GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH
Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (12:25): The first Commonwealth parliament sat in Melbourne because the Constitution required parliament to meet there until a permanent capital was chosen. It would not move to Canberra until 1927, but the foundations laid in Melbourne were profound. The parliament passed laws that shaped the nation and continue to influence Australian life today; 125 years later, we look back with gratitude but also honesty.
The democracy born in 1901 was not complete, and many people, including First Nations Australians, were excluded. Women secured the right to vote and stand for federal parliament in 1902—a landmark reform—but representation remained limited for decades. That is the story of Australian democracy: not perfect at birth but capable of reform; not finished in 1901 but strengthened by each generation.
The first parliament reminds us that Australia was built by people willing to overcome distance, difference and doubt. Western Australians knew that challenge better than most. They travelled further, waited longer and often had to fight harder to ensure their voice was heard.
Today, as we mark 125 years since that first parliament opened, we honour those first parliamentarians and senators and we recommit ourselves to the task they began—building our Commonwealth across one continent, with every Australian having a voice in its future. As we reflect on 125 years of our Commonwealth parliament, it is also important that we remember another institution that has provided continuity, stability and restraint throughout Australia's democratic journey.
That, of course, is the institution of the Crown. Australia's constitutional monarchy has never been about the exercise of political power. Its strength lies precisely in the opposite—in providing an impartial constitutional anchor above politics, above faction and above the passions of the moment.
In uncertain times, that matters. The Crown has helped safeguard the conventions, institutions and democratic traditions that underpin our parliamentary system. It provides continuity when governments change, steadiness when politics becomes turbulent, and a reminder that public office is ultimately about service, duty and responsibility.
Those values were embodied so powerfully by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Many Australians will remember stories of Her late Majesty's extraordinary sense of duty—a monarch whose instinct, even in moments of personal grief, was to ask first about the welfare of others. That lifelong commitment to service before self helped strengthen not only the monarchy but the democratic institutions it supports.
Today, His Majesty King Charles III continues that tradition of service with dignity, intelligence and quiet purpose. Debate interrupted.