THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 8 MAY, 1973
PRIME MINISTER: I only have one Cabinet decision to give
you. The other decisions were given to you last Sunday because
Cabinet sat last Sunday, since the usual meeting time, Tuesday
morning, has been occupied by a meeting of the House of
Representatives. The decision that I now give you was made
last Sunday but there had to be consultations with other
countries. It concerns controls over strategic exports.
The Government has taken a decision on a report by departments
on the question of strategic export controls over commercial
trade. It's been decided that Australia will no longer
maintain on commercial trade with the Soviet Union, Eastern
Europe, China, North Korea, North Vietnam and Cuba restraints
different from the restraints on commercial trade maintained
on any other country. The controls which have been maintained
by Australia have not proved in recent years to have much
relevance to our production and it has therefore been decided
to treat trade with all countries on a similar basis. It's
well known that controls by other western countries have been
progressively reduced and the United States and European
countries are selling highly sophisticated material to the
communist countries. We have notified a number of our closest
friends of this decision and have assured them that Australia
will not be a means towards circumventing any controls which
they may maintain over their own production. This decision
has no bearing on the controls which are maintained by Australia
over the export of arms and war-like stores and atomic energy
material. The embargo on trade with North Vietnam is being
removed and we consider this is appropriate in view of the
establishment of relations with that country.
I might also inform you that Professor Gruen, Professor
of Economics at the Australian National University is taking up
an appointment as consultant to the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet. The appointment will be on a part-time
basis. Professor Gruen will continue in his position at the
University but will be available for advice and consultation
to the Department and to the Prime Minister on economic
assignments. Professor Gruen has occupied his present position
at the Australian National University since December 1972.
He was formerly Professor of Agricultural Economics at Monash.
Are there any questions?
Q: Does Professor Gruen's work supplement that of Dr Coombs,
Sir, or replace it
PRIME MINISTER: No, supplements it.
Q: Sir, on the announcement you've made about trade with
various countries, can you tell us if this will affect our
trading relations with Rhodesia, South Africa. Are we saying
that trade with any country will now be O. K.?
PRIME MINISTER: There is an exception in the case of Rhodesia
because the United Nations has passed resolutions the Security
Council has passed resolutions on that subject. I should
of course have added that those controls will be strictly
applied. Q: What are the strategic exports that will be now allowed
to be exported to these countries?
PRIME MINISTER: The trade with those countries will be the
same as with all other countries. The restrictions on trade
with these countries will be the same as the restrictions on
trade with other countries, namely war-like stores and atomic
energy material.
Q: Prime Minister, following the national wage case decision
today, Mr Cameron issued a statement in which he said there was
no justification in this decision for manufacturers to put up
their prices. In the light of the community's great concern
about prices and inflation generally and your meeting with the
Premiers this week on this subject, are you prepared to ask as
Prime Minister that manufacturers not immediately put up their
prices, and that perhaps unions might consider the increase
they got today as perhaps something that they can go along with
and stay their hand for a little while?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to say anything more on this
subject. I'm of course preparing quite busily today and tomorrow
what I'll be saying at the Premiers' Conference on Thursday.
And Mr Cameron I saw his statement I've got nothing to add
to it.
Q: Did you approve that statement Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
Q: Prime Minister, since your Government has expressed the
intention of closely co-ordinating inter-departmental policies
on protection, could you tell us what action has been taken
to co-ordinate the protectionist policies at this stage?
PRIME MINISTER: A new Protection Policy division has been set
up in my Department. IT was approved by the Executive Council
the other day. Vacancies will be advertised in the Gazette this
Thursday and some senior positions in the daily press. There is
an inter-departmental committee on assistance to industries
which will be the focus of departmental and inter-departmental
co-operation in work on tariffs and other selective forms of
assistance to industries. This committee will be chaired by my
Department and also it will have as members the Treasury and the
Industry Department or Departments relevant to the particular
matters it's considering. other Departments such as Labour or
Defence will be co-opted as appropriate.
Q: You said last week that this week's Cabinet would
be discussing details of the Trade Practices legislation
PRIME MINISTER: No, I was too optimistic. It didn't.
Q: Last week, Prime Minister, you said that you weren't
sure about when you would table the report by three Australian
scientists about the French tests. Are you any more sure now?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
Q: When will you be?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm no more sure.
Q: When will you be any more sure than you are now?
PRIME MINISTER: I tabled four reports I think it was last
Wednesday on the consequences of atomic tests. That was last
Wednesday. Q: but now the three Australian scientists?
PRIME MINISTER: I made a reference to their report in it.
Q: You didn't table it?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
Q: will you?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm thinking about it.
Q: Prime Minister, can you give us any progress report on the
talks between the French scientists and the Australian scientists?
PRIME MINISTER: They've proceeded throughout today. They may
go into tomorrow I'm told.
Q: Will we be given any statement on what's been discussed?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't think so.
Q: Are they making any progress, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know.
Q: Prime Minister, supplementary to that other question about
the report by the three Australian scientists, you did in answer
to my question last week say that you couldn't table it because
of the case of ours being prepared in the International Court of
Justice, and yet you did table the others. May I ask then why
you can't table the one by the Australian scientists?
PRIME MINISTER: I took all the advice on this matter about the
four that I did table last Wednesday. You must appreciate I've
got to be quite careful as to what is released pending these
proceedings which may take place before the International Court
of Justice.
Q: Sir, why won't we be told what's happening between the
scientists? PRIME MINISTER: There again, I will take advice on this in
the light of any proceedings which may ensue.
Q: Prime Minister, on the question of French nuclear tests,
can you tell us one way or the other, do you support industrial
action by Australian trade unions against the French Government
and their carrying on with the nuclear tests?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't encourage it. If it takes place
there's no more we can do about it than our predecessors.
Q: Do you then endorse it though Sir, when you say you don't
encourage it?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't encourage it.
0: Prime Minister, in the light of the appointment of Mr Gruen
as mentioned today in the establishment of the new Protection
Policy division, do you anticipate that your Department
PRIME MINISTER: He's not necessarily associated with the new
Protection Policy division
Q: No, I appreciate that, but they are both appointments
in the economic policy area...
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
Q: Do you anticipate your Department taking on the sort of
major economic policy role that Mr Chifley anticipated in the
Prime Minister's Department some 25-odd years ago when he lost
an election?
PRIME MINISTER: The Prime Minister's Department is the appropriate
Department to co-ordinate matters, and of course, there are quite
a number of matters which have to be co-ordinated in the protection
field. Up till now there has been no adequate investigation of
claims for protection in primary industry. There has been very
little co-ordination, if any, in the protection given at the
instance of the Department of Secondary Industry as it now is,
or the Department of Customs and Excise by-law exemption,
and accordingly, if there is to be proper co-ordination in the
two Departments which have had responsibilities in protection
up till now and also in respect to Primary Industry naturally
the Prime Minister's Department should provide that co-ordination.
Q: Do you anticipate the Prime Ministers Department actually
initiating the policy proposals?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't anticipate that. The title of the
Department is the Department of the Prime! Minister and Cabinet,
and accordingly it is the natural Department to co-ordinate
matters between other Departments, and, as you know, I am now
technically responsible for the Protection Commission which
Sir John Crawford is investigating.
Q: Mr Whitlam, are you opposed to Ansett having 24 per cent
of the national airline in Papua New Guinea?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm only concerned in this what
Ansett Transport Industries does in Papua New Guinea insofar
as that affects other Australian airlines. What the Government
of Papua New Guinea does is its affair except insofar as
Australian companies or instrumentalities are concerned.
So, in isolation I don't object to Ansett Transport Industries
having 24 per cent. I would think it wrong however for Anlsett
Transport Industries to have a predominant role over the roles
of other Australian airlines.
Q: Sir, do you believe that an Australian Government should
be able to dictate to the Government of Papua New Guinea on the
composition of its airline?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't believe that, and I don't believe
the reverse either.
Q: As the Prime Minister, you are aware no doubt of today's
report by the Committee on Commonwealth superannuation.
When will the Government act upon this?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, this is being given to Cabinet for
information but we haven't considered it yet. You will
appreciate that we are tabling reports practically as soon as
we get them. Now, that is before we have decided an attitude
about them. We are quite happy to get people's views on those
reports. Other people can see them almost as quickly as we do.
Q: Sir, is there anything to announce about your tour to
India or your tour to Africa? Progress at all?
PRIME MINISTER: We're leaving on Sunday the 3rd. It will
take us all day to get there and we ' re leaving on the return
trip from New Delhi just before midnight on Wednesday the 6th,
so we'll be in India for three complete days.
Q: Prime Minister, the Bishop of Sandhurst has advised his
flock not to vote for the Labor Party at the Victorian
elections on the abortion issue. Do you think it's appropriate
for the Bishop of Sandhurst to give this advice, and secondly,
will you be voting on the Abortion Bill on Thursday or will
you have to avoid that ordeal because of the Premiers'
Conference? PRIME MINISTER: I expect, if it's at all possible, to be
voting on the Bill, and I expect that the other Ministers at
the Premiers' Conference will be voting also and in the same
way. I have no comment to make on this Stewart except that
the Bourbons would have been prnud of him.
Q: As Bishop Stewart has advised his flock to vote against
the Labor Party but not against the Bill in the Victorian
State elections, would you consider providing subsidies for
those people who want to indulge in politics outside the Church
in the same way as subsidies are provided for those inside
the Church. I'm thinking of the religious subsidy of rate-free
land etc.?
PRIME MINISTER: The Commonwealth gives no subsidies to any
Church in respect of rate-free land or any other respects.
Q: It does in the A. C. T. perhaps
PRIME MINISTER: Does it I don't think Bishop Stewart
would get a see in the A. C. T.
Q: Today the Government declared the Conciliation and
Arbitration Bill urgent. Do you regard it as being so urgent
and important as to seek a double dissolution if the Opposition
twice rejects it in the Senate?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. This would be a Bill of substance.
Obviously if the Senate were to reject this Bill, then that
is one of the Bills whose rejection we would seriously consider
in the context of a double dissolution.
Q: Mr Wh~ itlam, do you agree that airport development funds
should be withheld from Papua New Guinea if Ansett has
24 per cent of the national airline?
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Jones and Mr Morrison are going up to
Port Moresby on Friday of next week to discuss this matter
with Mr Somare. I've nothing further to say on it.
Q: Supplementary to the question on protection policy,
the Department of Secondary Industry is encouraging the
production of industry panels
PRIME MINISTER: Wait till Sir John Crawford has made his
report. Q: You wouldn't favour this ( inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER: No. That's why I've sought advice from
Sir John Crawford on this and other matters. I don't propose
to pre-empt the advice.
Q: Prime Minister, may I seek clarification of an answer
you gave me earlier? I asked you if you believed that
Australia should dictate terms to Papua New Guinea on the
composition of its airline...
PRIME MINISTER: I've got bothing more to say on that.
As I've said...
Q: You don't want to even explain what you said earlier Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I would have thought it was quite clear.
It was to everyone else.
Q: You've said that controls will remain on arms sales
from Australia. What guidelines has the new Government laid
down on arms sales and what restrictions, and could you give
us examples, say, when you sell arms to Brazil, the Philippines,
Taiwan, India, Pakistan...
PRIME MINISTER: The guidelines and the regulations themselves
are unchanged from since last year when we took over.
Q: Sir, can you tell us what sorts of things we couldn't
export to the countries you mentioned before which we now
will be able to export? Can you name some of the goods?
PRIME MINISTER: You will remember all the controversy there
was over the steel and tallow in previous years. Permits were
always given for them to be exported but there had to be the
procedure of seeking the permits, so all that the procedure
involved was more paper work. The net result was the same.
Q: Mr Whitlam, on this occasion, you said earlier that you
would be technically the minister in charge of tariffs.
Does that mean that some other Minister or Ministers will be
in practical terms the Minister, or do you take on the burden
of running the whole of the tariff policy on your shoulders?
PRIME MINISTER: I've told you the Inter-departmental Committee
will take the burden off my shoulders. My Department will chair
that Committee. This will be a collective responsibility.
Any instrumentality has to be responsible to some specific
minister. The Tariff Board at present is the Protection
Commission I guess will be responsible to the Prime Minister
because the Prime Minister and his Department co-ordinate the
activities where several ministers or several departments are
concerned. Q: Sir, have you reached the stage now where you have
divested yourself of the burden of Foreign Affairs?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I find it most exhilarating.
Q: Prime Minister, have you had any response from the
Yugoslav Government to your protest note? Secondly, have you
had any response from the Chinese Government on your protest
note on the nuclear testing?
PRIME MINISTER: The protest to China was oral, so there'd
be no written response. The protest to Yugoslavia was oral
also but it was in terms which were set out by me in writing
and there have been further discussions between our Ambassador
in Belgrade and the Yugoslav Foreign Office on this general
question of dual nationality. Last week it was Wednesday
I think I gave the House the names of some twelve persons
about whom we had sought information from the Yugoslav
authorities ten names I think there were. Eight, as far
as I know information has not yet been given. The other twoit
came out I mentioned one case and there was another case
which came out in the paper the following day. I think there
are still eight cases about which information is still being
sought. I think you were told weren't you after the Cabinet
meeting on Sunday that when the Joint Select Committee on
Foreign Affairs and Defence is established ( I guess it will be
today) I shall be asking it to inquire into the subject of
dual nationality.
Q: Prime Minister, do you expect to have any trouble in
getting the Territorial Sea Bill through the Senate and will
your determination to push ahead with it be affected by
opposition from Labor Premiers, and do you class that legislation
in the same category as the industrial legislation in the context
of a double dissolution?
PRIME MINISTER: I would expect that the Senate would pass
the legislation. After all it is the same legislation as the
previous government promised. It was in the Governor-General's
speech opening the last Parliament. It was in the Governor-
General's speech opening this Parliament. I would imagine
therefore that all except half a dozen senators would, one
way or another, have been committed to that legislation.
Accordingly the question of a double dissolution wouldn't
arise. Q: Sir, a two-part question: first of all, some weeks ago
I asked you about whether the Premiers' Conference would be open
to the Press, and you were going to check up on what the
likely thing was going to be. Can you say now whether it's
going to be open or whether you'll be recommending that it will be
open; and secondly, why is the Press conference going to be cut
off after 25 minutes?
PRIME MINISTER: On the first, it's the Premiers' Conference
itself decides whether it's to be open to the Press. I'm quite
happy for it to be open to the Press. The second one, anybody
who's rising is doing so for the second time, including yourself.
Q: There has been quite a bit of discussion in the last week
or so about the Convention which allegedly governs access to
and use of Cabinet documents and ministerial correspondence
and that sort of thing. Could you explain to us your
interpretation of that Convention, as it operates in Australia
and perhaps explain why the Whitehall Convention doesn't
operate here why it's not good enough for Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: The Whitehall Convention applies to Cabinet
documents and it has been observed in Australia. There isn't
a Whitehall Convention concerning correspondence. The
correspondence which has been published bears upon matters
which are of very great public moment. It's obviously of
concern to the public to realise as this correspondence has
revealed that our predecessors were at loggerheads over these
matters which we are tackling unitedly. There can be no doubt
that the correspondence which has been revealed doesn't tally
with what some other Liberal Ministers have now been saying.
Q: Are you prepared to reveal correspondence between your
Ministers? PRIME MINISTER: The question hasn't arisen.
Q: Could I just have your reaction to the Croatian newspaper
report published in America saying that the executions of
three Australians took place on April 10, the day after
Senator Murphy was informed?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a completely unsubstantiated report.
Nobody in fact will take the responsibility of verifying this
journal which is a notoriously polemical journal on the right
in America. I think it is even, I'm told, being investigated
by the F. B. I.