OPENING OF E. R. SQUIBB SONS' PLAT ' 1
NOBLE PARK, VICTORIA l l
Speech by the Frime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt 8TH MAY, 1967
Mr. Gardiner.... and may I take this opportunity of welcoming
home to Australia the Ambassador for the United States, Mr. Edward Clark.
He has two homes, one in Texas and one here in Australia and we permit him
temporarily to serve as Ambassador from the United States to this country.
I feel we ought to be paying him the money. If every overseas ambassador
gave us as good service both inside Australia and when he goes abroad on his
various occasions, then our foreign influence would be very much greater than
it is. But we welcome him back. He is sporting his daily-renewed Texas rose.
I think he must have had an injection of some Squibb hormone or something to
keep it going or else they have shown him how to preserve these things
indefinitely. However, Ed, good friend, welcome back to Australia.
And welcome, also, Mr. Chairman of the Board, Mr. John McCloy.
There are various reasons, most of which will emerge as I
speak to you, why I find it a personal pleasure to be here this afternoon, but
I would be putting right at the top of the list the renewal of my acquaintance
and my friendship with the very distinguished man not just a distinguished
American but a distinguished world citizen in the person of the Chairman of
your Board. If any of you have found the opportunity and those of you who
haven't I hope will take it of studying the curriculum vitae of this remarkable
man, you will wonder how much could have been crammed with such distinction
Into the period of one lifetime. He tells us he Is getting on but even In the
time he spent getting on, it amazes me that so many notable posts could have
been discharged with such ability and with such general acclaim as have been
occupied by the Chairman of the Board.
And when he talks about getting on, again he is a very good
advertisement for Squibb products if that Is the way he puts It regarding
himself. He looks a very fit and vigorous specimen after having journeyed
across the Pacific and come to join us here today. Mr. McCloy, on this your
first visit to Australia, I am delighted as its Prime Minister to welcome you
here. I hope it will be the first of several occasions, and we applaud all that
you have been doing for the satisfaction not just of one President of the United
States from one side of politics but for all the Presidents who have occupied
that post during your maturity and from all sides of politics. What you have
had to say, while I am warmed by your generous references to myself doesn't
prompt the things which I feel in me to say regarding your own contribution to a
better world. You mentioned that you had been talking to my former leader,
Sir Robert Menzies, and that he couldn't find very much that was quotable to
say about me. I served with him, of course, in the Parliament for, I think,
it was thirty years, or just on thi rtyone years, and for thirty of those years
he kept referring to me at " young Harold". Eventually he got accustomed to
the idea that it was bout time that I took over and that I wasn't quite as young
as he might be presenting me in that particular form. / 2
-2
I accept what you say about the reference I made to the United
States. I can't claim to have coined the phrase, but in the circumstances of
the Viet Nam involvement, I was very glad to adopt this for Australia. I am
entirely unrepentant about it and so far as the Viet Nam Issue is concerned,
we are there together to see this thing through. Now, when you suggest that
through Bob Menzies, I might say " all the way with Squibb", well I haven't made
a bad beginning but I am very conscious of the fact that not very far from here
are some very close friends of mine, the Nicholas family, and one has to be
diplomatic about these things.
Another very good reason for my being with you is the subject of
health. I suppose there is no topic a tout which human beings converse more
frequently or in which they are more interested individually, and this is to be
noted in the ordinary salutations with which we greet each other or the way
in which we indulge together on convivial occasions. You raise a glass and
you say " Good Health.!" Or perhaps that Is not quite so fashionable as it was
because thanks to companies like your own, most of us enjoy far better health
than earlier generations and people tend to say rather than " Good Health!
these days, " Good Luck! or If you happen to live in a country regarded as,
heidlthy and lucky, you are just as likely to get " Bottoms Up!" Then,
occasionally, we fluctuate in these matters and someone says to you, " Well,
how are you" or " How do you do". There have been mornings when I have
replied, " Well, don't ask me or I will tell you".
But what a remarkable change has come over the business, the
pleasure of living as a result of the work of men such as the founder of this
great organisation whose material evidence of success is to be found as an
example In this fine building here today.
Edward Squibbs' own story Is a romance In itself. He established
his first production laboratory as so many people living in a free enterprise
society find it necessary to do, on borrowed money, shortly after he had
left the Navy. He did this In 1858, and shortly afterwards, the laboratory
was completely destroyed by fire and he was, I understand, permanently
disfigured as a consequence of it. But such was his courage, such was his
enterprise, such was his determination that he was quickly back in operation
and by the end of 1859, he was there In business again.
And it is a very long history for a pharmaceutical organisation to
spread over more than a century of active and successful development. But
It was not just that he was successful in producing things that were of value
to people, to help them and make them feel better. He had a keen sense of
public service, of devotion to the health of the people, and somehow he felt
responsible for the ethics of the industry.
The high standard of ethics which the pharmaceutical industry
feels it desirable to employ dates back really, I think it could be fairly
claimed, to this man. Certainly he was one of the great moulders of a fine
tradition. He was dedicated to the health of mankind. He launched a new era
in pharmacy, and I don't think it is stretching it too much to say, when you
speak in terms of human well-being and happiness, he launched a new era in
human fulfilment and enjoyment. He gave his personal attention to his products.
In the early stages, he used to personally sign the bottles or containers that
carried his products, and his signature was synonymous with the quality of
his products. And without wishing to give an advertising spiel to those now
produced by the Squibb organisation, again it can be fairly said that these
high standards have been maintained. / 3
-3
In doing a little research about him, I came across the official
opinion expressed of him by the Committee of Revision of the United States
Pharmacopoeia and I think this was some time after his death, but that is
immaterial. I quote this passage ' Dr. Squibb had the unique distinction
of possessing a sound knowledge of medicine, an innate fondness for chemical
research, an extraordinary grasp of pharmacy and of the scientists' ideal
love of truth. He could always be found opposing any course which tended to
weaken the cause of righteousness or ethics. And that is a fine tradition for
this company to have inherited. It Is a fine thing that it should be maintained.
It is difficult for a modern user of drugs to understand the
significance of Dr. Squibbs' crusade because national laws protect the life
and health of the people against adulterated drugs, there are now legal standards
for pharmaceutical production, false and extravagant claims are outlawed,
reputable drug manufacturers police their own production facilities and impoe
their own high standards. And what a contrast this is from the dark ages of
patent medicines, old wives' remedies, adulterated compounds and mysterious
potions. The presence of my colleague, the Minister for Immigration reminds
me, Mr. McCloy, that he was the Minister, then Attorney-General, who
introduced the restrictive practices legislation which also, no doubt, serves
as some sort of protectiort In this field.
Now, when I say it is difficult for us to realise what these things
mean to us because we tend to take them for granted as available for whatever
ailment or malady, temporary or otherwise, afflicts us, my mind goes back to
just a few personal experiences. I lost my own mother when I was a boy from
a bout of pneumonia. A few years later some M B tablets would probably have
saved her life and perhaps prolonged it to this time. Later, Winston Churchill,
you will recall, was stricken more than once with pneumonia, and we remember
how he used to talk about the way the M B tablets saved his life. And I
remember a distinguished Australian statesman, the late Sir Earle Page, who
also from time to time had bouts of pneumonia, and thanks to these modern
specifics, was able to remain in health and survive until a very ripe old age.
Well, these days I am told even M B I hope no disservice to
the firm has been superseded or at least there are others which are turned
to rather more readily, penicillin being regarded as a very effective remedy
for this purpose. And you have only to think about again I turn to
another personal experience. As a boarder at a preparatory school here,
Wesley, when thanks to some tainted milk, we got, several of us, a bout of
typhoid. In those days, the cure for typhoid, as far as I can recall it, was a
course of starvation. You could only take very soft foods or fluids. I was
in bed, I remember, for six weeks and I had a very mild dose well, mild
compared with others. A friend of mine, also a boarder with me at the
preparatory school, now Senator Turnbull I say " a friend of mine"
although he votes against me far more often than he votes for me he had
a bout which lasted three months. Now today you get one of what they call
the broad spectrum antibiotics, and in a matter of a comparatively short time,
you are able to control the symptoms and able to have a very much shorter
period of convalescence. And if you turn to a scourge such as tuberculosis, you see what
a dramatic change has come over the scene in that respect. All of us who
travel at one time or another know the needle treatment which is mildly
uncomfortable at the time but which protects us against what used to be the
scourges of earlier generations of mankind. And these are just a few
illustrations which one might mention of the way in which we have all been
assisted and benefited by these great developments. / 4
-4
Now, I gather that included in these fields are such items as
tranquillisers and the relief of hypertension. These have a special appeal,
of course, for the politician who frequently needs a course of one or the
other. But these are only a few of the ways in which our life has been made
the pleas anter and the happier as the result of the work of men like Edward
Squibb and those who have followed on him.
This has become a major area of Government activity as well,
and you may be interested to have a f ew facts so far as the Commonwealth
is concerned. We are concerned with the efficacy and quality, of course, of
pharmaceutical products but our principal interest in the industry stems from
our provision of pharmaceutical benefits. Wle are concerned with the safety,
quality and the cost of drugs, and as the number of prescriptions increases,
so do the dangers in herent in the toxic nature of many drugs. I am glad
to report that in this coxy there is, so I am advised by our Department of
Health, excellent co -operation with Squibb and other pharmaceutical
manufacturers and much valuable work is being done through the Australian
Drug Evaluation Committee, with which the Department of Health collaborates.
The Commonwealth's activity in the field of drug safety through
its Therapeutic Substances Branch, through the National Biological Standards
Laboratory, represents practical recognition of its concern for the safety
of drugs being administered to the community. So many new drugs have been
introduced that governments throughout the world have found it appropriate
to establish in the form of legal standards, minimum requirements for drugs
and tiopgical products. We co-operate fully with other governments in
maintaining desirable standards of safety and quality, our main agency for
this being the National Biological Standards Laboratory. All new products
are tested at the laboratory for purity and potency, and unless they conform,
they are not listed in the drugs available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme. The Laboratory also carries out continuous sampling of drugs.
Now this is costing us at the present time about $ A92 million
for payments made during 1965/ 66 to chemists for dispensing pharmaceutical
benefits, thus making the pharmaceutical benefits the third largest
expenditure of the Commonwealth Government on social services. Of the
$ 92 million paid by the Commonwealth Government to chemists, approximately
$ 57 million represented the cost of the drugs to the chemist, that is, their
value at wholesale prices.
Now, another consideration which has attracted me here today
is the way in which this enterprise represents, I believe, a shining example
of the benefit of overseas investment and of enlightened approaches on the
part of the management to the problem of overseas investment. The staff,
I am informed, including the management of the firm, is an all-Australian
staff. That does not mean that in this country there is any veto on the
presence or the management or inclusion in substantial numbers in the staff
of the nationals f rom whence the investment comes, but it is a reflection,
I believe, of the faith that the management of Squibbs have in the Australian
people, of their capacity that in this enterprise, expanding as it is, they
h ave included an all-Australian staff.
The plant and again this is a bull point so far as I am concerned
will produce not only for the Australian market but for export. The firm is
engaging in basic research and no doubt is able to draw on the research of
the parent company which in turn is a part of an enormous American
organisation, Olin Mathieson. I notice, looking through the annual report
of Olin Mathieson that they also manufacture WVinchester rifles and perhaps,
Mr. McCloy, it was a wise decision to have a separate chemical company
altogether, otherwise you might have had thrust on you the slogan " Kill
them or cure them
We applaud this research because it is through this that
productivity and efficiency develop and I have spoken earlier of the confidence
which this Investment demonstrates in the future of Australia by a well
known and reputable firm from overseas, conscious not only of the
opportunities in this country but seeing, I think, with a far-sightedness
tshoamt et hpea prtrso douf ctths iso fr eAguiosntr aliina winh itchhe wfuet ufirned moauyrs pelrvoevse trheaand itehro soef fernotmry ointh, er
countries, including the United States Itself.
Some of you have heard me talk abott the fact that we occu py a
very special place and I am prompted to say this because Mr, McCloy's
remarks took a broad range over the world scene we occupy a special
place In relationi to Cambodia, which I have visited quite recently. You are
aware, Mr, McCloy, as, the Ambassador is, that the United States not having
diplomatic relations with this country, Cambodia, Australia represents
Americati interests in Cambodia, as indeed we represent Cambodian
interests in South Viet Nam. I think I can claim that there are very few
Heads of Government and this is not something T claim for myself; it
is reflective of the country who could have visited the four countries I
visited so recently. Some could get to two, some would have been acceptable
in three; very few people would have been acceptable in the four. And I
make that point because I think that it is wise for any vast organisation with
an International distribution to include Australia as one of its distributing
points. Ours is a friendly country, we are on friendly terms with our
northern neighbours and from this point, export can be readily arranged.
Now we have tried to set a climate in this country encouraging
to investment, prod ucing for ourselves prosperity and full employment,
rising standards of living and good prospects of expansion. We believe that
responsible overseas investment in Australia is not only desirable but
essential to supplement our own efforts to invest, and thereby maintain our
rate of growth. Australia invests a high proportion of its gross national
product. We are not waiting for other people to come and do the job for us.
The Chaiman of the Board may be interested to know that of the
total capital investment in this country between 85 per cent and 90 per cent.
comes from Australian sources themselves, but we do value the extra
per cent to 15 per cent, that comes to us from overseas, with the know-how
it brings, with the research that frequently accompanies it, with the skilled
executive management that also frequently comes in the wake of the investment.
And Australia invests a higher proportion of its gross national product than
I think any other country in the world with the exception of Japan, more
than one and a half times the proportion invested in the United States or in
the United Kingdom. So you will gather, Mr. McCloy, and I am saying this because
he has got a very good entree to the President of the United States, and the
sting is in the tall because 90 per cent, of investment in Australia has come
from two sources the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Both of those countries for economic reasons of their own and financial
reasons of their own, have found it necessary to place some restraint on the
movement of capital here. But I am sure, as you look at Australia and see
its relationship, geographically and otherwise to the United States, to those
countries of this region In which the United States has a profound interest, / 6
4 -6
it will strike you, as a man with your international experience, experience
in international affairs, and in financial and legal affairs, that it should be
a prime United States' interest to help to make this country strong, and we
don't say that in any spirit of seeking some charity from others. VWe have
never sought nor accepted a dollar of aid from the United States of America,
but w'e do believe it to be a continuing United States' interest to see that
Australia grows and that that growth is assisted by a steady flow of
investment capital from the United States of America.
Now, over the last twelve months, largely as the result of
the reasons I have mentioned, there has been some fall away not falling
away of interest as I am sure the Ambassador will confirm. His life is
made hectic rather than busy, contending and coping with those who come
from overseas seeking out opportunities in Australia or wondering what
can be done here. And I hope that this appreciation of what Australia can
mean to this region in which the United States is showing such a commendable
interest the South-East Asian and Pacific region and indeed of Asia
generally, the whole area East of Suez in which are to be found three-fifths
of mankind, that in this picture there will be seen quite clearly a place for
a growing, strengthening Australia as a contributing factor to stability, to
progress, to leadership in this area of the world.
Now that has got a little outside my charter. I was tempted
to introduce it because you, Mr. McCloy, were kind enough to give us
your own picture of Australia in a world setting. And I am looking forward
greatly to seeing the President again in the first week of June, and I know
that he has a deep affection for this country and he has a recognition of
its importance in the directions that I have mentioned. I know that it is
a product of his resolution, as it was of two American Presidents who
preceded him, that America sees the necessity of building a better world
order in the area of the world in which we find ourselves, and that is why
we so wholeheartedly have aligned ourselves with you and why we are so
determined to see these issues through with you. Our countries together,
I think, can make a great contribution to strength, to stability, to progress
and security in this area of the world, and this establishment, which shortly
I will formally declare open, is itself tangible evidence of the way in which
the best that ewines from America can be married to what is good in
Australia. We encourage immigration of people and we find that we
have been able to assimilate them readily, happily for ourselves and
happily for them. L Unbrenlightened leadership by overseas investors
there can be the same happy marriage between capital from overseas,
techniques, know-how and executive skills from overseas with the
opportunities available here in Australia.
May Squibb play a significant and growing part in that
co-operation and I wish you every success for your future.