Page 575 - Week 02 - Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Mr Corbell: On the point of order.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Corbell.
Mr Corbell: The standing order provides that the name of Her Majesty or her representatives not be used disrespectfully in debate. I do not believe—
Mr Hanson: Or to influence.
Mr Corbell: I do not believe—
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Take your seat, please, Mr Corbell, just for a moment. Mr Hanson, Mr Corbell is making a point of order. I do not want you to interpret anything from where you are sitting. You have already stood in your place and raised two points of order. Mr Corbell is now raising his point of order. Will you remain silent. Mr Corbell.
Mr Corbell: It is not disrespectful of Mr Barr to point out that the Duke of Edinburgh is married to Her Majesty; it is a statement of fact. Further, Madam Deputy Speaker, such a mention cannot be construed in any way as influencing the Assembly in its deliberations. It is a statement of fact; the Duke of Edinburgh is married to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen of Australia.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Corbell. There is no point of order. Mr Barr, you may continue.
MR BARR: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It may be appropriate at this point to in fact read out the Duke of Edinburgh’s full title:
HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, KG (Knight of the Garter), KT (Knight of the Thistle), OM (Order of Merit), GBE (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire), AC (Companion of the Order of Australia), QSO (Companion of The Queen’s Service Order), PC (Privy Counsellor).
This, of course, leaves off a number of the other dozens of honorifics granted to him, such as: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes, from Bolivia; Member of the Most Distinguished Order of Izzuddin, from the Maldives; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, from Denmark; and Knight Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of the Queen of Sheba, from Ethiopia.
On my count, that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a knight at least seven times over. The award of a knighthood of Australia was, as they say, on Australia Day, the ultimate barbecue stopper on the biggest barbecue day of the year.
Canberrans I talked to on the day and in the weeks following did see this as an insult to eminent Australians receiving awards on the same day, to the Australian of the
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