" THIS, DAY TONIGHT"
INTERVIEW GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR
JOHN GORTON FCkI'. AB. C. TELEVISION
Interviewers: Mr Frank Bennett
Mr Michael Vlillesee 06 F EBR UA RY 1 c,, 2
Q. Would you have li ked to have made more changes in a new
broom fashion if there had been more talent available In the Ministry?
PM: Well I think that anybody in te position of a Prime Minister
would always find that there were a considerable number of people
among the private members whom one would very much like to
provide with an opportunity, but one would also find that there are
people already carrying out jobs and have been carrying them out for
quite a long time and this creates a difficulty.
Q. Mr Gorton, some commentators have suggested that you
have been influenced by colleagues not to make greater changes. Is
this so?
FM: No, I don't think so.
Q. You are quit e happy at this stage with the extent of your
changes?
PM: This is the C1abinet and Ministry which I think and It Is
for me to think and to take the-responsibility can do the work at
the present time for Australia.
Q. Sir, Mr Chlpp, formerly the Navy Minister and Mr Howson
formerly with the Air portfolio have both been removed from the
Ministry. Can we ask you simply why?
PM: Wlell, I think I can only answer that by saying that In the
position where I am I have to select people, and I did want to give
a couple of newcomers if I can call one of them a newcomer an
opportunity, and there was no way of doing it unless a couple of places
were made for that purpose.
Q. Mr Gorton, wie don't particularly want to push this point
but are you concerned by the suggestions that will be made, in Mr
Hcvison's case, that he went over the VIP controversy, and possibly
in Mr Chipp's case that he went for supporting Mr Snedden?
PM: I don't know what sort of allegations would be made on these
matters. All I can say is I exercised a judgment which may be wrong
but which was a judgment which was necessary. WRell, it was a judgment
which I only could make in the way in which our party Is set up at the
present moment. s. / 2
Q. Can you amplify, LSir, the kind of portfolio that you see
that you have given to Mr Wlentworth Social Services and Aboriginal
Affairs?
PM: I don' t want you to think that those are lumped together
he has got both those portfolios, that he has received Minister -In-Charge
of Aboriginal Affairs because somehow it goes with Social Services.
This was not the concept at all. I think It Is well known that he has had
a great and continuing interest not only in aboriginal welfare but In
aboriginal history. He has really made a study of this matter. This
will not be a Department of State. It will be something that he
administers In the same way that I administered Education once under
the Prime Minister. In Social Services, I am hoping that he will
bring to bear the talent that he has got for analysing and investigating
and proposing new steps. This Is something in which he might be of
considerable value. An Ideas man.
Q. Despite Mr WItentvworth's talent that you refer to, he has been
overlooked for about 18 or 19 years now. Why is It that he has been
in the back benches for so long and now you have put him In the
M./ inistry?
PM: I think the answer to that is something like the one I gave
you before that each Individual man who preceded me has exercised
his judgment in selecting those he wishes to work with him, and I have
done the same, and It has happened this time to come out differently.
Q. It would seem to go beyond the competence of Mr Wentworth
here. A lot of people would think that neither Sir Robert nor Mr Holt
trusted him. He sounds brilliant but sometimes he sounds erratic
in the House. Are you concerned about that?
PM: No, I'm not. Not In the least. He Is quite brilliant. All
of his Ideas of course, as Is the case with almost any brilliant man,
are not necessarily acceptable, and over the years he has put up a
number of ideas. But some of them have been extremely acceptable,
I think, for example, the unification of rail gauges in Australia owes a
great deal to this kind of approach.
Q. Mr Prime Minister, Senator Wright comes Into your Ministry
with Vorks and Tourism. Hero is a man who has In your mind no
doubt an unfortunate record of voting against the Government. How
did you justify his position under these circumstances?
PM: I felt that we needed In the front benches of the Senate
somebody with good legal knowledge, because a great deal of the
discussion that takes place in the Senate not all by any means but
a great deal Is centred around Committee discussions on Bills and
legal implications, far more than happens In the House of Representativeo
where it tends more to be on broad principles. I felt we needed
somebody with a legal capacity and, if I may put it this way with an
argumentative capacity, somebody with a force of argument, and I felt
that he would be able to fulfil that role. o. / 3
-3-
Q. At the moment, you are a bit light on with QC's In the
Senate then?
PM: I think we had one other lawyer, '-enator Laught, but I think
he Is not a QC. As a matter of fact, Senator Wlright Isn't a QC either,
is he? I don't think he is.
Q. Could we ask on Senator Wright if you have come to some
agreement with him about ' his rather wayward voting habits?
PM: Oh, I am absolutely sure that Senator Wright fully realises
that when one becomes a member of a governmental team, one is a
member of the team and one supports the team, and that is a completely
different situation from being a private member, particularly a private
member in the Senate where t1Icels an idea that a thing should be looked
at a bit more closely by private members.
Q But despite this, you have left the Deputy Leadership of the
Senate open, when on capability Senator Wright would appear to be the
man to fill the job?
PM: Before I indicated agreement with that, we want to see how the
Soenate works for some considerable time.
Q. Mr Gorton, Mr Barnes Is now Minister for External Territories
only. Why this distinction?
PM: Because I feel that the problems In the Northern Territory are
different in kind from the problems in Papua-New Guinea, and I feel that
whereas the end result Mr H-asluck plit it that the end which the
Northern Territory must attain Is that~/ being eventually a State of the
Commonwealth of Australia, an integral part of the Commonwealth of
Australia. How far ahead that is, I don't know. But that clearly, Is what
the destiny of the Northern Territory Is. Now it is not at all so clear
that that is what is going to happen in the case of Papua-New Guinea.
Rather, I would see it developing towards a form of self-government,
and then perhaps after that, from the basis of a form of self-government,
whenever that occurs, if It wants a special association of some kind with
A., ustralia, approaching the then Australian Government.
Q. Mr Gorton, you have appointed Mr Lynch to the Army portfolio
at a very young age at a time when our Army Is fighting a war. Do you
have fears about this appointment?
PM: I don't think so. He's 34 or 35 and there Is -usually quite a lot
of energy and drive at this age. I feel he bas had considerable managerial
experience, personnel management experience, business experience,
all of which should be helpful in the administration of a Department.
Cf course, neither he nor any other Minister would affect the fighting
of the Department because that Is a military matter which is done by the
Chief of the Service. * 0a00a/ 4
9 -4-
Q. Finally, Mr Prime Minister, what can you tell us about the
rumours that indicate a possible change at the Head of your own
Prime Minister's Department?
PM: Merely, that there has been, I think fairly clearly, too big a
load for one man to carry, in seeking to do all the Cabinet Secretariat
work snd be Head of the Prime Minister's Department at the same time.
This has been recognised for some time but we are now carrying out
fairly active sort of investigations as to just how this problem can be
over come.
Q. There Is nothing concrete at this stage?
PM:. Not now, no.
Thank you Prime Minister.