Personal Explanation
Medibank is not available in the or that
the patient cannot have the doctor of his choice
in the hospitals of the which of course is
quite false. There is no financial disadvantage to
either of them, if they want private hospital treatment,
in having it in the A. C. T.
I suggest to patients in the A. C. T. that, if at any
time a doctor says that there is no way that they
can get free hospital treatment in the A. C. T. and
then come back to him as private patients after
hospital treatment, they should ask that doctor
what his object is. Is he saying this for medical
reasons and saying that it is in the medical
interests of the patient that he is doing this, or is
he saying it for a political reason? If there is a
political reason he can only say. ' The political
reason is to save you, my patient, the freedom of
choice'. The patient then only has to say: ' I exercise
my freedom of choice by choosing to be a
hospital patient. I choose to be treated by doctors
who co-operate with Medibank'. If the doctor
objects to that, then he is not fair dinkum in his
political objections.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Dr JENKINS ( Scullin)-Mr Speaker, I seek
leave to make a personal explanation.
Mr SPEAKER-Does the honourable member
claim to have been misrepresented?
Dr JENKINS-I do. The misrepresentation
occurred in a paragraph written by Cassandra in
the Sunday Telegraph of Sunday, 24 August. The
main points are covered by the following quotation
from that paragraph:
Hawke will stand for the blue-ribbon Melbourne industrial
suburbs seat ofScullin held by old-time Victorian Labor
stalwart-I do not object to that description-
Dr Harry Jenkins. Dr Jenkins is reported to be in bad health
and to have agreed to stand down.
Normally I would disregard such reports, but
these reports are being persistently floated about
myself and other Victorian members. The report
from which I have quoted requires denial and
causes concern in the Scullin electorate and in the
Australian Labor Party itself. To answer the misrepresentation
I point out that when nominations
were called for ALP preselection for Scullin for
the next election mine was the only nomination
received. No requests were received from the
local electorate organisation for preselection
proceedings; so I am endorsed.
At no time has Bob Hawke, any Party official,
or indeed any individual either in or out of the
Labor Party, suggested that I should forgo the
seat in favour of any other person. I have not 26 August 1975 REPRESENTATIVES 491
agreed to stand down. This must be made quite
clear. On a previous occasion when this rumour
circulated Bob Hawke took the trouble to contact
me to assure me that he had had no discussions
on this subject with any person.
Mention of bad health is made in the article.
Many honourable members in this House have
health problems. Here it would be a matter of
definition whether there is misrepresentation.
Industrially I would be classified as physically
handicapped. I suffer a painful condition affecting
the muscles which prevents me from walking
long distances and causes difficulty in climbing
stairs or carrying heavy objects. This has been so
for some 4 years. I have not talked about it. Obviously
with the honour which the House paid me
last week my colleagues consider me capable of
carrying out the arduous duties of a federal
member of Parliament and are willing to entrust
me with further duties. I hope this will give
physically handicapped persons incentive to continue
with their personal endeavours and cause
employers to accept that being physically handicapped
does not consign one to the scrap heap.
Might I add that this building has no facilities
whatever to assist physically handicapped
persons. Mr SPEAKER-It has no facilities, full stop.
PORTUGUESE TIMOR
Ministerial Statement
Mr WHITLAM ( Werriwa-Prime Minister)-
by leave-The Government welcomed the
outcome of the talks last May and June in Dili
and Macao between the Portuguese Government
and the principal parties in Portuguese Timor. In
our view, the program mapped out at Macao,
providing for steady forward movement towards
decolonisation and free elections for a constituent
assembly, went a long way towards the
objectives we support for the territory. It also follows,
however, that the Government is most concerned
by the present situation in Portuguese
Timor. What began as a show of force by the
UDT party on 10 August has deteriorated into
virtual civil war with widespread loss of life. The
UDT and the rival Fretilin party are struggling
for power in Dili and in many parts of the
interior. The Timorese police appear to have
sided with UDT, while the much more numerous
military is predominantly for Fretilin.
The polarisation between the 2 groups now
seems to be complete. Both groups are armed
with Portuguese weapons captured at the time of
the initial UDT show of force or having been
taken over to Fretilin or UDT with the defecting
492 REPRESENTATIVES 26 August 1975
troops and police. Apodeti, the party favouring
integration with Indonesia, is not a major participant
in the struggle, although there are some
reports of attacks on its members.
As a result of the evacuation of most of the
Portuguese administration and military, the
Governor now remains in Dill with only a very
small staff and with no chance of exerting control
over more than a small section of Dill The
Governor thus retains no more than the formal
trappings of office. The Portuguese authorities in
a communication to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations have acknowledged that it is
impossible for them to control the situation.
Several days ago the Governor issued an
appeal for international forces to be sent to
Timor to control the situation and to bring an
end to the bloodshed. The Portuguese Government
has also issued appeals for international assistance,
including suggestions that Indonesia
and Australia might help, especially with the
evacuation of Portuguese and foreign nationals
from Timor. Australia has extended considerable
support in various evacuation operations. We
stand ready to take part in any humanitarian
action that may be practicable.
We have been, however, and remain opposed
to Australian military involvement. One of the
first policy decisions of the Government, on
assuming office in December 1972, was to determine
that Australia would not intervene again in
land wars in South East Asia. This applies as
much to the civil war in Portuguese Timor as to
the earlier civil war in Vietnam.
On political aspects of the situation, the
Government has been in close touch with the
other governments most concerned, namely, the
Government of Portugal and the Government of
Indonesia. The Australian Government, however,
does not regard itself as a party principal in
Portuguese Timor. We continue to hold that the
future of the territory is a matter for resolution by
Portugal and the Timorese people themselves
with Indonesia also occupying an important
place because of its predominant interest.
The Government recognises that there are
some who believe that Australia should accept
some political obligation in regard to Portuguese
Timor, and even that Australia should step in
and attempt to arbitrate between the competing
political factions. The Government acknowledges
that those who have put forward these
views have been motivated by genuine feelings
of concern for the welfare of the Timorese. But
the Government does not itself think these views
reflect the best approach forAustralia. It believes Portuguese Timor
that acceptance of these views could lead to a
situation where Australia was exercising a quasicolonial
role in Portuguese Timor, and might
lead to the point where we were assuming some
de facto responsibility for the territory.
But the Government does view with serious
concern the recent turn of events in Portuguese
Timor. The immediate need, of course, is to
bring the fighting to an end. This is both a
necessary pre-condition to any political settlement
as well as an urgent need if the bloodshed
is to stop and relief work is to begin. I take this
opportunity to appeal on behalf of the Australian
Government to all parties engaged in the fighting
to lay down their arms and to end the bloodshed.
I have said that it is not possible to carry
forward relief or rehabilitation without restoration
of order in the territory. The immediate responsibility
for bringing an end to the fighting
must continue to rest with Portugal. In the
Government's view, Portugual cannot simply
wash its hands of Portuguese Timor.
The present situation, of course, may have
passed the point of no-return. In the absence of
firm policies in Lisbon, defections of local
officials and local military forces may now be
complete. Nonetheless, the Government understands
that Portugal is to make an attempt to
retrieve some lost ground by sending a negotiating
team with a view to persuading Fretilin and
UDT to stop fighting and to agree to negotiate
new arrangements among the Timorese parties
for orderly decolonisation. The Portuguese
Government, through Dr Santos, the former
Minister for Interterritorial Co-ordination has
approached the Secretary-General of the United
Nations. The results of this approach are not yet
clear. There have been suggestions that a good
offices committee might be proposed to help mediate
a settlement in Portuguese Timor. But none
of this has gone very far and without some restoration
of basic order in the territory it is not
easy to see how a UN good offices committee,
whose role would be essentially political in
character, could function on the ground. The
same consideration applies to various ideas for
an international humanitarian relief effort.
I return, therefore, to the conclusion that the
first priority is to put an end to the killing and
fighting and to restore order. This objective
requires the active intervention of Portugal itself.
It is a responsibility that cannot be shrugged off
on to others such as Australia. We have no
national obligations or interest in getting reinvolved
in colonial or post-colonial affairs in Portuguese
Timor at the very time when Papua New
Guinea's imminent independence is leading to
Portuguese Timor
the ending of our colonial role there. We have no
ethnic or cultural ties with the Timorese which
would suggest a role for Australia in substitution
for Portugal in Portuguese Timor.
The other interested country in all this is, of
course, Indonesia, with which we have been in
very close touch on developments in Portuguese
Timor in recent days. Indonesia has shared the
Australian concern about the evident drift in
Portuguese policies and, like us, has urged on the
Portuguese the need to reassert Portuguese control
in Portuguese Timor. We, for our part,
understand Indonesia's concern that the territory
should not be allowed to become a source of
instability on Indonesia's border. Portuguese
Timor is in many ways part of the Indonesian
world and its future is obviously a matter of great
importance to Indonesia.
Indonesian policy is to respect the right of the
people of Portuguese Timor to self-determination
and Indonesian leaders have often denied
that Indonesia has any territorial ambitions
towards Portuguese Timor. Nevertheless,
Indonesia's concern about the situation in the
territory has now led her to offer, if Portugal so
requests, to assist in restoring order there. President
Suharto has made it clear that Indonesia
would only wish to act at Portugal's bidding and
that the objective would be the limited one of
restoring conditions which would allow orderly
self-determination to proceed. The Australian
Government has frequently stated its concern
that the people of the territory should be able to
decide their own future.
Whatever external efforts might accomplish,
the hostility, and mistrust between Fretilin and
UDT remain the main threat to future stability in
the territory. This hostility and mistrust indeed
form one of the most disappointing aspects of the
situation in Portuguese Timor. The events of the
last few weeks have dashed the hopes for Portuguese
Timor which followed the change of
government and Portuguese colonial policy in
Lisbon. In a little over a year, the situation in
Portuguese Timor has become a very dangerous
one, mainly-it must be said-because of the
shortsi~ htedness of some of the territory's aspiring
political leaders. It is a matter of record that
none of the three major political groups in the
territory has shown any genuine willingnuess to
work with the others. Each demands that it alone
be recognised as the sole legitimate nationalist
group. None seems prepared to test its claims to
lead the country through any conventional form
of democratic process. 26 August 1975 REPRESENTATIVES 493
At the moment, it is not possible to predict
how events will move or what constructive contribution
Australia may be able to make. Our first
task will be to be alert to opportunities for humanitarian
assistance, but here there are real
questions of practicability. We shall give what
practical help we can to the Portuguese in their
efforts to mediate and to bring an end to the
fightng Irepeat my call to the parties for a
cease-fire and the ending of the bloodshed. As
events develop it may be necessary for me to
keep the House further informed.
Motion ( by Mr Daly) proposed:
That the House take note of the paper.
Debate ( on motion by Mr Peacock)
adjourned. DEPARTMAENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY
Mr DALY ( Grayndler-Minister for Services
and Property)-For the information of honourable
members I present the annual report of the
Australian Department of Social Security for the
financial year ended 30 June 1975.
DARWIN CYCLONE TRACY RELIEF
TRUST FUND
Dr PATTERSON ( Dawson-Minister for
Northern Australia)-For the information of
honourable members I present the report on the
Darwin Cyclone Tracy Relief Trust Fund for
May 1975.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Mr BEAZLEY ( Fremantle-Minister for
Education)-Pursuant to section 33 of the
Australian National University Act 1946-1973 1
present the report of the Council of the Australian
National University for the calendar year
1974. AUSTRALIAN POVERN1WENT
ASSISTANCE: TO LOCAL PROJECTS
Mr UREN ( Reid-Minister for Urban and
Regional Development)-For the information of
honourable members I present a report titled:
' Australian Government Assistance to Local
Projects'. HANDBOOK ON HEALTH MIANPOWER
Dr EVERINGHAM ( Capricornia-Minister
for Health)-For the information of honourable
members I present the first edition of a ' Handbook
on Health Manpower' prepared by the
Australian Department of Health.