“Queen Elizabeth reigned for 70 years,” he said. “In an era of enormous change,she was a constant reassuring presence with her compassion,her decency,her commitment to service which is an absolute inspiration.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton,who also attended the ceremony,said one of the great strengths of her leadership was her ability to connect with people from all walks of life,including those who had never met her.

“That was the impact of the Queen,the leadership that she provided for the term of her reign,the inspiration she provided for generations,the stoic nature,the way in which she stood by her people through good times and bad,” Dutton said.

The Queen unveiled the bronze statue,made in her honour by South Australian sculptor John Dowie,when she officially opened Parliament House in May 1988.

Numerous MPs and senators attended Saturday’s ceremony,including Finance Minster Katy Gallagher,ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr,House of Representatives Speaker Milton Dick,as well as Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price,and opposition frontbenchers Michaelia Cash,Jane Hume and Sarah Henderson.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd,who is in London,said Australian republicans and monarchists alike were captured by the Queen’s devotion to service.

For this reason,according to Rudd,the republican cause in Australia would have never been successful while she was alive.

While he said it was too early to debate whether Australia should become a republic,no one was “ever minded to vote the Queen off the island because it’s like voting your nanna off the island”.

“She was remarkably gifted as a personality,as a political personality,arguing in favour by her presence,of the status quo,” he said.

“She was uniquely positioned. Given the fact that she’d been through the war,given the fact that she’d been through the whole decolonisation era,given the fact that she had seen so much change,she was a representative force for stability,therefore I think,comfort for many people.”

Rudd,who met the Queen “half a dozen times”,said he remembers vividly the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.

There was concern that meeting would implode because Sri Lanka was due to hold the next meeting in 2011 despite the country brutally ending its long-running civil war with Tamils.

“She was deeply seized of the damage to that institution,” Rudd said.

“The next CHOGM which was due to be posted by Sri Lanka,which at that stage the Sri Lankan government was mowing down Tamil civilians right across the north part of the island.

“So what I think the Queen feared most was the whole thing imploding. So we became engaged and actively took over the chairpersonship at the next meeting which we held in 2011 for which her majesty was grateful.”

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