Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): Let me reflect for just a moment on why Her Majesty's death has spoken so loudly to so many of us. I venture that it is not because we knew her well nor that she had great bearing on our daily lives nor that her death has changed things for us in any merely practical sense. Instead her passing calls us to reflect on those things which surpass the practical and in which our sense of collective identity can be found—our nationhood our shared values our humanity. For Queen Elizabeth II though made of flesh and blood was the living embodiment of those rare qualities: stability humility service. Her leadership provided our country the Commonwealth and indeed our world a rare touchstone of continuity amidst a kaleidoscope of change.On becoming Queen she submitted herself to a higher duty. She lived to serve: to serve the institution of the monarchy and through that to serve each of us. There is meaning in that. While she did so willingly her role was not one she chose. Yet she did it with such devotion such grace such sheer reliability that she sometimes led us to forget that she was a living being capable of our faults. She soared above the political battles of this House keeping her opinions to herself subduing her personal views her emotions in service of something bigger. She did that day after day after day attending hundreds of official events each year—outfits prescribed remarks refined each move choreographed each moment documented—and she did so knowing that what for her was one of so many occasions was for those meeting her a moment of joy a moment to be remembered for ever. I know it was for me inside a giant inflatable rugby ball—quite naturally!—when I met her alongside Richie McCaw. I commented on her beautiful silver fern brooch and she reflected that it had been a gift to her from our country and then in what almost felt a conspiratorial moment commented on just how large the All Blacks had become.It seemed to me in that moment that she was in fact a human being and of course she was but it was I venture these glimpses of the Queen's humanity that truly made her magic: her love for her corgis for horses for driving her Land Rover around at pace and for cereal in Tupperware containers. When we saw her humanness it reminded us of the size of her task and all that she put aside for her duty. I think too it was in her motherhood that she had great impact and that bound us to her for she was not just a queen; she was the matriarch of a royal family with children whose tribulations whose triumphs were lived in the public eye that brought her reflections that we shared with her and which showed that she too was capable of forgiveness.The death of our Sovereign matters because in this moment we are reminded that we are more than a collection of atomised individuals who happen to occupy the same geographic boundaries. We do not stand alone and apart; we are part of something altogether bigger. We are reminded that we exist not just today and in this moment but live amidst the greater continuum of time. We live with the memories of those who came before us and we live with responsibility for the lives of those who come after us. We think of those loved ones now departed who also knew our Queen and those children yet to come who will know her only as a figure of history. We are despite our many differences a people who share much in common a people who draw upon a shared slice of history a set of traditions and institutions of shared stories. Yes not each of us draws equally from that well and yet for these past 70 years Queen Elizabeth has been a thread through time that has connected past and present present and future. It is in mourning her passing that we give her the tribute of our knowledge that that which she lived for continues still. Ka mate he tētē he tupu he tētē—when a chief dies another comes forth. Long live the King.