1W EMBARGO 7.30 P
NATIONAL BROADCAST A
BY THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON. E. G. WHITLAM, M. P.,
13 MAY 1975
I would like to report to you on the valuable and wide-ranging
discussions I have been having overseas during the Parliamentary
recess. With the Special Minister of State and senior officials
of the Australian Government, I have been attending the Meeting
of Commnonwealth Heads of Government in Kingston, Jamaica. On
the way to Jamaica we visited Peru the first visit by an
Australian Prime Minister to a South American country. And on
the way home I had talks in Washington with President Ford,
Vice-President Rockefeller, Secretary of State Kissinger and
senior members of the United States Congress. So in the space
of a fortnight there have been opportunities for Australia to
exchange views with leaders from every part of the world to
establish new friendships and build on old ones.
0There h as'never been a time when events in the world have
moved so swiftly or suddenly as they have during the past two
years. The extraordinary changes in our own region the recent
decisive events in Indo-China were of course very much in our
minds; but that's only a part of the story, part of the pattern
of change and upheaval in recent years. Since the Commonwealth
Heads of Government met in Ottowa in 1973 there have been farreaching
developments in Africa, in Cyprus, in the Middle East;
the western nations have grappled with inflation and unemployment;
the gap between the developing and the developed nations has
grown wider. So this is very much a time when national leaders
must get together to discuss their problems in an atmosphere
of frankness and intimacy.
I know there is a tendency in some quarters to disparage the
Commonwealth as a debating society, or as the vestige of a
bygone empire. I don't share those views for a moment. Here
we have an organisation that brings together heads of Government-
Presidents and Prime Ministers or their representatives from
34 nations representing a quarter of the world's people, nations
of every kind, rich and poor, consumers and producers, agricultural
and industrial, developed and developing, and from every part of
the world.
There is an obvious value in this diversity, but there is an
equal value in the shared traditions of the Commonwealth partners.
The very fact that all our discussions are in English gives an
ease and familiarity to our meetings that cannot be valued too
highly. It's not so long ago that many member nations were a
little cynical and indifferent about the Commonwealth and
some States were reluctant to join it. There is no sign of
such attitudes today. At the next meeting, for example, Papua
New Guinea will take her seat as an independent nation; and in
the years ahead other newly independent countries of the South
Pacific will be admitted to Commonwealth membership. So year
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by year the Commonwealth gains in numbers, gains in strength,
and I believe, gains in wisdom, experience, and prestige.
The -truly remarkable thing about our discussions in Jamaica
was the readiness of every nation to get down to essential
issues and the striking measure of agreement we reached. You
will remember that Commonwealth conferences in the past were
often occasions for squabbling and grandstanding. There were
endless confrontations between the nations of the old white
Commonwealth and the newly independent states of Asia and
Africa. There was nothing of that sort in Jamaica. On the
particular issues of racism and de-colonisation, for example,
there was complete agreement. Every nation confirmed its
total support for the African people of Southern Rhodesia-
Zimbabwe in their struggle for independence on the basis
of majority rule. Every nation reaffirmed the need for the
Indian Ocean to remain an area of peace and stability and
expressed concern about military bases in the region and
when we remember that something like half the member nations
0 of the Commonwealth are island, coastal or hinterland states
of the Indian Ocean that is not perhaps surprising. Again,
every nation supported the-need for international assistance
in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Indo-China. Every
nation expressed concern at the continued testing and proliferation
of nuclear weapons and reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive
ban on all nuclear weapons tests.
Every nation supported the withdrawal of foreign armed forces.
from Cyprus. I was particularly gratified, on the Cyprus
0 question, that Australia was accepted as a member of a committee
of eight Commonwealth nations which will seek ways of restoring
the independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus on the
basis of United Nations resolutions.
On all these issues I was able to put Australia's views, and
in every case the outcome was deeply satisfying not just
because the resolutions of the conference happen to-coincide
with my own Government's foreign policies, but because they
represent the views of so many different states, and were
reached without rancour, without dissension, in an atmosphere
of extraordinary goodwill.
There was one problem in Jamaica that stood out above all othersthe
need to find a new and equitable international economic
order. All of us recognised that many, if not most, of the
world's problems really come down to a single basic issuehow
best to distribute the world's resources, how best to
reduce the disparities between the rich and poor nations,
between the haves and the have-nots in the world.
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In tackling that question the most difficult challenge
facing mankind I believe we were tackling the root cause
-of tension and conflict in the world. of course it would be
rash to pretend that we found the answers, but we did find
a remarkable readiness on every side among the rich industrial
nations as well as the poorer ones to seek the answers.
Everyone agreed on the range and complexity of the issues
involved. Everyone agreed that trade, not aid, is the real
answer to the needs of the developing countries. We agreed
to set up a group of experts who will draw up, for consideration
by Commonwealth Governments, a comprehensive and inter-related
program of practical measures to help close the gap between the
rich and poor countries.
In Washington I was able to give some account of our discussions
to President Ford, as well as hear his own views on current
problems, both-in America and the world at large. In the
wake of the recent events in Indo-China, the President assured
me of America's firm and continuing commitment to her allies
in our region and in other parts of the world. Yet welcome
as these assurances were, they are not the sole basis for my
confidence in Australia's--future, in Australia's security, or
in Australia's place in the world. Everywhere I went in my
talks in Peru, where we have forged a new and valuable link
with a Pacific nation, in my talks in Jamaica with Commonwealth
leaders, in my talks'in Washington I found both great goodwill
for Australia and a calm, steady belief in the strength of our
common institutions, in our friendships and our alliances, in
the ability of nations to overcome their difficulties with
rational programs and united efforts. Nowhere in my talks with
world leaders did I find any disposition to panic, to lose faith,
to lose heart, to lose nerve. The United States, in particular,
having come through her great domestic and international agonies,
will be better placed now to build on her true strengths and
profit by past experience. I said as much in Washington; and
I pledged that Australia would be a ready and willing partner
of the United States in her efforts to build a more rational
world order and tackle the great problems of the developing world.
We still have to beat some problems at home, but they are no
different in kind from those of other comparable countries.
Where we in Australia are truly fortunate is in our strengths
the undoub~ ed strength of our friendships, the rare abundance
of our resources, the tested spirit and steadiness of our people,
the goodwill we enjoy in every part of the world.