Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II—Platinum Jubilee

I move, That this House congratulate Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty’s accession to the Throne.

On 6 February 1952, aged just 25, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the Throne and became the monarch of seven independent States, including New Zealand. Now, 70 years later, she’s Queen of the 15 Commonwealth Realms, some of which did not exist as independent nations at the time. This change in the world’s geopolitical make-up is a strong reminder of the tremendous changes that have taken place in the world in the last 70 years, and through all of those years the Queen has stood as a model of service and unwavering dedication to her role.

As Queen of New Zealand, the Queen has always taken a strong personal interest in our nation. She has visited here 10 times between 1953 and 2002. She’s also attended many events in the United Kingdom celebrating and commemorating New Zealand and the wider Commonwealth. I have had the honour to meet her both in person and virtually, and I know that she has a deep knowledge of Aotearoa New Zealand and cares sincerely for the wellbeing of our nation. In more recent times when travel has been limited, the Queen has reached out to us here in New Zealand on at least two occasions in the midst of the pandemic. Her motivation was no more than to ask how everyone in New Zealand was doing. Her care and clear affection for Aotearoa and its people has been obvious in every conversation I’ve had the pleasure of having with her.

A few weeks ago in her Christmas message, the Queen said that she hoped that her platinum jubilee year would be an opportunity for people everywhere to enjoy a sense of togetherness. There are different views in society, and, indeed, in this Parliament on the role of the monarchy. However, I know that we all join with Her Majesty’s wish for a shared sense of togetherness as we face the challenges of the future.

Today I offer our congratulations on behalf of the people of Aotearoa New Zealand to our Queen as she celebrates her platinum jubilee, but I also offer our profound thanks for her sacrifice, her service, and her love for us.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

On behalf of Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition, I join with the Prime Minister in honouring the remarkable reign of the Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II, and congratulate her on the platinum jubilee of her accession to the throne.

Seventy years ago, a 25-year-old woman took on an extraordinary mantel of responsibility and made a lifelong commitment to serving others; a commitment that she has fulfilled with endless grace, dignity, and strength. Her Majesty made that commitment and took on that mantel at an immensely difficult time, having lost her beloved father, King George VI, a loss that we know she still feels keenly on the anniversary of her accession.

What followed since that day, 6 February 1952, has been a lifetime of immeasurable and selfless service. A great number of us have only ever known the sense of reassuring stability that the Queen’s reign has afforded to our lives. As our head of State, Her Majesty became the first Queen of New Zealand to visit our shores. In fact, she has visited New Zealand 10 times and members of her family countless more. She now becomes the first Queen of New Zealand to celebrate a platinum jubilee.

Over the last 70 years, New Zealand and the world has changed profoundly. We emerged from under the wing of the British Empire and we chartered our own course as an independent and confident young nation. Throughout that time, the Queen has continued to display her devoted and genuine care for New Zealand and for New Zealanders.

While international institutions have peaked and diminished in their influence and significance, the Queen’s reign has strengthened the role of a modern monarchy and the important part that it plays in our constitutional arrangements and our system of parliamentary democracy.

Her Majesty’s reign has all also included 70 years as the head of the Commonwealth, a body which, in a time of divisive politics and urgent global challenges, is important in bringing together countries with shared values and ideals so that we can find enduring solutions and celebrate our commonalities.

On behalf the New Zealand National Party, I congratulate Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of New Zealand, and wish to convey our sincere gratitude for her lifetime of duty, commitment, and service.

On behalf of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, I would like to acknowledge Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her 70 years of public service. She has exercised her office with a remarkable sense of duty, grace, virtue, and integrity. To have maintained that service for longer than anyone in this House has been alive—not even you, Mr Speaker, is worthy of our admiration and praise. Frankly, any 95-year-old great-grandmother who is still working the same job that she was when she was 25 deserves our astonished accolades.

As we reflect on this historical moment, we should look to the future. My entire adult life I have firmly believed that the head of State of Aotearoa should be someone from Aotearoa. It is completely anachronistic to think that values and identity of 21st century New Zealand, a democratic nation, born of the Pacific, grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, is best personified by an inherited monarchy from the opposite side of the planet, steeped in the history and values of feudal aristocracy and imperial colonialism.

There is no doubt that Queen Elizabeth II is an extraordinary woman who has given a lifetime of service to her country and its former colonies. But, as we mark her platinum jubilee, I do put it to this House that the debate over our future constitutional arrangements is overdue. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Waitangi Tribunal, this is also an opportune time to repeat the Green Party’s call on the Crown to address the historical wrongs of Māori land dispossession.

I riro whenua atu, me hoki whenua mai.

[As the land was taken so the land should be returned.]

I stand on behalf of the ACT Party to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign as monarch of the Commonwealth. Born in a London townhouse in April 1926, she didn’t expect to rule but is doing an exceptional and consistent job for the people, as she promised she would do on her 21st birthday. Her intentions were made known well in advance of her becoming Queen when, in October 1940, she addressed children who had been evacuated during the Blitz using the BBC’s Children’s Hour radio broadcast. She spoke to those disaffected children as a 14-year-old herself, telling them, “And when peace comes, remember, it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”

She is now at the age of 95 and has seen many changes in our society, in culture, and in industry, adapting herself and her family to the modernisation of our world during this time. She sent her first email in 1976, when we were still trying to grapple with getting computers here in New Zealand, and her first Instagram post in 2019—I personally still don’t have the ’gram yet.

What an introduction, as head of State, to have Sir Winston Churchill as her first Prime Minister during a world war. And we note she has been a consistent and dutiful monarch who has outlasted 13 British Prime Ministers so far, 16 New Zealand Prime Ministers to date, and all together 170 Prime Ministers over her 54 Commonwealth nations.

Queen Elizabeth II was a part of the women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. She trained as a mechanic and a military truck driver, being the first female member of the royal family to become a full-time, active member of the British Armed Forces, and she rose to the rank of junior commander by the end of the war and then, disguised and unnoticed in her army uniform, herself and her sister, Princess Margaret, held hands in jubilation with thousands of revellers gathering in front of Buckingham Palace to celebrate Victory in Europe day in May 1945.

The Queen had and has consistently sought to improve her knowledge in all areas of relevance to better enable dialogue and advice with world leaders. She continues to reign with dignity, fortitude, and respect from her Commonwealth nations. In October 1964, when addressing the Quebec provincial legislature, she said, “The function of constitutional monarchy is to personify the democratic state, to sanction legitimate authority, to assure the legality of means and guarantee the execution of the public will. It is my ardent desire that no citizen in my Realms should suffer restraint.”

The ACT Party congratulates Queen Elizabeth II on her 70-year jubilee celebrations. A leader who continues to reign over her Commonwealth nations with that dignity, fortitude, and respect of and for her subjects.

This will come as no surprise to this House, or to Willie Jackson for that matter, that Te Paati Māori absolutely refute this motion. We were disappointed when the Prime Minister acknowledged the Queen’s platinum jubilee on Waitangi Day. We believe it was tone-deaf and colour-blind to the degradation of the rights of tangata whenua for 182 years. Kia ora tātou.