PM Transcripts

ENMOBTA GOT: O BE RELEASED BEFORE 6 P. M. ( EST) ON 16/ 10/ 67.
FOR PRESS: CL LI lR A V0 P. MV.. No. 106/ 1967
MINISTERIAL CHANGES
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt
The Minister for Primary Industry, Mr. Adermann, has
asked to be relieved of his duties as Minister for Primary
Industry as from today. His resignation has been accepted by
the Governor-General.
Mr. J. D. Anthony, up till now the Minister for the
Interior, has been appointed to the Primary Industry portfolio
and Mr. P. J. Nixon, the Member for Gippsland, has been appointed
to the Ministry and will take over from Mr. Anthony as Minister
for the Interior. The two Ministers were sworn in their new
offices by the Governor-General this afternoon.
It is a matter of deep regret to me and my colleagues
in the Cabinet that Mr. Adermann has felt it necessary to resign
to ease his load of work. We have all respected the able manner
in which he has discharged the duties of a difficult portfolio
for so many years. I know that this high opinion of his work is
widely held, and nowhere more strongly than in those primary
industries for whose prosperity and welfare he has worked so
devotedly. Mr. Anthony comes to the Primary Industry portfolio
with a wealth of knowledge of the land and its problems.
I have invited 1dr. Sinclair to become a member of the
Cabinet and he will continue administration of his portfolio of
Social Services in which appointment he has shown great ability.
Mr. Nixon's promotion is well earned, and he will be a
welcome addition to the Ministry.
I announce also a change in the Leadership of the
Government in the Senate.
Senator Henty, who had proviously announced his decision
to retire from the Senate at the expiry of his current term, wrote
to me recently saying that in the circumstances he thought a change
should be made in the leadership in order that the Government
Senate Leader in the forthcoming election campaign might have
continuity of office.
Senator Gorton, at my request, has agreed to assume
responsibility as Government Leader in the Senate.
I would like publicly, as I have done privately, to
thank Senator Henty for the able and devoted service he has given
the Government through his years of leadership in the Senate. I
have asked him to continue as a member of the Cabinet in his
present portfolio.
CANBERRA 16th October, 1967.
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