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Commonwealth

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Freeman for bringing this debate to the House today. It has been fascinating to hear from so many noble Lords who have wide ranging knowledge and experience of the Commonwealth. My comments will come from my own direct experience as the only ever Australian woman Member of your Lordships’ House. I have been here for more than 24 years. At the beginning, a number of senior Peers said how nice it was to have a colonial Member—a word that was out-of-date even then. There are currently three Australian Members of this House: the noble Lords, Lord May and Lord Broers, and me. I know that the noble Lord, Lord May, is also British, but I do not know the situation of the noble Lord, Lord Broers. I am Australian only, because, until recently, Australia would revoke one’s nationality if one applied for citizenship of another country. But this country is so tolerant that it will allow members of the Commonwealth to take part in politics at any level and to stand for election for any office. Unfortunately, the reverse situation does not exist in many Commonwealth countries. It is a great tribute to Britain that this tolerance exists here. The Commonwealth is a family of nations spread throughout the world, each responsible for its own affairs, but each closely tied to Britain by more than tradition. In the month of November, we cannot forget the sacrifices made and the lives lost by the Commonwealth in the two World Wars. Other noble Lords have referred to them. A few years ago, I was at a moving remembrance service in Kenya, when tall, stooped old men of the King’s African Rifles put down the umbrellas protecting them from the fierce sun to step forward and lay their wreaths. It is more than the old who are moved by the history of what happened in the past and the closeness of Commonwealth countries. Young Australians in ever-increasing numbers go to Gallipoli for the dawn service on Anzac Day. Many young people now join the service at the new Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner. In trade, it is not just wine and tourism. Australia and Britain are closely linked, but I do not intend to speak about this, as my noble friend Lord Goodlad, who was a wonderful British high commissioner in Canberra, is next in the list of speakers. When I lived in Sydney—here I take issue with the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, as I believe we have more cast iron than Melbourne, but there is a great rivalry between those two cities—the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, was then high commissioner. In the 1960s, he was a founder of the Britain-Australia Society, which grows stronger here every year and has a large number of new members. Britain has given a parliamentary and legal system to the Commonwealth that has proved to be invaluable. In this year, the less I say about the Ashes, the better. I am afraid that I fail the Tebbit test, so noble Lords can tell what my reaction was. Famous Australian actresses, scientists, businessmen and women have made their names in Britain. Until they received recognition here, they were not really valued in Australia. They include musicians from Nellie Melba to Joan Sutherland, and Charles Mackerras, who is just celebrating his 80th birthday. Australians seem to be everywhere in Britain. I was one of the many thousands of Australian dentists who came to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. I came short-term, but I find myself still here 50 years later. The shared language of the Commonwealth is enormously important. It means that wherever we go in the world, we are able to communicate with people from other parts of the Commonwealth. When one goes to a CPA conference, one feels that there is a great family feeling. I will take up the point made by my noble friend Lord Freeman about the computers of this House. I was on the Information Committee, and all computers that have been discontinued for Peers’ use are recycled. They go to other parts of the world, largely to the Commonwealth parts of Africa. He need not worry about them being wasted. I would like to see greater medical support from this country, and I know that the Royal College of Physicians is for that. Many poorer countries cannot afford to send people here to train, but we have experts, many from those counties, who would happily go back and give their experience. It is simply a matter of getting agreement on salaries with the National Health Service to allow that to happen. It would be a very good thing. The supporters on my coat of arms are a lion and a kangaroo. The British lion holds up the Australian wattle flower and the kangaroo holds up the English rose. I feel that is symbolic about the way most of us feel about the Commonwealth. It is a shared experience. The Commonwealth is a very special group of countries, and the linkage is strong and lasting. I would not underestimate the NGO part of it, which was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar. NGOs do a great deal of good and the Commonwealth will see that their work gets even better.