SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON. E. G. WHITLAM,
AT THE-OPENING OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA HOUSE,
SYDNEY,-FRIDAY 26 JULY 1974
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DAY IN THE HISTORY OF
BOTH OUR COUNTRIES IMPORTANT IN SUBSTANCE, IMPORTANT
IN SYMBOLISM. THE BUILDING ITSELF, ITS LOCATION
IN AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST, GREATEST CITY, EXPRESSES THE
CHANGING NATURE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S RELATIONS WITH
AUSTRALIA AND THE REGION IN WHICH WE ARE NEIGHBOURS
AND PARTNERS. Now PAPUA NEW GUINEA WILL HAVE
ITS OWN OFFICES IN AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRIAL AND
COMMERCIAL HEART AS WELL AS THE COMMISSION IN THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL, PAPUA NEW GUINEA ALREADY IS
REPRESENTED IN INDONESIA AND IS SHOR~ TLY TO ESTABLISH
COMMISSIONS IN NEW ZEALAND AND FIJI.
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THESE MOVES ARE PART OF THE RAPID
ASSUMPTION OF INDEPENDENT STATUS BY A VIRTUALLY
INDEPENDENT NATION, BY THE BREAKING OF THIS SPEAR
AND BY MY ACCEPTANICE OF HALF OF IT WE SYMBOLISE THE
WAY IN WHICH THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
AND AUSTRALIA IS CHANGING SWIFTLY YET DEVELOPING
IN A SPIRIT OF MUTUAL TRUST AND CLOSE FRIENDSHIP.
IN ACCEPTING HALF OF THIS SPEAR, I AGAIN REASSERT
AND REAFFIRM AUSTRALIA'S ABSOLUTE WILLINGNESS TO
CONTINUE TO CO-OPERATE CLOSELY WITH A UNITED
PAPUA NEW GUINEA IN THE FULFILMENT OF ITS HOPES
FOR A UNIT'D, PROUD AND FREE NATION,
THE BREAKING SYMBOLISES A BREAK FROM THE
OLD DEPENDENCE; MY ACCEPTANCE OF ONE OF ITS HALVES
ON BEHALF OF AUSTRALIA FROM THE CHIEF MINISTER ON
BEHALF OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA SYMBOLISES THE CONTINUITY
OF OUR CO-OPERATION, OUR TRUST AND GOODWILL BETWEEN
THE CHIEF MINISTER AND ME, BUT MORE IMPORTANT,
MORE ENDURING, BETWEEN PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND AUSTRALIA.
TO THOSE OF US WHO HAVE CLOSELY WATCHED
THE UNFOLDING OF EVENTS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA IN THE
WHAT HAS OCCURRED, WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED,
SEEMS LITTLE SHORT OF MIRACULOUS. IT IS BARELY
THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO SINCE I FORESHADOWED
IN PORT MORESBY THE POLICY FOR INDEPENDENCE
WHICH WOULD BE ADOPTED BY A LABOR GOVERNMENT IF
WE WERE RETURNED AT THE 1972 ELECTIONS.
WE ALL REMEMBER THE EXTRAORDINARY SHOCKWAVES
WHICH THAT ANNOUNCEMENT GENERATED,-BOTH IN PAPUA
NEW GUINEA AND AUSTRALIA, YET EVENTS HAVE MADE
MY SUGGESTED TIMETABLE APPEAR IN RETROSPECT,
MODEST AND MODERATE, INDEED, WE HAVE HAD A
CLASSIC ILLUSTRATION OF THE POWER OF AN IDEA WHOSE
TIME HAD COME. THE FORCES FOR INDEPENDENCE ALREADY
EXISTED; THEY NEEDED ONLY EXPRESSION TO SPRING
INTO VIGOROUS LIFE,
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AT THAT TIME I WORKED FROM ONE BASIC
ASSUMPTION, IT WAS THIS: THAT PAPUA NEq GUINEA
WAS ALREADY PROVIDING, FROM HER OWN RESOURCES,
MORE SKILLED MEN AND WOMEN THAN AUSTRALIA WOULD
BE ABLE OR WILLING TO MAKE AVAILABLE FOR PAPUA
NEW GUINEA PURPOSES FROM HER RESOURCES,
SO IT HAS PROVED, IT IS THIS FACT WHICH PROVIDES
THE BASIS FOR PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S INDEPENDENCE,
WHAT COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN FORESEEN IN 1970 WAS THE
SPEED WITH WHICH EFFECTIVE POLITICAL PARTIES WOULD
EMERGE IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, THIS NEW FACT
HAS PROVIDED THE FIRM BASIS FOR THE AMAZINGLY
RAPID ASSUMPTION OF THE SUBSTANCE OF INDEPENDENCE,
IF NOT ALL THE FORMS, IN THE LAST THREE YEARS.
ABOVE ALL WE COULD NOT HAVE RECKONED ON
BEING SO FORTUNATE IN THE CHOICE AND STATURE OF
THE LEADERSHIP WHICH HAS EMERGED, AT A CRUCIAL TIME
IN HER HISTORY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA HAS FOUND LEADERSHIP
OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY AND INrEGRITY, A LEADERSHIP
WHICH HAS ALREADY WON RESPECT THROUGHOUT THE REGION,
So SUCCESSFUL HAS THE TRANSITION BEEN THAT
NEITHER THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA NOR OF
AUSTRALIA NEED ANY LONGER FEEL UNDULY PREOCCUPIED
WITH THE FORMALITIES OF INDEPENDENCE, IN ALL BUT
FORMALITY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA IS INDEPENDENT,
LET ME REPEAT THE WORDS OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL IN
HIS SPEECH OPENING THE PARLIAMENT:
" MY GOVERNMENT IS COMMITTED BY THE CLEAREST
PLEDGES TO CONTINUE SUBSTANTIAL AID TO A
UNITED PAPUA NEW GUINEA BEFORE AND AFTER
INDEPENDENCE, SINCE PAPUA NEW GUINEA
ACHIEVED SELF-GOVERNMENT IN DECEMBER 1973,
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OF
AUSTRALIA AND OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA HAS BEEN
BASED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF EQUALITY, MUTUAL
RESPECT AND MUTUAL CO-OPERATION, PENDING
THE FINAL DECISION OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FOR PAPUA NEW GUINEA,
THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WILL CONDUCT ITS
RELATIONS WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
AS A GOVERNMENT OF AN INDEPENDENT NATION TO
WHICH. AUSTRALIA HAS CERTAIN SPECIAL AND
INESCAPABLE OBLIGATIONS,"
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IN OTHER WORDS, THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
AND THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA WILL MAKE
ITS OWN DECISION AS TO THE ACTUAL DATE OF INDEPENDENCE
WHILE FOR ITS PARTI THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
WILL DEAL WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
AS THE GOVERNMENT OF AN ALREADY INDEPENDENT COUNTRY,
BEFORE INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER INDEPENDENCE,
ALL AUSTRALIAN AID WILL BE DIRECTED THROUGH THE
GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA, IT WILL BE DIRECTED
TOWARDS THE GOALS AND PRIORITIES SET BY THE GOVERNMENT
OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA, AUSTRALIAN AID WILL NOT
INVOLVE INTERFERENCE IN THE PREPARATION OF PAPUA
NEW GUINEA'S IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS AND ANNUAL BUDGETS,
THESE ARE AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE RESPONSIBILITY
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA,
THE PROGRESS BEING MADE BY PAPUA NEW GUINEA,
OF WHICH THIS BUILDING IS ONE OF THE EXTERNAL SIGNS,
GIVES GROUND FOR THE HIGHEST OPTIMISM, YEI WE SHOULD
NOT SEEK TO UNDERESTIMATE THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE
PATH ON WHICH WE HAVE ALL EMBARKED, THE EFFORT TO
BUILD A UNITED DEMOCRACY AT ANY TIME IS ONE OF THE
GREATEST CHALLENGES STATESMANSHIP CAN EVER FACE; AND
THESE ARE NOT ORDINARY TIMES: THEY ARE NOT EASY TIMES,
DEMOCRACY EVERYWHERE IS UNDERGOING GREAT STRESSES
AND GREAT CHALLENGES,
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EVEN THE VERY OLDEST AND GREATEST DEMOCRACIES
ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM TURMOIL AND TRAVAIL. PAPUA
NEW GUINEA IS DEVELOPING A CONSTITUTION FOR A
NEW AND INDEPENDENT NATION. IT WILL DEVELOP THAT
CONSTITUTION IN ITS OWN WAY, IN ITS OWN TIME.
IT WILL COMBINE FOREIGN PRECEDENTS WITH ITS OWN
TRADITIONS, THERE IS SOMETHING HOWEVER FAR MORE
IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY THAN THE LETTER OF A CONSTITUTION,
IT IS THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THAT CONSTITUTION IS
APPLIED BY THE ELECTED MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF OPERATING IT. IT IS NOT ONLY
WRITTEN RULES WHICH MAKE A DEMOCRACY STRONG; THE
UNWRITTEN RULES ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT.
IT IS ALL TOO EASY TO SUBVERT DEMOCRACY BY PERFECTLY
LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS IF THE WILL TO ABIDE
BY THE UNWRITTEN RULES IS ABSENT. No NATION,*
NOT EVEN AUSTRALIA ITSELF, IS EXEMPT FROM THE DANGERS
WHICH FOLLOW A BREAK( DOWN IN THE ACCEPTANCE OF THlE
UNWRITTEN RULES. THIS IS A MEASURE OF THE CHALLENGE
FACING PAPUA NEW GUINEA. WE ALL RECOGNISE THE
DIFFICULTIES, YET AGAIN IT MUST BE SAID THAT THE
REMARKABLE PROGRESS OF THE LAST THREE YEARS GIVES
THE BEST GROUNDS FOR CONFIDENCE THAT THEY WILL BE
TRIUMPHANTLY OVERCOME.
MAY THIS BUILDING BE A SYMBOL OF THE
NEW MATURITY OF OUR PARTNERSHIP AS TWO FREE DEMOCRATIC
INDEPENDENT PARTNERS.