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PRIME MINISTERES PRESS CONFERENCE PARIS
7 JANUARY 1975
The following is the transcript of a press
conference given by the Prime Minister, The Hon.
E. G. Whitlam, in Paris at 1800 hours on 7 January 1975:
Begins: Are there any questions ladies and gentlemen?
uestion: Mr Prime Minister, would it be possible to ask if
in principle a tripartite uranium deal with Japan and France
has been decided upon? U. AANtM-t
Prime Minister: As you are aware Japan and Australia are
conducting a feasibility study into the enrichment of
Australian uranium deposits in Australia. Neither of us has
the technology required. You have also been informed, a couple
of days ago, that there will be British officials visiting
Australia in a couple of months time in this connection. They
may be accompanied by West German and Dutch officials because
Britain, The Netherlands and West Germany share one particular
form of uranium enrichment. Any discussion with French officials
would take place after that.
Question: May I ask a supplementary question my Prime RENcA
Minister, the French Consul in Australia is a nuclear physicist * AL.
and has been carrying on discussions with the Australian Atomic
Energy Commission for some two years. Is this irrelevant?
Prime Minister: I didn't know this..
Question: Could you tell us the main points of your talk
with President Giscard d'Estaing?
Prime Minister: The President's and my conversations were
purely tete-a-tete and I therefore would rather not list subjects
we discussed. Also, you will notice I answered the
' question outside any context of discussions I had with
itue Prebident in particular. I think it ought to be sufficient
for me to say that in the tete-a-tete with Prime Minister Chirac
yesterday and President Giscard d'Estaing today a wide range of
matters of common interest was discussed. I mustn't specify
clearly what the subjects were or were not.
Question: Could you tell us Why you made a public apology
to the skipper of the Illawarra? sm
Prime Minister: An explanation by the Captain was brought to VPU
my notice.
Question: Do you intend to ask Mr Chirac to come to
Australia.
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Ji 41NCN~ Prime Minister: I'm having dinner with him tonight and I
did have this in mind.
Question: . Mr Prime Minister has any progress been. made
during your visit to establishing a cultural or scientific
agreement between France and Australia?
Prime Minister: This was raised in the talks between the two
sides yesterday afternoon and I'm confident that the preparation
of both cultural and scientific agreements will proceed
quite rapidly. We would be very happy indeed to have such
agreements with France because France's cultural pre-eminence
has been known for centuries and her scientific achievements
for some decades.
Question: Does Australia maintain a continuing objection
to French nuclear testing even if its not in the atmosphiere.
Would you state precisely what that objection is and will that
be a factor in any uranium deals of whatever sort between
Australia and France?
Prime Minister: Australia would rather there were no nuclear
testing at all. Nevertheless nuclear testing does proceed
underground and has for some years.
Question: Will it affect Australia ? 7
Prime Minister: I have nothing to add to the answer I gave to
your colleague from the Australian Financial Review.
Question: Would Australia sell uranium to any country if it
were using that uranium to make nuclear weapons?
Prime Minister: I've got nothing more to say on this than I've
already said. You know quite well what the Australian Government's
attitude is to sales of uranium in one form or another.
Question: Could you elaborate on this for the French... .0
Prime Minister: Well what I've said previously is that all the
sales we've made up till now have been within the terms of the
IAEA safeguards. 4
Question: Since France has not signed the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty and does not accept the IAEA safeguards
does that rule out the possibility of Australia selling
uranium to it?
Prime Minister: No further comment.
Question: Could you tell us why you won't comment o~ n
that rather crucial and controversial aspect?
Prime Minister: It appears quite clearly from the first quaestion
I was asked today and the answer I gave to it.
Question: Could you please state again why you won't
answer this question?
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Prime Minister: I said that any discussions on this matter
would take place " any", " ol" take plage after those
that have already been arranged. . Aol-
Question: Are you considering reconstructing the Atomicwto
Energy Commission in Australia along American lines by aplit-( SM11100M
ting it so as to diversify the defence aspects and the economic
energy aspects?
Prime Minister: No consideration has been given to this so far
and I won't speculate as to what may be done.
Question: Have you no worries about the powers given to
the Atomic Energy Commission under the present Act?
Prime Minister: No consideration has been given to altering those
powers. Question: The question about the tripartite cooperation
between France and between Australia and Japan in fact has been
discussed before the Labor Government camne into power.
Prime Minister: Not I think with Japan had it?
Question: Yes I believe it had.
Prime Minister: Oh well I didn't know that.
Question: ( unclear0 why are you so secretive about these
discussions?) Prime Minister: We have made arrangements for some discussions
and any further discussions would take place after the discussions
which have already been arranged. Those are the only discussions
which have been arranged0
Question: Did you explai.. your views on the future of the
South Pacific region with the e'renich leaders? What did you say
and what were their comments?
Prime Minister: This wasn't discussed yesterday or today. It
was recently discussed about a month ago when Mr Froment Meurice
was in Canberra0
Question: Could we know a bit more about what you said to
him? Prime Minister: I'd rather you aske4( ne a specific question as to
attitude on any particular aspect. There again I don't believe
it appropriate for me to detail discussions which have been
tete-a-tete.
Question: What is the future of Franco/ Australian
relations? Prime Minister: I believe there will be a considerable increase
in relations between France and Australia. M. Segard, the
Secretary who deals with Overseas Trade is soon to visit
Australia and -he is interested, I believe, in the whole range
of matters which can come within trade between the two countries0
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4. cAoumwnIC Question: Do you envisage any cultural exchanges
between the two countries?
Prime Minister: I certainly hope so. One of your
colleagues asked a question about Cultural and Scientific
Agreements between France and Australia. We are anxious
to have such Agreements. My Government has made cultural
agreements with several countries and scientific agreements
with some countries in the two years that we have
been in office and we were very happy indeed at the : prospect
of such agreements with France.
Question: In your discussions with M. Chirac did you
discuss the development of the situation in Southern
Africa and the difference in Australia's and France's
approach to South Africa?
Prime Minister: This wasn't raised.
Question: Could you tell us what is exactly the
~ 4N& OJ~ oah') Australian stand on non-prolif eration and what do youL thin]
of the French stand France not joining the Treaty butsa
ing it would comply with the clauses of the Treaty.
Prime Minister: There is a prospective conference to review
the Treaty and I believe it is in that context that these
matters may be discussed and promoted. W
Question: Did you re eor did you ask during your
discussions with the Frenc IA ister the firm guarantee that
French atmospheric nuclear testing in Pacific has now ended?
Prime Minister: No
Questions: Can I ask you why?
Prime Minister: I rely on public statements by the President
and his Ministers.
Nfcmo of Question: Did you discuss the problem of Australia buying
Lj oot some aircraft from France?
Prime Minister: Yes. There is active consideration being n
to the purchase of further aircraft for Australia's dcmest*
airlines and there is competition in particular between the
Tristar and the Airbus and it is a very difficult decision for
us to make. The domestic airlines which are not as confident
in Australia, any more than domestic airlines seem to be in
any other country, that there will be such an increase in
business as there was in recent years, are not really urging
the acquisition of these aircraft as much now as they ' were
several months ago. Therefore the whole question is not as
urgent at the moment as it was say in the middle of 1974 but
it's very difficult to make up our minds between these two
exce' Lent aircraft. I'm not a technical man so it might be
invidious for me to compare the qualities which appeal to us
in these matters.
Question: Can you explain to us the Australian position
on the French proposals for tripartite Energy Conference.
Ar Prime Minister: We are attracted to the French proposals F'C(. Y
that there be consultations rather than confrontation cowl( a4
in these matters and we were very interested indeed to
hear from the Prime Minister and his colleagues the proposals
for the preliminary conference and their views as
to how soon there could be a conference itself Australia
has however to await the agenda of the conference before
it would give further commitments to attending it, but the
general idea of having consultations is attractive to us
and I believe it has been a most valuable initiative by
the French Government.
Question: On the question of the Energy Conference
would it be true to say that you are more concerned with
transportation problems than supply problems?
Prime Minister: It would be true to say that transportation
is a bigger worry for Australia than supply but it would be
quite wrong to say that supply wasn't also a worry but we
do not depend on other countries as much for supply as we
do for transportation.
Question: Do I gather that Australia has been or may
0 be invited to the Energy Conference ( unclear)
Prime Minister: That is to the major conference?
* Question: Yes
Prime Minister: I would think it's quite likely that we will
be invited to the major conference. We are not of course
invited to the preliminary one.
Question: Mr Prime Minister, were the declarations of
Dr Kissinger about possible military intervention in the
Middle East discussed during your talks in Paris and if
possible what is your point of view?
Prime Minister: I don't want to~ comment on this. Dr Kissinger
was asked a hypothetical question and it seemed to me he was
at pains to give a very guarded answer to that question. Now
I don't believe that it helps if I elaborate on this matter or
if I speculate on it.
Question: Mr Prime Minister in your discussions with
C-P0001A Mr Sauvagnargues, the Foreign Minister, did the question of
Cambodia come out particularly French ( unclear)
Prime Minister: There was no specific discussion with
Mr Sauvagnargues on this matter. There was obviously an
interest expressed by us in the contributions which France
can make in those territories for which over 100 years she has
had a particular interest. French contributions in that part
of the world could clearly be of great value and therefore of
great interest to us who live near it and who have had unfortunate
involvements in it.
At~ IrD O Question: ( Unclear concerning Australian aid for Africa).
AfovecA Prime Minister: Australia as a relatively developed country of
course has a very great concern for the developing countries.
This was particularly true because of all the developed countries
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CLVZ9 Australia lives closest to developing countries. North,
East and West of Australia there are tens, in fact
hundreds of millions of citizens of developing countries.
Australia for two generations has had the responsibility
for one such country which this year will become independent
and which last year became self-governing, Papua New Guinea.
So quite naturally Australia is interested and has been
involved in this question. My government recently established
an Australian Development Assistance Agency to specialise
in these matters. We accept the general United Nations objective
of having 0.7 per cent of the national product devoted
to international assistance and we have already reached
over 0.6 per cent of that figure. we would in general give
more assistance to countries in our neighbourhood, South
East Asia and the neighbouring countries in the Indian Ocean
and in the South Pacific than to the African countries.
This is not because we are unaware of the problems of the
African countries or unsympathetic towards them. They do have
Far acnocnet inanudi ngB riatsasionc iaatnido ni, n tfhaecyt sottihlelr Ecuormompaenadn thceo unitnrtieerse, s t buCW
the sheer history and proximity means that Australia is more
involved with the countries of South East Asia and the Indian
and South Pacific Oceans. My government also stresses that
assistance can be given to developing countries not ontly by
aid but by trade. We probably have devoted our aid more thaW
most countries, or perhaps any countries, to outright grants.
In general we do not require the repayment of advances, we
make or any interest payments on those advances. We have had
a fairly elaborate system of trade assistance to the
developing countries.
Question: Are you aware of reports that the American
Seventh Fleet is off the coast of Viet-Nam in a show of
strength? If so what is your reaction to this buildup?
Prime Minister: I wasn't aware.
Question: I understand that in your speech yesterday
at the dinner party with M. Chirac you said that Australia
did have some hesitation in the past towards a united JZur
but these reservations have now gone. I wonder if you couW
tell us why the attitude of Australia has changed and in what
way a united Europe is beneficial to Australia's interests?
Prime Minister: The big reason for the change of attitude has
been that there has been a change of government in Australia.
I'm sure that in France in particular you now recognise the
Second of December as not only the Anniversary Of Austerlitz
or the coup d'etat but also of political liberation of
Australia, There have been some other incidental reasons
and that is that the pattern of trade has changed in the twelve
and a half years perhaps a bit longer since a British
Government, that cf Mr McMillan, formally applied to join the
European Economic Community.
Question: ( Unclear -concerning whether prospects for
resuming beef sales to Europe improved in Paris)
Prime Minister: Yes, but not for some months.
QuesioSni: rW, h ehno w many months?
Prime Minister: No, I wouldn't specify, I wouldn't
make any particular forecasts, because we've received
different estimates in different member countries of
the community with whom we have discussed this matter.
Question: Due to the present economic situation
* in Australia, do you consider you will have a raise in
tariffs for trade in the near future?
Prime Minister: Well, there may be but if there were
increases in tariffs in Australia I would expect they would
be within the context of the international arrangements
that Australia has made and the legislation that the
Australian Parliament has passed. In other words it would
be, if the increases in tariffs were due to temporary
factors then the increases also would be temporary.
Tariffs in Australia, in general, are lower now than they
have been for probably over forty years, but there has been
a very great increase in imports into Australia and some
of the imports have adversely affected some Australian
industries, so therefore we are persuading the importers
to reduce the amount of imports closer to what they were
before my Government took action which, by tariffs and by
currency revaluations, to promote imports. Perhaps it
would be useful for me to say in this context that Australia
is a very considerable trading country. It's the twelth
largest trading country in the world. There are very few
countries where there is a larger percentage of the
national product involved in international trade than is
the case in Australia. Therefore the prosperity of
Australians depends very greatly on international trade
and it is for this reason that it is very distressing and
disheartening for Australians that some of the most
affluent countries in the world, some of the biggest trading
countries in the world, shoi.-. 1 have suddenly, without any
pretence of justification, or warning, have cut down on
some of the exports which Australia can make in very
economic and attractive terms, such as beef exports. The
Common Market, just cancelled Australia's beef exports.
Japan just cancelled Australia's beef exports. The United
States is now pressing Australia to reduce beef exports.
Now in many of these cases the countries had previously
urged us to increase beef exports. There is no question
that our beef exports are of good and dependable quality,
and very competitive price. It is very disheartening,
discouraging that affluent trading countries such as those
I've mentioned, the only countries in the world, among the
few countries in the world which eat meat, among the still
smaller number of countries in the world which can afford
from time to time to import meat, should take so retrograde
and selfish a step. It is disappointing, it is reprehensible,
I would say, that for domestic political reasons great trading
countries, affluent countries should set such a bad
example. Australia tries, even at the cost of some hardship
to herself and her people, to have good trading relations.
We would expect other countries, bigger ones in
Question:
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most cases, to be no less principled and progressive
in matters of trade.
Question: Having noted the reaction of the Shah of
Iran to the joint statement emerging from the meeting
between Giscard d'Estaing with President Ford, particularly
on the question of revaluation of gold reserves, do you
sympathise with the Shah of Iran on this question and what
is Australia's attitude?
Prime Minister: I don't want to make any comment at this
stage on this. I'm very interested in what the Shah says
on this and many other matters. As it mightn't bE! generally
understood here, the Shah recently visited Australia last
September, and it was interesting to us that this visit should
have been regarded as appropriate by him before he! made it,
and we have every reason to believe regarded as well worth
while after he'd made it.
Question: Prime Minister, you've now been on the oad
for three weeks and it's been a fairly strenuous, as th
of us who've been travelling with you know. W
Prime Minister: You're bearing up quite well.
Question: How are you feeling, Sir?
Prime Minister: Likewise.