PARLIAMENTARY LUNCHEON IN HONOUR OF
THE RT. HON. KEITH HOLYQAKE, CH MP
CANBERRA, ACT JUNE 1970
Speech by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Gorton, MP
Mr Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have welcomed many Heads of Government at Parliamentary
Luncheons, but I think that none has been more welcome than our Guest
of Honour here today. In one way, because we know him so well and
we have had such close associations with him and with New Zealand,
this official function may seem a little peculiar; for after all, Mvr
Holyoake, the P rime Minister has been virtually a commuter to
Australia over the years, constantly coming in and out. But this is
the first occasion on which h_ 3 has paid us an official visit, and we
are delighted that you have done this, Sir, because it gives us the
opportunity to provide an official welcome and to underline the
relationship between our two countries in this way.
You have, Sir, been Prime M. inister of New Zealand for ten
years which have brought new problems to your country as it has to
all others and you are not only the Prime Minister of New Zealand, but
the doye n of all Commonwealth Prime Ministers.
We have, in Australia, a special affection for you and a
special family feeling for New Zealand and for all New Zealanders.
I remember with pleasure that the last occasion you and I were at
a Parliamentary Luncheon was in Wellington when you gave an official
welcome to myself and this is a delightful chance to return that on
behalf of all Australians.
Although Captain Cook, in a way, discovered both of us
two hundred years ago, it was not really until 1944 that our two countries
entered into the first comprehensive bilateral agreement that has been
between us, an agreement for co-operation in defence, for consultation
at Ministerial and other le vels in many other matters. We had formal
trade treaties dating back to 1922, but the Canberra Pact of 1944 was the
first broad, direct agreement, out of which our association and the
relationship between our two countries has grown and strengthened
over the years since then.
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Yet we had already fought together in one World War,
and we were fighting in another at that time, and we had together
immortalised the name of ANZAC.
But since that first formal agreement almost thirty
years ago, -e have continued that partnership and sat side by side
in world councils and in regional councils. Together we spoke with
the same voice for the smaller nations at San Francisco when the
United Nations Charter was drawn up. Tugether we joined our Pacific
partner, the United States of America, in the ANZUS Pact. We
are in SEATO and ANZAM together, in the Colombo Plan, in ECAFE,
in ASPAC and in the Asian Bank.
We have both played our part i n the Commonwealth of
Nations. We have been in Korea and Malaysia together, and we are
now together in Vietnam. More recently in Djakarta, our fbreign
Ministers sat together at a conference which, I think for the first time,
indicated the interest of the Asian countries of this region and of ourselves
in seeking to find a political settlement to the problems of Cambodia,
a diplomatic break-through and again, one in which we both shared.
We have had our Free Trade Agreement which has worked
well for both our countries. We have had our discussions on defence
standardisation and have declared our jea diness to share military
commitments in Malaysia and Singapore after the British withdrawal.
There iS ahead of both of us in this decade of the seventies,
as the points of power and pressure around the world shift and change,
and have different effects, a new opportunity for doing things together
for our own national interest, and for the security and advancement
of the region in which we both find ourselves.
It may be possible to make a greater impact with aid to
developing nations in our region if some of it is given jointly by
Australia and New Zealand. This is one matter that you have raised
already, and we look forward to examining it more closely and
s ympathaically. But Australians and New Zealanders, living on the perimeter
of Asia, are becoming more involved in that region as each year goes
by. There are changes taking place there which will shape the whole
course of our future and, as I think, the future of the world. These
changes there, and in the South Pacific, are changes which offer to
your country and to my country, further opportunities of that joint
interest, that joint assistance which we have given over the years just
past. ./ 3
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Together we are providing substantial aid already,
but perhaps the contribution we can make can be measured not
just in terms of physical aid but by example, the example of
democracy at work in a stable environment where progress,
material progress is joined to the higher values of the individual
happiness in a society, where the imperatives of youth are
understood and given their proper place alongside but not superseding
the judgment and wisdom of older generations.
I think that our two countries can together be a bridge
between the old civilisations of Europe and the new civilisations
or not new civilisations but the developing countries of our own
region. I am sure we can do more things together than we could do
apart. And, therefore, this visit, as an indication of our
intention to do things together, gives the opportunity to welcome you,
but not only to welcome you, but to welcome the fact that these two
countries, with so much in common, so close together, have the
same outlook, share the same determination to do what we can
for ourselves and our neighbours as we have in the past. This is
another great reason, Sir, why I am delighted to welcome you on
this occasion.
L