17 February 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
ADDRESS AT OFFICIAL LUNCHEON
PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
E O E
Well, thank you very much Prime Minister; to Mrs Bolger; to Mr Winston Peters, the
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand; to Helen Clark, the Leader of the Opposition;
your Eminence; other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a very special pleasure for me to be here today. Jim Bolger and I have known
each other for a long time. He was, in fact, the first leader of an overseas country to
speak to me after the change of government in Australia. And we've met on a number
of occasions, first in Australia and subsequently at two overseas gatherings since the
change of government in my country.
And I want to echo everything that Jim had to say about the easy naturalness of the
relationship between our two countries, our two peoples and our two societies.
There are very deep and intricate bonds of history and tradition and culture and shared
experience and common values which bring our two countries together. It is not, of
course, a relationship embedded entirely in nostalgia and in the past. In fact, what
gives the relationship added moment in the 1990s is that it is a modern, contemporary
relationship built upon the shared interests of the two countries in the Asia-Pacific
region, a recognition that we have to work together in that region if we are to realise
our full potential. And also our common experiences over the past decade with
economic reform.
As the Prime Minister of New Zealand said, both of our societies and economies have
something of a history in tariff barriers and industry protection. The idea that you
could build fortress economies, secure against the competitive incursions of the rest of
the world, now those illusions have been swept away in both Australia and New
Zealand. And there are many people in Australia who admire greatly the strides
towards opening up the New Zealand economy which have occurred over the last
or 15 years. And New Zealand richly deserves the reputation that it earned from many
around the world as being something of a role model of necessary economic reform
against the background of very great challenge and very great difficulty.
I have followed that change with great interest. Some might say that we are now, in
Australia, beginning to implement some of the reforms that were implemented in New
Zealand in the 1980s. Whilst that may not be an entirely fair observation to make, it is
fair to say that in one crucial area in which I've taken a very deep interest over a long
period of time that is industrial relations reform we passed legislation through our
Parliament at the end of last year which largely implemented the policy that we took to
the last election. And whilst it is dissimilar from your legislation in some respects, the
central thrust of giving more authority to employers and employees at the workplace
level to make their own bargains, getting rid of compulsory unionism, restoring
effective secondary boycott legislation, allowing the emergence of enterprise unions,
all of those things are very similar to what you have implemented.
And, of course, it's not only in economics that things have changed. For the first time
ever in the history of Australian and New Zealand sporting contests, the Bledislo Cup
will not be played at Ballimore or the Sydney sports stadium, it will be played at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. And that in itself holds outs the tantalising prospect that
the world record crowd to watching a rugby union encounter between two great rugby
playing nations will in fact be established in the home and the birth place of Australian
Rules football. It is one of those I mean, bear in the mind that they have the world
record rugby league crowd, which was 87 000 in the match between Australia and
Great Britain. So, things have changed also on the sporting field.
The Prime Minister mentioned our shared interest in the Asia-Pacific region. The
world has changed very much so far as our associations are concerned. Australia sees
her economic future very much bound up with the most dynamic economic part of the
world. And the commitment of my Government is just as deep and just as genuine and
just as Intense as the commitment of the Hawke and Keating Government's and indeed
the Fraser Government before that towards deepening our relationships with the
nations of the Asia-Pacific region.
But as I've frequently said since becoming Australian Prime Minister, we do not need
to choose between our history and our geography. And there is nothing in the
necessity and the desirability of our close association with the nations of the Asia-
Pacific region that dictates for a moment that we should lessen those ties between
Australia and the nations of Europe and the nations of North America which continue
to be of such relevance, not only in a culture and historical sense but also in an
economic and a trade sense.
We do, in Australia, place a very significant emphasis on what I call the defence
investment. In our first budget, against the background of having to make cuts in
other areas, we quarantined the defence budget from any expenditure cuts. And that
same approach will apply to our forthcoming budget which will be brought down in
May. We regard that strong investment in defence as being a very important element
of the influence that we can project in the region. It is also an important concomitant
to the association between Australia and the United States, an association which at all
levels has been very greatly strengthened and reinvigorated since the change of
government. I share the Prime Minister's remarks about the importance of the CDR relationship
between Australia and New Zealand. It is a relationship which imposes obligations on
both of us.
Ladies and gentlemen, the most important thing about our relationship is, of course,
the values and beliefs that as societies we share in common. Australia and New
Zealand are two of only eight nations which have been continuously democratic for the
whole of the 20th Century. And that in itself is a remarkable tribute to our two
societies and it is a remarkable tribute to the foresight of those who put together the
constitutional instruments that govern our two societies. And it is a reminder that as
we face the world together, not always agreeing on everything but fundamentally
sharing the same goals and the same objectives, that we do so from the vantage point
of having been reliably informed democracies for a very long period of time.
Our problems domestically are very similar. Our opportunities domestically and
internationally are also very similar. And the links that bind us together at a people-topeople
level are of course too numerous even to begin to mention at a gathering such
as this.
I want to say, Jim, I have enjoyed the opportunity of spending many hours talking to
you in an informal and relaxed fashion about the problems and the challenges of
contemporary government in our two countries. In the international exchanges
between leaders of countries there is nothing more valuable than the chance in a
relaxed and informal fashion to talk at length, as both of us did on Saturday night,
about the challenges of the Native Title legislation in Australia and the experience of
New Zealand in a comparable area. Of course the historical and legal basis of the
relationship between the indigenous people of New Zealand and the rest of the New
Zealand community is different from the relationship historically and legally between
the indigenous people of Australia and the rest of the Australian community. But that
doesn't alter the fact that in my country I'm seeking an outcome that delivers two
things; it delivers justice and it delivers predicability and certainty to all of those who
are involved. And I've found both in that area and the many other areas that we have
touched upon a great source of advice and shared experiences from the discussions
that we have held.
So in all of those ways it has been for me, Mr Prime Minister, a very valuable
experience. Of course as a amateur political scientist as well as a practicing politician,
I observe with some interest your new political system. I will continue to observe it
with immense interest because it does represent a very interesting and significant
departure, but nonetheless one that the New Zealand people have embraced and one
which I know those who participate in the system will use and exercise in the way in
which it should be. And I think all of us can gain inevitably from the experience of
others. I don't contemplate such a change in Australia. But then we have States and
we have a Federal Senate. So we have our own sort of differences already without
taking upon ourselves other differences. But whatever the method of delivering the
democratic will of the New Zealand people is or whatever delivering the democratic
will of the Australian people may be, nothing can alter the fact that we are ongoing and
thorough going democracies in the best sense of the word.
But most importantly for this occasion I bring you the good wishes, the very warm
good wishes, of the Australian people to this gathering. It is the most natural thing in
the world for Australians and New Zealanders to be friendly. It has an easy informal
intimacy, the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. But as Dr Johnson
bade us to do, we should always keep our friendship whether they are at a personal
level or at a national level, we should always keep our friendships in good repair. We
should never take a natural alliance for granted. We should never presume to draw
upon the stored good will of past common experiences to maintain momentum
indefinitely into the future. We should always find new ways of expressing the
affection we have for each other without in any way demeaning the old and traditional
affiliations. And I think that is what we are doing in our relationship, particularly in the
shared experience of learning effectively to compete in a globalised world economy,
learning to take on the best of the rest of the world and to hold our own and learning
to share the experiences that competitive endeavour brings.
And to you, Jim and Joan, may I personally thank you very warmly for the great
hospitality that you've extended to me and to my Party. We have enjoyed it greatly.
And we shall take back to Australia some very pleasant recollections of the past couple
of days. It has been immensely enjoyable. And I hope it has made a small contribution
to further strengthening the already deep ties of association and affection between our
two countries and our two societies. Thank you.