Speech by the Hon. Bruce Baird at breakfast for the Australian Republican Movement on Tuesday 13 August 1996 at the Renaissance Sydney Hotel. Bruce Baird is a former NSW Liberal Government Minister and was head of the Sydney 2000 Committee responsible for Sydney's successful Olympic Games bid. Bruce Baird is now Managing Director of Tourism Council Australia.

Lining up for your free milk in the playground at morning tea time was a daily ritual at Cronulla public school. The milk was usually hot and somewhat curdled which accounts much for my attitude to milk in later life. I actually rose to the lofty position of milk monitor for class 6A at Cronulla.

It was during one of these line ups in 1953 that the headmaster came to announce that he had some very sad news that King George VI had died. This was quite a momentous event in the life of an 11 year old in 1953.

The events that unfolded were equally as momentous. The lead up to the coronation and finally the big event. Framed photos of the Queen and Prince Phillip, miniature versions of the royal carriage abounded in suburban shops. Bob Menzies departed our shores by ocean liner to represent Australia at the coronation. After the big event our family duly went to the "The Queen is Crowned", portraying the event in full cinematography at the State Theatre.

The Wurlitzer organ was played and I wore a suit to this very grand occasion. Afterwards we went to Cahill's Restaurant for some ice cream cake and caramel sauce, completing the gala nature of the outing.

Only a year later the Queen was on her way to Australia amid great excitement. Families talked festively about where to get the best vantage point and what time to arrive. Shops were awash with photos, flags and royal mementos and streets were decked out in bunting and flags. City streets had highly decorated arches straddling the road and it was a big event to go to town to see the decorations and especially see David Jones windows. Our FJ Holden did many an excursion to view the splendour.

We eventually chose our spot to view the splendour of the procession opposite the Grace Brothers site in Broadway at the crack of dawn and waited breathlessly till she arrived at about 11 am. Every passing policeman and vehicle was cheered wildly in the lead up to the appearance of the Queen who appeared in an open top car to be greeted on all sides by tumultuous applause.

I remember being slightly disappointed by the briefness of the appearance after such a marathon wait. However such momentary disappointment was swept away by the great enthusiasm of all that we had actually "seen" her and all agreed how beautiful she looked. Every detail was devoured by my family as to what she did and wore on each occasion. We had our own brush with fame in that the family next door ran the dry cleaners that serviced government house. During the royal visit clothes were identified which decided belonged to the Queen. There was no criticism of the visit and anyone who had dared would have quickly been labelled a "commo".

Time went by and the same special qualities of the Queen's visit seemed to decline on subsequent events despite great efforts to buoy public enthusiasm.

In the intervening years I never encountered Her Majesty nor even came close. That was all to end in 1988 just weeks after the Greiner government came to power in New South Wales. We received our gold embossed invitation (in the mail, headed by the Royal Crest) inviting us to cocktails with the Queen on the royal yacht Britannia. There was much excitement over these invitations despite a lurking cynicism and there were long discussions amongst the ladies as to whether they should wear short or long gloves.

As we made our way around the deck of the Britannia there was quite a lot of discussion as to how we should address the Queen and Prince Phillip. I had read my briefing notes from protocol and announced to my little group that we should call the Queen "Her Majesty" on the first occasion and then "Ma'm" on subsequent occasions. For Prince Philip we should call him "Your Highness" on the first meeting, I told them, and then "Sir". I was fast becoming a figure of authority on the deck.

This state of anticipation was broken by my late colleague Ray Aston who had his head in the porthole talking to the cooks and came back with the information that two types of gravy are prepared for the Queen each day so that she has a choice. However he had just told us this very revealing story and we heard our names called out and suddenly, without warning, it was our turn.

The Queen was standing there complete with sparkling tiara, appropriate regal sash and her hand held out. I mumbled "hello", Judy giggled and suddenly we were gone - all that protocol training had been wasted.

My next and last meeting with Her Majesty was during a visit to Australia in 1991. She was introduced to a long line up of Ministers and their wives. When Nick Greiner came to me he introduced me as the Minister for Transport but also said that "you'll be interested Ma'm that Mr Baird is also responsible for Sydney's Olympic bid". Not knowing what to say I said "Yes, your Majesty I have just returned from the winter games in Albertville where I saw your daughter". The look on her face froze and she passed on to the Hon Wal Murray.

I inquired from our protocol people whether I had done anything wrong. "Yes" they said "you referred to Princess Anne as her daughter rather than her royal title". So much for my royal encounters.

I think however my last audience with Her Majesty highlighted the factor that brought me finally into the republican camp. The role in fact of Princess Anne, daughter of the Queen of Australia in the bidding for the 2000 Olympic Games.

Princess Anne is one of two British members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The other is Dame Mary Glen Haig. Much was made of the fact during the visit of Prince Charles to Australia in 1994 that it was in fact Princess Anne's vote that finally secured the vote for Sydney.

Tracking the voting pattern of individual members is not perfect but it was important to see where her vote went. In round 1 when Istanbul was eliminated, round 2 when Berlin was eliminated and round 3 when Manchester was eliminated, Princess Anne voted clearly for Manchester. It was only when confronted with a vote between Sydney and Beijing that we finally secured her vote. We in fact received 8 out of the 11 votes secured for Manchester in the third round.

The fact was that Princess Anne solidly supported Manchester all the way through the bidding process. She entertained IOC members on behalf of Manchester at various Olympic venues around the world and put on dinner parties at her palace in London for IOC visitors on their way to Manchester.

Those invitations certainly had more cachet than those from Rod McGeoch, John Coates or Bruce Baird. Never once did she visit the Sydney 2000 displays in various locations throughout the world when she was present at an Olympic function, nor did she enquire how we were going.

In fact there was more support for Australia from Prince Albert of Monaco who continued to encourage support and vote for the Sydney bid. He in fact said he was influenced in vote by going to the schools in Monte Carlo talking about the Olympics and asking who would they vote for the year 2000 games. The number one vote was for Sydney.

Apart from Prince Albert we also thought we received the vote of Princess Nora of Liechtenstein but failed to win the support of the Duke de Merode of Belgium or the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Princess Anne is of course the President of the British Olympic Committee and she would of course be expected to do all she could for Manchester, but it does highlight the fact that when the chips are down the royal family are very much for Britain and we still remain a colonial outpost. A good reason why an Australian and not a royal should open the Olympics.

In fact the Olympic win highlighted a coming of age for Australia. When Juan Antonio uttered those immortal words "and the winner is... Sydney" life changed forever for Sydney and for Australia. We all know the well told story that the reason that Juan Antonio had to much trouble reading out "Sydney" was because he'd never seen it written that way before.

As the Australians there leapt into the air with delight, the common greeting was "we did it!!" We certainly had done it, not by much but certainly by 2 votes more than any other city. We had taken on the world's most populous country and despite its political clout which it used during the bid, we still won. We took on Berlin with its cash rich bid backed by Mercedes and still won. And we took on Manchester, backed by the royal family and still won.

During the excitement I hugged and lifted everybody I could see, and because that included luminaries such as Joan Sutherland and the Whitlams, I had a very sore back the next day. It was the result of an awful lot of work by a lot of Australians and particularly many young Australians.

It highlighted the fact that when you put a challenge to Australians that they believe in, they are the most professional and the best in the world. I remember the words of Yvonne Goolagong, who had helped with the lobbying at Monte Carlo, when I saw her after the announcement of our win. "This was the most exciting night of my life" she said. "What about your Wimbledon wins?" I asked. "That was exciting too" she said "but that was for me, this was for all of us, for all Australians".

And so must the Olympic games be for all Australians and it must have a strong Australian theme. Not one of blow up kangaroos on bikes but genuinely sharing the diversity and richness of our Australian heritage and way of life. Since returning from Atlanta, where I was a spectator, I am even more convinced than ever that for the 2000 Games we should go for the trifecta: become a republic, have a new national anthem and have a new flag!!

I was there at the aquatic centre in Atlanta when Kieran Perkins and Susie O'Neill won their Olympic gold medals for Australia. When the Australian flag went up, the Americans around asked why we had the British flag in the corner. Not only that, the opening night of the Games highlights why we should have a change - there are 15 other flags of former British colonies all sporting similar flags. We have come of age and no longer should disport another country's flag within ours.

I don't care quite frankly whether its green and gold, red and blue or aquamarine and purple as long as it is our flag!

Then our anthem. On the final night at swimming when the Americans won they went into a frenzy. They disported themselves in bows, bonnets, blazers and buckles all showing the flag in varying forms from traditional to high glitter. The American flag would go up and they would leap to their feet and and launch forth with the "Star Spangled Banner".

I must say the rhetoric of the anthem with the words of "O say can you see by the dawns early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming! And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there, leading to the land of the free and the home of the brave."

I looked around me during this event. The jock in front of me had tears in his eyes, the overweight matron behind stood solidly and proud with her hand clamped to her heart.

When it was our turn somehow our anthem disappeared. I for one felt embarrassed with our words "Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free" (at the age of 54 definitely having yourself on) "We've golden soil and wealth for toil, our home is girt by sea" my voice trailed off and I longed for something more grand and less in keeping with inflatable kangaroos.

The Olympics will be a great and exciting event and I hope we will model ourselves more on the Barcelona games where the city came alive with buskers, fountains and parties, rather than T-shirt and souvenir stalls and Coca Cola logos.

The time to become a republic is at the dawn of the new millennium when we celebrate the world's greatest sporting event. We don't need a constitutional committee. Australia has made up its mind. And if we do have one, let us make sure we don't reflect the mistake of the longest major convention in 1899 when federation was on the agenda but all women were excluded.

Lets have a referendum and ready ourselves to show to the world in 2000 we have become of age, that we have become a great nation rich in diversity and straining to the future. How best to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flame than by injecting our own flame of pride in this great nation. As the founder of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin has said "holding an Olympic Games means evoking history." Vive la république!