THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 1972
PRIME MINISTER Ladies and gentlemen : the first announcement
I wish to make to you is concerning the Interim Australian Schools
Commission about which you will remember I spoke in the government's
policy speech. I will hand out the terms of reference of the Interim
Committee for the Australian Schools Commission, the terms of the
letter sent to each of the persons who have been asked t~ o serve on
the Interim Committee and the list of those persons. All I-need to
say before you ask any questions is that the Chai~ rman
Karmel, whose service in general administrative jrlitki's and
particularly educational matters in South Aust 4ia, Papua New Guinea
and the Commonwealth as a whole is well-known. 0--
On diplomatic relations with China; there has been a further
meeting between the Chinese and the Australian ambassadors in Paris,
this time at the Australian Embassy early this morning Canberra time.
Good progress is being made. I have also received a cordial message
from Prime Minister Chou En-lai.
Our Ambassador to Indonesia has returned to Indonesia. He has
been received by President Suharto. He has given the President the
news about the $ 24-million gift of rice to alleviate the severe
shortage in Indonesia caused by drought. There is a press statement
which will be given to you on that.
At yesterday's Executive Council meeting, there were some
renewals of appointments to what were the Boards? in the
repatriation. field and-the valuation field the No. 1 War Pensions
Entitlement Appeal Tribunal and the Valuation Boards.
The Honorable John Ignatious Armstrong has been appointed our
High Commissioner to Britain as from next Friday for a term ending
at the end of 1974. You will remember he was a Senator for very
many years, he was'Minister for Supply, he was Chairman of the Sydney
County Council, he was Lord Mayor of Sydney. I have let Mr Heath
know that Mr Armstrong's appointment is to symbolise the high
importance that the Australian Labor Party places on links with
Britain, and my own personal desire that those links should be close
ones. Well, those are the thinps I thoug; ht I woiil. d announce first.
IRANK CHAMBERLAIN : Prime Minister, that's ex-Senator Armstrong?
PRIME MINISTER .: Yes.
TONY HILL : Can you give us the terms of the message from Chou En-lai?
PRIME MINISTER : No. I think the terms of messages will be released
when, as we expect shortly will happen, relations are established,
but there is no agreement to release any texts at this stage.
MATTHEWS, MELBOURNE HERALD : Have you any intention of recalling the
Parliament early to give the pensioners an immediate $ 1.50 rise for
a Christmas bonus?
PRIME MINISTER : No, When the ministry is sworn in we will decide
when the Parliament will meet. It is unlikely to be before February.
One of the early pieces of legislation will be to increase th.-
basic pensions by 31.50 per week. I know there has been some
speculation on a Christmas bonus. In fact9 no such proposal
ever made in the policy speech and during the campaign I was v: rr
asl.. cd about it, and I made no commitments on it.
KEVIN POIWER, 2UE: Does your Government propose to re-negotiate
the Fill agreement, Sir. That's the first question, the secc:. d
one do you propose to restore the News and Information Bursau
to full departmental status or will it be incorporated in some
other department such as Media or will it remain with Interior?
MIR. BARNARD: The first one, Kevin, if I may answer it, on the Fl1l
it has not been possible for me, at this stage, to be able to examine
the documents that I would want to look at in relation to the Fll1
purchase. What I did, of course, say during the course of the
ca. mpaign was that it appeared, in view of the large amount of money
that Australia has already paid out for the F111, that we will have
to accept it. But it would not be possible for me, before the full
minisi. ry has been sworn in, to devote my attention to this particular
quest ion.
PRIME MINTSTER: On the I have made no commitment. There
is no current proposal to make the Australian News And Information
Bureau a full department. The Department of which it will form a
part, or the Minister to whom it will be responsible, 4. s being
considered at this time by Mr. Barnard, Senators Murphy and'Willesee
and me in consultation with the departmental heads in preparation
for a recommendation to Caucus next week.
jitjY( PN STOYLES, FINANCIAL REVIEW: In view of what Mr. Crean has been
saying about taxation policy, have you yet made any decision for the
Treasury to publish a " comprehensive review" on taxation levels which
ou promised in your policy speech?
PRIME MINISTER: We have been asking Treasury about this. There
have been several papers prepared for the former Government on
taxcatior review. We are working with them on two matters. Firstly,
which are the ones to which Mr. McMahon was referring in answers to
questions in Parliament, and, I think, in answers to members of the
press. Secondly, if these were Cabinet papers then we clearly have
to check with our predecessors whether they mind them being released.
JOH1N LOMBARD, MELBOURNE SUN: Last July you promised rehabilitation
assistance for those who suffered in the name of conscience under the
National Service Act. What form will the rehabilitation assistance
take will it be financial compensation and is compensation being
considered for draft resisters who went underground?
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing is being considered at the monent. I can
assure you that Mr. Barnard and I have not considered this matterø
You mention some statement by me. I do not remember a statement of
this character. At the last Federal Conference of the-Australian
Labor Party in June last ye: r, there was a resolution that this
matter should be considered. I do not remember saying anything about
it. We have not given consideration to it, I did not mention it in
the policy speech. I was not asked about it and I made no statements
about it later in the campaign. This is a matter clearly for the
ministry when it is formed.
MR. BARNARD: Mr. Prime Minister, can I supplement the question
by saying that once again I have not had the opportunity to fully
consider this matter but I have made etnquiries0 I will be having
. discussions later this; afternoon with officers of the department.
LONDON DAILY TELEGRdAPH: Have you any more surprise announcements
for people in Britain?
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn't believe that any Britons taking an
intelligent interest in Australian politics would have had any
surprises to this stage.
BEGG, Have you given any consideration, as yet, to the
redistribution of boundaries?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Here obviously is a matter which will be
left to the full ministry. I would expect that there will be
legislation amending the Commonwealth Electoral Act as there was
introduced as a Private Members Bill by Mr. Daly in the last
parliament, and a distribution is due but the census upon which a
distribution would be based was held 18 months ago. Western
Australia should have one more seat in this Parliament if a
distribution had been held. There would be a much more equal
representation of thc. people if a distribution had been held, as
it could and should have been, before this recent election.
DAVID SOLOMON, CANBERRA TIMES: Do you expect that there will be any
necessity for another meeting between the Australian and the Chinese
amibassadors in Paris before the matter is finalised?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN: Will you be taking any Christmas holidays?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope so.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN: Will you use those holidays to go for a trip to
the Torres Strait Islands with Mr. Bjelke-Petersen?
PRIME MINISTER: I am very much looking forward to Christmas so I
can have a holiday. I noticed Mr. Bjel~ ke-Petersen's kind off'er.
I had already received some offers. I will be writing to Mr. Bjelke-
Petersen about the Torres. Strait Islands question. which was raised
by the United Nations Visiting Mission to New Guinea in the middle
of last year. I think I am right in saying that this matter had not
been raised by the former Government with the Queensland Government.
I am taking steps to raise it.
ROBERT HAUPT. FINANCIAL REVIEW: It is Dr. Cairns' publicly expressed
view that a final decision has been reached as to the future shape
of' the Trade Department. I understand from your office-that this
is not so. Can you finally tell us whether a decision has been made
over the future status and shape of the department? Can you tell us
under what title Dr. Cairns will be sworn in when he is sworn in?
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PRIME MINISTER: No decisions have been made at this stage.
As I said in answer to an earlier question, these are matters
being discussed by Mr. Barnard, Senators Murphy and Willesee and
me in consultation with the heads of departments for a recommendation
to Caucus. Caucus will make the decisions as to what departments
there will be, and then after Caucus has made that decision it will
be my responsibility, if I am re-elected as Leader of the Party,
to allocate the portfolios.
KEVIN POWER: Will you make a recommendation to Caucus on that
partiLcular point?
PRIME MINISTER: Among others. There will be recommendations on
the whole departmental structure.
BENNELL, 7 NETWORK: How long do you think it will be before the new
health scheme comes into operation as proposed by the Labor Governement,
and what do you think should be done with the vast reserves that the
health schemes have at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: There are two big items of the health scheme.
One is the question of insurance; how long it takes to implement
the Government's program on this matter will depend on the co-operation
of the medical profession. There is, in addition, a very large part
of the Government's health program relating to hospitals, the
modernisation and regionalisation of hospitals through Commonwealth
grants to the States on the basis of recommendations of a Hospitals
Commission. I would hope that that Hospitals Commission would be in
operation before the end of 1973. There are other features in the
Government's health program such as dental health for school children
which can scarcely get under way in the life of this Parliament because
one just has to train more dental therapists or nurses than Australia
has the hope of getting in less than three years. You asked me about
the reserves of the hospital and medical benefits funds. I think these
reserves amount to somewhere about $ 140 million. This is a sum which
obviously would be appropriate to provide hospital and nursing home
facilities in those parts of Australia where they are very badly
needed. I would hope that arrangements can be made for the-se sums which
have been collected by contributors over the la. st twenty years to
be spend for such proper public health purposes as hospitals and
nursing homes. It will require, naturally, negotiations with the
bodies concerned because they are generally incorporated under State
laws and the registration by the Commonwealth which has enabled them
to flourish and multiply exceedingly didn't provide for the
dissolution of these bodies.
HAWKINS, BRISBANE TELEGRAPH: Is there a possibility, as you have
seen Mr. Tonkin and Mr. Dunstan in the last few days, of asking Mr.
Bjelke-Petersen to come to Canberra before Christmas to talk to you
about this problem rather than you arranging a trip up there?
PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Dur~ tan and Mr. Tonkin asked to see me.
If Mr. Bjelke-Petersen asks to see me I am very happy to see him
on this or any other * matter.
BAILEY, ADELAIDE ADV RTISER: Has a date been discussed for a Premiers
Conference?
PRIME MINISTER: No. This is clearly a matter which will have to be
decided by the full ministry. There have been suggestions that, as
usual, there will be a Premiers Conference in February, but this is
not a matter upon which Mr. Barnard and I would make arrangements
alone. D'ARCY, In view of the speculation, could you state at
this stage whether Dr. Stephen FitzGerald is to be Australia's first
ambassador to China, and secondly, have you had any official
communiques about Francis James?
PRIME MINISTER: My answer on an ambassador to China must be the
same as it was a week ago. It is just not possible or proper for
any country to announce who its representative will be in another
country until that other country has been informed and has approved.
This must be the case still more, of course, with a country with
which we don't yet have full diplomatic relations, with which, at
this stage, we are only having discussions. So, I must reiterate
that it would be quite improper to confirm or deny any speculation
on who might be our~ first ambassador to China.
In view of the very many references which are being made to this
question, perhaps I should say that many of you have seen Dr. FitzGerald
in China when you accompanied me and Dr. Patterson and Mr. Burns and
Mr. Young there. 1 think most of you are here. There is Mr. Barnes,
Mr. Oakes, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Stubbs, Mr. Randall, Mr. Barnett and Mr. Koch.
Nearly all of you are in this room. You went to China with us.
You saw Dr. FitzGerald in those isolated circumstances and you would
have noticed his dexterity, his diligence, his decorum. Perhaps
I might add this Dr'. FitzGerald has turned down the opportunity of
taking a prestigious professorial post, a foundation professor, at
Griffith University so that he might be eligible for appointments
by the Commonwealth Government. The Commonwealth Government regards
it as appropriate that there should be academnics or business people
serving the nation in various positions of advice or representation
for periods of 2 or 3 years and we would regard it as appropriate
that public servants, for instance, should be seconded to academic
and commercial positions for similar periods. I don't believe that the
constant speculation about Dr. FitzGerald is fair to him. He can't
say anything on this matter and, I reiterate, I can't either.
D'ARCY, Prime Minister, Francis James, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I am sorry. I have sent no message about Mr. Francis
James since taking office.
D'ARCY, Have you heard anything of him, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I have heard nothing about him since taking office.
LAUR& IE OAKES, MELB. SUN: Will you send a message, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: When full relations are established then the
Australian Government will be in the normal, proper position to
safeguard the interests of its citizens in China, including Francis
James,
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WARREN DUNCAN, Prime Minister, there has been yet another
prediction~ today as to what the level of inemployment will be in the
coming year. How do you see employment over the next 12 months in
Australia? Secondly, when will the monthly figures be released,
and in view of Mr. Cameron's comments about these figures, are you
going to check to make sure they are accurate?
PRIME MINISTER: I will ask the Minister for Labour and National
Service to answer this question.
MR. BARNARD: I have asked for information concerning the latest
unemployment figures and I have no knowledge of them myself at this
time but I expect to have some information on them tomorrow. They
would normally be available for publication, that is if one follows
the procedure of the previous administration, they would be available
for publication on Monday next. Whether I at this stage ought to make
any comment, that is after I have received the information, or wait
for the new Minister for Labour and National Service to make the
comment is a matter that I will determine with the Prime Minister.
Matters concerning the levels of unemployment and what we intend to do
about unemployment, of course, I think ought to be more properly
answered by the Prime Minister at this stage.
BOB BAUDINO. NEWS LIMITED: Mr. Barnard, if I might, in his capacity
as Minister for Defence Massive savings have been made by the
abolition of national service, and now of the withdrawal of' our
forces from Vietnam. Could you tell me if those savings will be
diverted elsewhere or do they remain in the defence vote?
MR. BARNARD: I have not discussed this aspect with the Prime Minister.
It is not one of the matters that we thought desirable or necessary
to consider immfediately. Naturally I will have to determine what will
be done, but myoff-the-cuff decision. at this stage would be that
whatever saving is made in this respect would be expended by the
defence forces.
DAVID BARNETTA. A. P.:....
PRIME MINISTER: An old China handa.
DAVID BARNETT: A question to Mr. Barnard. Have you begun to consider
yet the future of the D. D. L. program announced by the last administration?
Have you begun to think yet about what sort of tank the Army should
have, and have you begun to consider also the level of 40,000 men set
by the former Defence Minister as desirable for the Army'?
MR. BARNARD: You have asked three questions. First of all, concerning
the D. D. L. program as you know, action was initiated by the previous
administration, that is, for a * design study to be authorised. I have
made no alteration to that program. It is still proceeding although
this does not, and I want to emnphasise this, it does not necessarily
mean that the present governme~ it or the new government, the next
Whitlam ministry, when it is sworn in, would continue with the program
without looking very closely at it. Now naturally I have not had the
opportunity to fully consider it. The second question, I think, that
you asked was in relation to the tanks. The tanks that we have in
Australia today, the Centurion tanks, are 22 years old. Half of them,
I understand, have been used in Vietnam. Naturally there would be a
need to look very closely and quickly at this question. Yes, I have
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discussed it but no firm decision has been made at this stage.
The final one was on..
DAVID BARNETT: The level of troops, is 40,000 a desirable number
for the Army?
MR. BARNARD: I have, as you know, following the announcement which
I made last week to discontinue the call-up and the discharge of
national servicemen,-and perhaps I can answer your question by
pointing out that what I said at the time apprently appears to have
been borne out by the facts that I have available to me at this time
that about at least 40 per cent of the national servicemen have
elected to remain and continue their service. The precise figures
or the details will not be available to me until the middle of next
week. It could be even higher. Indeed, the report I think I read
in the Melbourne " Age" this morning may be rather closer to the
actual figure, that is about 60 per cent. So far as the level of the
Army is concerned, once the decision. had been made in relation to
national service, the future level of the Army itself is a matter that
I have set down for discussion with the people concerned from the Army
Department early next week.
PRIME MINISTER: Gentlemen, you are asking quite a number of questions
about defence. Mr. Barnard and I spent this morning at the passing out
parade and graduation ceremony at Duntroon. You might be interested
in the remark that was made there, that it is the first time that the
whole Commonwealth4 Ministry has attended such a ceremony and it is the
first ministry which is entirely composed of returned servicemen.
TED BARKER, " WEST AUSTRALIAN": Prime Minister, could you tell us
ihat plans you have for the terrirotial sea legislation? Do you
intend to press ahead with it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
BARKER: Anything else?
PRIME MINISTER: No. The Labor Partyls policy is, as you know, to
assert the national government's jurisdiction over the territorial
sea beyond low water mark and I expect that, in opening this Parliament,
the Governor-General will use the same words as he used in opening
the last Parliament.
MUNGO McCALLUM: Sir, do you think you can get that through in time
for the Law of the Sea Conference?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
LAURIE OAKES, " MELBOURNE SUN": Prime Minislar, you told us a week
ago that the interim two-man government was set up to deal with
urgent matters. I am wondering, since we already had an acting
High Commissioner in London, what was urgent about appointing a
permanent High Commissioner? Secondly, while I am aware of Dr.
FitzGerald's qualifications for a diplomatic nost, I am not aware
of Mr. Armstrong ' s qualifications. Could you explain that to me,
what experience he has had? And, thirdly, do you anticipate any
criticism based or. allegations of jobs for the boys and if it should
occur, how would you answer it?
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PRIME MINISTER: I have been urged by the Foreign AffE: irs Department
to make this appointment promptly because there has already been an
embarrassing hiatus in the post. You will remember that the former
High Commissioner, Sir Alexander Downer, had had his term of office
extended sevvral times and finally he would not accept another
extension., and the whole staffing of the office, such as the
appointment of a Deputy High Commissioner and-so on, awaits the filling
of the main post. The post has always been one of what is called a
political nature, and this has the advantage, it has been said over
the years, that the person holding the post has the ear of the
government of Australia. There are some matters, as you know, where
the new government of Australia has found that it had to vote in a
different way to Britain in the United Nations. There are a ntumber
of issues whiich have arisen in Britain concerning the position of
Australian citizens visiting, settling or working in Britain. Clearly
it is an embarrassment to have this post, the first diplomatic post
that Australia ever set up, vacant any longer. As I said earlier,
Mr. Armstrong is a public figure of long ' service and great distinction
in several fields and his appointment will be understood by the British
Government as one showing that the Australian Labor Party regards the
post as important and that I regard the post as important.
BROWN, COURIER MAIL: Sir, could you clear up the Torres Strait
issue, please? Do you plan to confer with Mr. Bjelke-Petersen eitherhere
or in Brisbane in the near future, and do you plan to take up
his invitation to go to the Torres Strait Islands?
Could I ask a second question on a slightly different subject?
Why is the Schools Commission interim at this stage? Interim is
until when?
PRIME MINISTER: The Torres Strait Islands first I only know of
Mr. Bjelke-Petersen's invitation. from reading the newspapers.
I don't think I have received a letter from him conveying such
an invitation. I am writing a letter to him. I would not think
that a meeting between us is necessary at this stage to discuss
the question. The discussions which may take place will be made
easier if there are appropriate arrangements between officials in
advance. But I would rather wait till I have written the letter to
Mr. Bjelke-Petersen before saying anything-more on this matter. I
did say something last week about it, I am not sure that I mentioned
last week, as I did today, that the United Nations Visiting Mission
to New Guinea had raised this matter at least 18 months ago.
Furthermore, there has been the successful conclusion of an agreement
between Australia and Indonesia concerning the sea boundary between
them. One would expect that similar negotiations would now take
place with Portugal as regards Timor and then also there are to be
negotiations which will concern Papua New Guinea herself concerning
the land and sea border with Indonesia. In these circumstances it
is desirable to have a consistent border, a contemporary border
between Papua, which is still an Australian colony but which will
soon be part of an independent nation, and Australia. This is much
more amicably settled while the Australian government has jurisdiction
on each side of Torres Strait than it will be if we wait until Papua
New Guinea gets independence and the matter has to ) e determined, say,
by the International Court of Justice.
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BROWN: The plan on that is for officials to discuss it first?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I say, I iuant to write a letter before
I say any more about this. You also asked about the Schools
Commission. The reason for having an. interim committee is, as I said
in the policy speech and as I had said I think in Parliament but
ce rtainly I had said at public meetings well before the election
campaign opened, we wanted to follow the procedure that Sir Robert
Menzies had followed in regard to the Commonwealth's peace-time
commitment for universities. Just as Sir Keith Murray and some
other prominent educationists were asked to make a report on
universities and that report was adopted in the next Common-ealth
Budget and was then followed by legislation establishing the
Australian Universities Commission, so, as I said in the policy
speech and in these earlier public meetings, we would write to
educationists in this field to make a report in good time for our
next Budget and then we would set up a standing commission by statute.
I did say I would write before Christmas, and I might also add t1Xit
Mr. Beazley has spent a great deal of time with the people concerned
and the Department of Education. and Science and some of the A. U. C.
in the terms of reference and the personnel. We discussed these
first last Wednesday or Thursday.
DAVID SOLOMON: Have they all accepted?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
ALAN RAMSEY, " THE AUSTRALIAN": Prime Minister, it appears you are
going to have another national strike on your hands. The tanker
drivers are going nut. Can you tell me whether you have had discussions
with Mr. Cameron about this?
PRIM MINISTER: No.
RAMSEY: Any suggestion. that the government might intervene in this
strike, and what is your comment on suggestions that industrial
activity has been delayed, in support of pay claims, has been delayed
until after the elections so it would not hurt your party's prospects
at the elections?
PRIME MINISTER: I have no comment to make on the last. I have not
been in touch with Mr. Cameron on this. I have no doubt that he has
the matter well in hand.
STEWART HARRIS, ". LONDON TIMES": Sir, I know you don't normally give
away what goes on in-negotiations, but I think perhaps a lot of people
would like to know whethqr the matter' of-Francis James was raised with
the Chinese in Paris by Mr. Renouf.
PRIME MINISTER: No.
PETER BARRON. " SYDNEY SUN": Mr. Whitlai, on the question of the
health funds' reserves, Mr. Hayden was quoted in the press this
morning as saying these reserves could be used to provide free
health insurance for contributors to the funds or perhaps to pay the
benefits to the contributors. Can we take it from your answer
earlier this afternoon that you have dismissed that idea? Do you
believe, as Mr. Hayden is quoted as saying this morning, that those
reserve# belong to the contributors?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course they do.
I r
BARRON: And is it correct that if the funds decide not to co-operate,
the Common' 4ealth can do very little about the reserves that they have
built up?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course these funds belong to the contributors
in every moral sense. A great number of these funds have lasted
for a long time. They are benevolent associations, co-obps, in the
very best sense. These are the closed funds and I have no doubt that
those bodies will do the right thin~ g by their members. As you know,
however, the funds which have grown most rapidly in the last 20 years
since the Commonwealth decided to register the funds anc. to make them
the vehicle for any help in paying doctors' and hospital. bills, these
funds are run by very small bodies. Ths most notorious of them is run
by a council composed of doctors and laymen nominated by those doctors,
and the annual meeting is never notified and the contributors have no
right to attend it. And there are other similar demtocratic examples.
I think it is right, but Mr. Hayden really is much more au fait with
these than I have been in the last Parliament, that the reserves have
been run down a bit in the case of the medical funds, I think it was,
as a result of the Nimmo Committee's recommendations. It was said
that reserves should not be held for more than about three months.
I think the reserves were larger a year ago than they are now,
It would be possible to run down the reserves in that way. If it
were found th.-these autocracies running the l. arge open funds were
not to devote these resEerves to proper public purposes such as I have
suggested, then the government wou'ld rely on the co-operation of the
States to see that the contributors' funds were properly safeguarded
and properly directed.
Ladies and gentlement, perhaps there are a couple of things I might
have mentioned. We expect quite quickly to ratify the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition
of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass
Destruction on the Seabed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil
Thereof. Those two nuclear treaties have been signed by Australia.
We will be ratifying them quite soon. At yesterday's Executive
Council meeting we took the proper procedures to enable us to sign,
as Britain and New Zealand signed, I think four years ago, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and
the International Covenent on Civil and. Political Rights. These
have been outstanding for a long time. There will also be steps to
ratify fairly soon, before Parliament meets we hope,. three I. L. O.
conventions No, 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the
Right to Organtise; No, 98 Right to Organise and Collective
Bargaining; No. 100 Equal Pay; and No, 111 the Elimination
of all Forms of Discrimination in Employment. We are taking
legislative means to enable us to ratify the International Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. It would
be our hope to ratify all these human rights conventions by the
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which falls
on 10 December next, year, and upon which I made a statement two days
agoo Might I conclude by mentioning that at the press conference
I had on Sunday week I referred to the fact that it was not only the
anniversary of Eureka bu the first Sunday in Advent. I have been
helped by the officer of the Prime Minister's Department who covers
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the question of horours and decorations and also by a letter
from the priest who performed the marriage ceremony for my son that
on the first Sunday in Advent the epistle of the day, and you might
be interested in the reference, Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 13,
verses 11 and folluw, ( This is the Jerusalem Bible, translation)
read: " The time has come. Our salvation is near. Besides you
know the time has come. You must wake up now. Our
salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted.
The night is almost over. It will be daylight soon."