TENTH F. A. O. REGIONAL CONFERENCE
FOR ASIA AND THE FAR EAST
Canberra, ACT 27 AUGUST 1970
Speech b the Prime Ministers Mr John Gorton
Mr. Wells, Mr. Anthony, Ministerial Colleagues, Federal and State,
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is not my function today to open this Conference, because that is the
role of my colleague, the Minister for Primary Industry. But it is my function to
welcome you all here. It is my function and my pleasure to do so in the name of
the Australian Government and the Australian nation.
I think we are privileged to have you here in our national capital for
this Tenth Regional Conference which is the first such Regional Corfere-. ce to be
held in Australia but not I hope, and I am sure the last. And from nherever
you have travelled to be here today, you and we have one objective in common, one
thing in mind which we hope we may advance towards as a result of thic Conference,
and that is the eventual elimination of hunger amongst mankind, and therefore the
improvement of the health and the wellbeing of mankind throughout the world.
My own country is proud to be associated with the work of the Food and
Agriculture Organisation and it gives me today an opportunity to pay tribute to the
contribution made by the FAO over the past quarter of a century. I know you
already have a planned programme covering the next fifteen years and we wish
you well in this vital and humane task.
It is a matter of some pride with us, if you will forgive a little national
sentiment on an international occasion, that one of our earlier Prime Ministers,
the late Lord Bruce, in other capacities, was closely associated with the foundation
days of FAO. Way back in the " Hungry Thirties", at the old League of Nations in
Geneva, in 1935, Lord Bruce made the plea: " Let the nations of the world
collaborate to provide sufficient food to avoid hunger". That was the challenge
which, at a later date, and in another forum, was taken up, and so FAG was born
with Lord Bruce as the first Chairman of its Advisory Committee the World
Food Council. That same continuing challenge brings us all here today and my nation
today has that same approach as Lord Bruce had when he was our Prime Minister
so long ago. I believe that communication, partnership and participation amongst
nations are the key factors in trying to meet this very great challenge. We have
got to communicate across the distances that separate us. There is no room for
isolationism of thinking in this field in the world today or, indeed, in any field. / 2
2.
And so we must share our knowledge and learn from each other's experiences, and
learn from each other's adv nces and learn from each other's mistakes. And
how better can we do it than by constant contact between officials of our Governments
and by meetings such as this today.
For our part, partnership is a first principle in many fields bilaterally,
within regional and special bodies like ECAFE and FAO, and globally through the
United Nations community Pi. d many trading, commodity and other arrangements
of one kind or another.
And in the Asian region which is still predominantly agricultural,
we in Australia see ourselves as joined with you in a partnership which will be
directly involved with the rest of the world in the forthcoming Second Development
Deca: e promoted by the United Nations. What we have already tried to do in this
region, what we are now trying to do despite the difficulties which hamper us and
you and they are considerable may, I hope, offer lessons for other regions
and for the world at large, for co-operation as the decade unfolds, to attack the
great problems which face mankind.
But we have to remember that in this region we have the most diverse
assembly of peoples, cultures, resources and standards of living in the world,
the most diverse. And the world itself is caught up with a population explosion
cf gigantic proportions. There is much to be done. There is a daunting task
facing this conference and those of us who are interested. The gap between the
hungry and the satisfied is still very wide and that, Mr. President, brings me
to participation. This, of course, is what gives meaning to a partnership. Ln simple
terms, it means to use an Australian colloquialism " let's be in it", and the
fact that we are all here today is evidence enough, I think, that we are all'In it".
Perhaps, I might mention indeed most of you would know that just
before this conference we had here in Canberra the Third Far East Regional
Conference of the Freedom From Hunger Campaign. This campaign gets
eno mous support in Australia because everybody can be in it. Australians as
individuals give generously in this extra effort to tackle the world's food
problems. And I like to feel that we here have some direct understanding of the
problems of the developing countries in our region because of our own responsibilities
not only in tl he. gion, not specifically to developing countries in the region who are
away from us, but particularly because of our close partnership with the
Territories of Papua and New Guinea. / 3
I like to feel that here, too, in that area we are communicating with
the people, under difficulties there are always difficulties when peoples seek
to communicate but we are communicating, we are trying to be in partnership
and participating in the development of their nationhood and of their capacity to
help in this great task of providing food for the hungry millions of the world.
Now, Sir, I feel that the time has come for me to finish, but in doing
so, I would just like to add this. There is taking place in Asia now what we all
know as a " green revolution". The earth is yielding more for its people in
response to planned programmes and applied skills but success has also brought
its problems. The world prices of basic foods are falling. Export markets
are shrinking. There are new exportable surpluses in some countries and there
is ar unsatisfied demand for fertilisers and for other assistance to growing food
and this while millions still go hungry. And so we have surpluses of rice stored
in Japan enough for perhaps two years' consumption for its people; surpluses
of wheat being raised in Australia, surpluses in other countries, while so many
still go hungry. So the task is to secure a proper balance for our agricultural
economies in the region. I think we should perhaps place more emphasi" on
industrial crops, on the development of forest products, for example, and to
encourage industries linked to agriculture to provide work for the people and
new products to export. This, I think, would go hand in hand, perhaps, with
the correction of the imbalance between export surpluses of food and the lack of
capacity of so many people to have food.
Aid side by side with this, there must be that participation, that
partnership, that sharing of knowledge of which I have already spoken.
If this can come about and I believe it can not without e-ffort, not
without thought, not without time, not without difficulty, but if it can come about,
then the world will be a happier and a richer place for us all. And those who give
their time and effort to this task and to discussions with their colleagues -such
as take place here today, will have played a real part in making the world a
happier and richer place for us all.
So I repeat my welcome A very warm welcome to you all, and I
wish you in which I include us every success in our deliberations.