PM Transcripts

MEDIA RELEASE DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL
Statement by the Acting Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. J. D. Anthony
I deplore and strongly condemn the actions of
demonstrators who engaged in outrageous harassrnant and
violence in a protest directed-at the Governor-General and
other citizens in Melbourne last night.
It-is -a responsibility of Australians throughout
the community to reject the techniques being employed on'this
and other occasions by an irresponsible minority of people
fomenting trouble for their own ends.
It is about time that people understood that
Sir John Kerr's action of last November was proper and
inescapable. The continuing attacks on the Governor-General
are in reality attacks on the decision made by the Australian
people in the December election, and on the democratic
system wihich allowed them to make that decision.
The continued harassment and violence directed ait
Sir John and Lady Kerr, and other people, are un-Australian
and will, I believe, be firmly rejected by the great
majority of Australians.
I commend the police forces on the way they are
carrying out very difficult and obviously dangerous work
and assure them that they have the Government's full support.
* Canberra,
24th June, 1976.