PREMIER’S ADDRESS AT ROYAL COMMUNITY BARBEQUE AT PARRAMATTA
THE CRESCENT, PARRAMATTA PARK
TUESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2024
Friends, thank you for being here.
And thank you to the Darug people for welcoming us onto your land this afternoon.
For all of us, today is a great honour.
Sharing a barbeque with the King and Queen, it’s not the kind of thing that you’ll easily forget.
Your Majesty, this might be your first visit to Australia as a sovereign, but it’s certainly not your first visit as a friend.
For sixty years, you’ve been coming to our city and our state.
And in that time, you have witnessed the latest chapter in the long story of change that’s happened in Western Sydney.
That story starts in ancient times as the home and hunting ground of the Burramattagal people.
Then, prior to self-government, as the centre of farming and agriculture in New South Wales.
And since then, in our lifetime, as the heart of multicultural Australia.
In the same way that the British Commonwealth pulls together fifty-six nations into a single body, Western Sydney has stitched the world into a single community.
And without being too immodest, I think it’s an example to the world of how we can live together, as one people despite our differences.
That success is built on our citizens, on everyone here today.
But it also comes from the principles, the traditions of British democracy and British law.
Parliamentary sovereignty, government by the people.
And now, because of these strengths, we are a country that stands for freedom and hope around the world.
Friends, on Sunday morning, His Majesty visited our state parliament to recognise 200 years of self-rule in New South Wales.
He gave us a very thoughtful gift, and from my perspective as Premier, a very useful one too.
He gave the parliament a new hourglass timekeeper, in his words, to ‘encourage brevity’ in speeches from politicians.
So, Your Majesty I’m going to follow this lesson and say thank you to all for coming today.
A special thanks to the farmers and the Royal Agricultural Society who’ve fed us this afternoon, and who continue to deliver the best produce in the entire world.
You’ve all been invited here because of your exceptional contribution to this state.
So please join me now in showing how we welcome guests in Australia, and how grateful we are to have His Majesty in our country.
Please welcome His Majesty.
