Jj4US R4LI(
V PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA AT THE
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON -29 JULY J. 976
Thank you for having me as your guest. I am
pleased to celebrate with you a remarkable two centuries
and what is perhaps the greatest venture in popular
government the world has known.
Part of the reason why your nation has been so
successful is because your Founding Fathers saw clearly
the necessity for a balance of power and interest.
Your Constitution is the product of their
recognition that liberty's best safeguard lay in distributing
power as widely as possible and in achieving a balance
between the different regions of the country, and between
the different arms of government.
Today I would like to talk about balance in
domestic and international affairs and as it relates to
the domestic situation in Australia.
In both domestic and international arenas, in a
pluralist and imperfect world, a stable balance of forces
provides our best hope for stability and peace. In the
international context such a balance implies not only an
equality of physical and technical capability but also an
equality of will. That is the only sure foundation on
which to establish procedures which will stabilise
relations and contain conflict.
Much depends on the people conducting international
affairs. Their constant task must be to maintain balance and
to strengthen the fabric of peace and stability. In this,
their efforts to improve personal understanding are, I believe,
of very great importance. ooo/
Balance in the international arena stablised
by realistic discussions and negotiations works to
prevent the dominance of one nation over others, and to
create the conditions in which all nations can work out
their future in the interests of their own people.
Our major foreign policy effort is naturally,
directed to areas close to Australia.
In South East Asia our main concern is to
support the ASEAN countries in their efforts to promote
internal development in the region, and to ensure that
great power competition in the region does not frustrate
these goals or upset the existing equilibrium. We believe
that the ASEAN countries are making significant progress
to these ends, and that it is vital to maintain the
conditions which will allow this progress to continue.
Australia stands at the confluence of the Indian
and Pacific Oceans. Crossing these oceans are trade routes
which are of vital strategic and economic significance not
only to Australia but also many other nations including
Japan. In the Pacific area there are many independent
and soon to be independent countries. Australia wants to
work and co-operate with them and believes that they should
be enabled to pursue their own development free from
outside interference. The idea of the Indian Ocean as a ' Zone of Peace'
is a noble idea. It is difficult to see the circumstances
in which it can be achieved. Consequently my Government
has supported the extension of facilities in Diego Garcia
by your Government and offered to your Navy access to our
naval facilities in Western Australia, which we are expanding
for our own Australian purposes.
Here, as elsewhere, we believe that balance-is a
precondition for stability0 We are also concerned that
further efforts by the U. S. S. R. to enhance its strategic
status in the Indian Ocean should be discouraged or
adequately matched.
I have previously stated our attitude towards the
growth of the military power of the Soviet Union. Recent
NATO communiques have expressed a concern similar to ours
in almost identifical terms. I only want to add here that
if the concern we have expressed on the evidence before us
is misplaced, it is within the means of the Soviet Union to
make this clear. We fervently hope that it will do so. oo ./ 3
3.
Australia desires nothing more than friendly
and co-operative relations with a Soviet Union whose
basic purpose is world peace and stability. We already
have important and extensive relations with the Soviet
Union on which we place considerable value, and we would
wish to extend these to our mutual advantage.
In our foreign relations we deal with other
countries not on the basis of their ideology but on the
basis of common interests. We believe that in the end,
relations based on common interests are the only relations
that can be depended upon.
We believe that there is considerable scope for
more extensive discussions between nations. Such
discussions are essential to secure a stable international
balance. Last month I visited Japan and China to further
extend Autai' relationship with these two major Asian
powers. Japan has a role of great importance and even
greater potential in our quarter of the globe0 She is
Australia's major trading partner: we are the principal
supplier to Japan of many vital raw materials: we both
have defence treaties with the United States: trade between
Australia, Japan and the U. S. is complementary. Japan's
treaty with the U. S. is of great importance for stability
in the North West Pacific as is the Australian and New
Zealand treaty with the United States for the Pacific0
Both Japan and Australia are determined to do what
we can acting in our own ways to advance the economic
interests of the region0
It is only recently that Australia established
diplomatic relations with China. For too long, China has
not been adequately involved in discussions and communications
with the wider international community0 The fault, I suggest,
was not solely China's. We are seeking to play our part in
redressing that situation as a matter of greatest importance.
The purpose of my visit to China was to learn
and to improve communication between our two countries.
This might sound a very limited purpose but given the
differences in our history and cultures and a long period
of non-communication, it is a very necessary beginning.
We do not expect any dramatic results or any vital
changes next week, next month, next year0 We are prepared
over decades if necessary to seek to build relations and
consultations which develop a greater understanding between
our two governments and our two peoples. .14
In our discussions the Chinese leaders made it
plain that they regarded the broad international situation
as being of greatest importance in their relations with
the United States and other nations. This followed from
the way they expressed their views on the Association of
South East Asian Nations, the United States, on government
to government and party to party relations and the nature
of their support for the objective of an Indian Ocean Zone
of Peace. Whatever view one takes of China's ideology, it
is clear that Chinese society manifests a sense of purpose
and self-reliance. A stable equilibrium in international
relations is not possible unless China is more fully
involved in the international community. Agreements
reached, for example, between the Soviet Union and the
United States, which affect other major states, the
European Economic Community, or China, will only be
workable if these are seen as protecting the interests
of these other states.
Our most important relationship with a great
power is our relationship with the United States of America.
America plays a vital, an irreplaceable role in maintaining
the balance of power and in preserving world peace and
stability. It is not only in politics that the U. S. has
a major role the U. S. produces about 40 per cent of the
0. E. C. D. Gross National Product.
As free peoples with common philosophical commitments,
the United States and Australia will often have a common view
and co-operate in the pursuit of common goals0 But we do not
expect the American people to accept responsibilities which
other nations disavow0 You have just passed through your
Congress a very large Defence Budget. We are supporting an
expanded Five Year Defence Programme0
This relationship between a country of Australia's
size and position with a super power like the United States
may be misunderstood by some at home and abroad who
believe that concurrence and common action means subordination
to the larger nation0
Such problems have always existed in relations
between the largest states and others such relations must
be treated with some sensitivity. Australia's policies are
basedon a fully independent assessment of Australia's national
interests. The problems of balance in international relations
relates not only to politics instability . can arise also.
from lack of balance in economic relations.
There is such an imblance in the international
economic system between the deve]. oped and the developing
nations. The causes of this imbalance lie not so much in
the economic system as such but in the policies pursued
by some nations. Many developed countries seem more
concerned with pursuing freer trade in the products in
which they excel, than in opening their markets to the
products of the developing countries,
An improvement in trade would make a major
contribution to lifting standards of living in the
developing countries. It would enable countries to
concentrate on the things they can do best.
Equally there is a need to focus on policies
aimed at the creation of wealth rather than its
redistribution. Redistribution alone can provide no
real solution to economic problems. There are no panaceas.
Encouraging inappropriate policies and raising expectations
which cannot be fulfilled only add to instability in
economic relations. This applies within countries as it does
internationally. Sustained domestic economic growth
requires a balance between public and private expenditure,
between wages and profits.
We have recently experienced the effects of such
imbalance in Australia. Between 1972 and 1975 government
expenditure in Australia increased dramatically The
Australian economy, which incidentally was largely insulated
from the oil crisis, was thrown out of balance. In one year
federal government outlays increased from 24 per cent of
G. D. P. to 30 per cent.
Excess expenditure was financed by deficits of
an unprecedented magnitude0 There was an inflationary
growth in the money supply. These domestic problems were
of course not helped by international economic developments0
Most other countries were pursuing similar domestic policies.
These led first to inflation and then, inevitably, to world
recession. Against this background, my Government found when
it came to office that people had naturally tended to draw
into themselves, to become cautious, to lose their initiative.
We have moved to reverse this0 Government
expenditures are now being firmly and substantially controlled0
Our purposes is to bring down the Government's share of
resources so as to make room for people, for individuals,
I 6.
for businesses: to give the productive sector of the
economy confidence and the room to breathe. The number
on the Governmient' s paty roll has been substaLntil Ly
reduced for the first time in 24 years, In 1975 the
money supply grew at a rate of 20 per cent. This year
it has grown at less than half that rate 9 per cent0
This i s higher than we wool d 1like hb0 ,1 ini economi~ c mn.; totrs
changes in direction cannot hie -too sudden or-too swif-t0
We have also taken action to restore profits. Without
adequate profits there will not be enough investment.
Without investment there won't be enough jobs. The
dramatic fall in profits and in G. D. P. which followed the
great rise in government expenditure and the rapid growth
in wages, was a major factor in the rise in unemployment
to the highest levels since the great depression.
There are now increasing signs in Australia that
the inter-relationship between excessive wage increases,
inflation and unemployment are being recognised. There are
also encouraging signs of a downward trend in both wage and
price increases. A year ago inflation was running at
14 per cent per annum. In the June quarter, inflation was
down to an annual rate of 10 per cent.
Overcoming inflation is essential to the balance
and health of the Australian economy. It is prerequisite
for renewed growth and the development of our great natural
resources. Both Australia and the rest of the world need
that development. We need overseas capital to develop our natural
resources and that is why we welcome overseas investment in
Australia. Our policy is to obtain joint ventures in
partnership with Australian concerns0 My Government's
attitude to foreign capital differs substantially from that
of our predecessors0 We understand the benefits it can
bring and take a more balanced view of its costs. Our
foreign investment guidelines reflect this and they have
been deliberately kept flexible so that we can take up
proposals that will help us develop our resources0
But we know that it is not only our attitude to
foreign investment that is important to foreign investors0
I hope it will be clear that the whole thrust of the policies
I have mentioned is directed at improving the investment
climate in Australia, for foreign and domestic investors
alike0 I know there has been considerable interest in
our exchange rate policy, There has already been a downward
trend in wage and cost increages. With recovery overseas 000a/ 7
strengthening our external prospects are swinging back
into balance. A downward movement in the exchange rate
would have inflationary effects contrary to our primary
domestic aim. I do not think I need say any more on that.
Our whole economic policies are directed to
achieving stability and restoring balance between the
private and public sectors. In domestic politics, in
international politics and in economics our purpose is
the pursuit of an appropriate balance.
The purpose your Founding Fathers sought to
enshrine in their Constitution still states in the clearest
possible terms the nature of the objectives which politicians
in free societies should pursue0 Without power there can
be no balance, but a balance of power is not the only one
necessary. There is a need for a balance between realism
and aspiration, Means must be appropriate to objectives.
Nations pursue their own interests, but they must always
strive to give effect to their ideals0
Finally, in a world subject to accelerating change,
there must be a balance between tradition and innovation0
In a little more than a generation, the world's population
will have doubled. There will be profound techn6logical
changes expanding the limits of the possible and creating
new problems of control and co-ordination.
Your country's role in this world will be crucial0
For your country, 1976 is not only the end of two centures
but the beginning of a decisive quarter century, one in
which your vision of a better world and determination to
work for it will be more important than ever before0
A
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA AT THE NATIONAL PRESS
CLUB, WASHINGTON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 29 JULY 1976
Q. You arrived here with the headlines describing
you as one of the world's most outspoken anti-Russian leaders.
Since arriving you have been careful to keep such views
under your belt. Do your accurately-recorded anti-Soviet
views still hold? Have you changed them as a result of
your talks this week? Have you been silent out of deference
to your host Government?
A. I dont think my views have changed I think
maybe that reputation preceded me because the views expressed
in Australia on the 1$ 4J une might have surprised Australians
and Australian commentators who were not aware that the
views I was expressing on behalf of the Australian Government
were, virtually, identical to the views that had previously
been expressed by the NATO powers, which, of course, as
everyone knows, includes at least three socialist governments.
But these reports, and no doubt communiques, had not been
widely reported and not known when I was still in Australia,
and the changed attitudes that I believe have come to be
accepted in much of Europe, and given a voice to, and
perfected in the communique between your President and
myself was something that Australians maybe were not aware
of. That I think is why that reputation of a particular kind
preceded me my views have not changed and I also believe
they are in line, and expressed in almost identical terms,
with those of the NATO powers.
Q. Would you agree that it was in Australia' s interest
to be friendlier with both China and the Soviet Union than
either is with each other?
A. Well, we try to be as friendly as we can be with
everyone. But with China, of course, there needed to be a
shift because there had not been communication, so we wanted
a closer relationship than there had been. But with the
Soviet Union, we wanted to make quite sure that we understood
each other and that there were no mis-apprehensions about
each other's attitude. / 2
I 2.
I think that also works towards more realistic faces than
pretending that certain realities of the world situation
don't exist. It would not be very difficult to be more
friendly with both, than either is at the moment with each
other.
Q. How do you believe the Soviet Union can be
discouraged from building up its forces in the Indian Ocean?
A. Probably only by the knowledge that it will not be
allowed to dominate the area and therefore it is not worthwhile
starting.
Q. Would Australia object to the US supplying India
with additional nuclear fuel? Does Australia consider
safe-guards adequate to prevent diversion to Indian military
uses?
A. We are very much opposed to the proliferation of
nuclear weapons and would very firmly want to support all
measures designed to reduce nuclear proliferation. There
are considerable uranium resources in Australia, and, depending
upon the results of an environmental enquiry, we would be taking
the most rigid controls in accordance with international
practice and guidelines, to make sure that exports from
Australia do not add to the possibility of nuclear proliferation.
But I must say that determination of future Government policy
is dependent upon a Royal Commission and that Royal Commission's
environmental report.
Q. Does Australia have diplomatic relations with Taiwan?
Do you believe the United States should withdraw its
Ambassador there?
A. The previous administration withdrew recognition
of Taiwan and it was the considered judgement of my Government
that the decisions, once taken, and in the necessity we
believed for greater communication with China, and greater
understanding between China and Australia, and for that
matter China and many other countries, would not merit any
attempt to alter the terms of that recognition that was
earlier consummated. I dont really think that at this
particular time it is appropriate for me to comment on what
the United States ought, or ought not, to do.
Q. What effect will United States' recognition of
Peking have on the security of Asia and the Pacific, if it
is done at the cost of breaking the US defence treaty with
Taiwan?
A. Again, I think that this is a question that is
really seeking comment on United States' policy, or certain
aspects of ./ 3
United States' policy, and I really do believe that this is
anl illappr') priate year in which a stranger shoul. d malie comnierts
oil that, Sort of thing.
Q. From this perspective, a question arises Australia
and New Zealand seem to have so much in common politically,
economically and strategically, is there a prospect of an
Anzac-Federation?
A. I think the first part of the qucstion might also
appropriately have been directed to the kind of relationship
between Canada and the United States. I think the independence
of New Zealand is assured and the independence of Australia
is assured. We co-operate and work closely together but I
think that's the way both countries want it to be. Of course,
there is always room for closer consultation, closer cooperation.
Both the New Zealand Prime Minister and myself
are determined to try and achieve that.
Q. It is common knowledge that the Whitlam Government
was opposed to the friendly association between Australia
and the United States, Worn during the Holt/ Johnson years.
Can you please give a reason for such opposition?
A. Well, I did give reasons for that during the election.
Again I dont really want to export Australian politics to
this forum any more than I want to comment on United-States'
policies in this particular year.
Q. What is the Australian Government's present
position regarding immigration of Americans to Australia?
A. We would be delighted to see you.
Q. Do your immigration laws limit Japanese, Chinese,
Blacks? A. There is no discrimination on the grounds of race,
colour, creed, or nationality of any kind and we recently,
in relation to Japan, signed a special treaty of friendship
aneW understanding which is designed to achieve greater
co-ope~ ration an., understandling of two peoples whose cultures
and bac': grounds are very ( ifferent. There has been a close
and strengthening comme~ ccial .& elationship, but both Ja!. an and
Australia now belit~ vc that commercial relationship alone is
not enough and that we ought to try and develop the
circumstanices in which there can be the same in-depth
understanding as I believre there is between Australia and the
United Kingdom or Australia and Canada, or Australia anld the
United States.
0. What is Australia's position on the future of the
control of the Panama Canal as a vital trade link between the
Atlantic and Pacific Nations? / 4
A. Well, I havent swam through it, but again, I seem
t o dle tee t, ( J iat thIi re is it n (' rIive 1. o I Un i Le d S taL e.&
p) olitics in this par-ticular matter. I have hieari the subject
mentioned over the last few ( lays, but I don't consider myself
well enough informed -to offer a view.
Q. Does Australia plan to increase its production of
peanuts? Applause. A. Mr Adermann, the former Minister for Primary
Industry, in an earlier coalition Government, was a member
of that profession, Mr Petersen, Premier of Queensland,
is also a member of that profession.
Q. When can we expect the Australian Government to
announce their policy on export of uranium?
A. We have quite deliberately refained from taking
any policy ( decisions in relation to this matter until we
have the report of a Royal Commission in the hands of a most
significant member of the judicial community of Australia
it's an environmental enquiry and its important to get
his Honor's report before the Government makes decisions
in these particular matters. We ought to have that report
within a few weeks and it will enable us to make policy
decisions. We recognise that there are many countries interested
in Australia's longer term objectives and policies in these
particular areas. We'll certainly lose no time in making
decisions based on Mr Justice Fox' report.
Q. Is there an Australian counterpart to the US
criticism of big Government and, if so, what is your
Government doing about it?
A. Well, we're trying to abolish it.
The circumstances in Australia have been that about 80 per cent
of all revenues came to be collected by the Federal Government.
A fair bit of that is given back to the States but often with
tags tied to it you know, you've got to spend it this way,
the way we believe is right. State Governments therefore
were able to say in Australia, well they can't do this and
they can't do that, the Commonwealth collects all the money,
we've got no independence of our own. Local Governments
were in a very similar position. We've looked very closely at
what Canada has done in relation to the tax-sharing and we've
already come to agreements with the states along similar
lines to those that have applied in Canada for some time,
designed to provide a greater financial basis for the states
so that Governments with direct responsibility for providing
services can also have a greater responsibility for raising
the money to pay for th'ose services. We strongly believe that
politicians who spend money ought also, to the maximum
extent, be responsible for raising that money, then they have
to weigh the balance of both sides of the coin. The popular
side of providing the service, the unpopular side of taxing to
pay for it.
Q. Mr Prime Minister, does your Government plan to make
the income tax rebate provisions of law applicable to nonresidents,
as well as residents of Australia?
A. I'd have to defer to a Treasury adviser before I
could give a proper answer in relation to that. I'm sorry.
Q. Do you have or contemplate any incomes, policy, or
wage and price controls?
A. The industrial power of the Commonwealth Government
is one that enables us to establish a body to settle industrial
disputes and then only disputes which are national or interstate
in character. So it is a very limited power. Such a body has
always been part of the Australian scene and the theory of
it is that both sides get an argument of case before the
Arbitration Commission as its' called: there is
a determination which both sides are meant to accept as
industrial matters there are no absolute laws and both sides
haven't always accepted the determinations of the Arbitration
Commission. But the Commonwealth's role in these matters is
to argue what it believes to be right in the economic
circumstances of Australia and we have achieved some significant
changes in the guidelines being used in the wage-fixing
process over the last six months which will help significantly
to wind down inflation. But I think that one of the main
motivating forces, apart from wages and inflation, in Australia
is the rate of increase in Government expenditures, which I
think I might have mentioned, went up 46 per cent one year
to the next, and Govejnment expenditures and the budget to
be revealed on the 17' August will indicate an increase in
Government expenditure of a mere fraction of that. So there
are many things that we have to do to overcome inflation.
There is a prices Justification Tribunal but we dont, in fact,
have rigid price and wage-fixing powers and, therefore, whether
or not they should be used has not really been a matter of
consideration. The constitutional power does not exist.
Q. A listener, hearing your answer that you would abolish
big Government or are trying to abolish big Government in
Australia asks me to explain how you would cut down the
size of Government in Australia.
A. By having policies, I believe, that encourage
the independence of people. It is very easy to have welfare
programs, for example, that are based solely on spending more
of other people's money. But that is not always a solution to
problems of poverty or difficulty within a community. The
problems are sometimes more a problem of human relationships,
lack of capacity to operate within a modern and complex society
and, therefore, the solution is much more complex than merely
one of spending money and having a Government program designed
to do it. Our policies are designed to encourage the independence
and strength of the individuals in the Australian community. o0a./ 6
That does not mean to say that for those who need some
special help that could not be provided in full measure
but because of the policies that we are seeking to introduce
that will enable us to be in a better position to do more
for those who are really disadvantaged and who deserve extra
help. Q. In light of the recent general strike called by the
Australian Council of Trade Unions over the Medi-bank issue,
what if any, legislative action will your Government be
proposing in the area of Industrial Relations?
A. Industrial Legislation has already been passed
and is being proclaimed for the future elective officials
in the trade unions will need to be elected by secret ballots
in the past some unions have followed that practice in a
proper and very adequate manner but there are some significant
trade unions where people have not really had a free
opportunity to vote. In one significant, and to a certain
extent militant, union, a significant official was elected on
a massive vote of 1.8 per cent of the union membership. We
believe that secret postal ballots, properly applied will give
people a greater say in determining their own union's affairs.
That particular national strike did not get all that much
national support. A large number of people did not obey
the directions of union officials. In the heavy industrial
areas, of course, where people would find it more difficult
to operate on production lines is where you find pretty well everyone
turning up. Those who obeyed the strike order would have
been in the majority but over many areas of Australia, despite
the call for a national strike, life operated in a pretty
reasonable manner. I don't think those who called the strike
would take a great deal of heart from the degree of support
it got. In polls conducted about the week afterwards, they
indicated that between 75 and 80 per cent of the Australian
community felt that the trade union movement had too much
power and disapproved of the strike. More industrial legislation
is in contemplation, some of it in part borrowed from the
study of American practice.
Q. Mr Prime Minister. Has industrial unrest inhibited
foreign investment in Australia.
A. I think it can, but I would believe that inflation
has probably been one of the major factors but also it has
come at a time when there hasn't been a great deal of foreign
investment in any country because of the world recession
and one of the things of which I have been advised is
that the United States recovery is likely to lead to a revival
in demand for additional resources and that therefore more
investment is likely to flow. Indeed some significant coal
projects where agreement has already been reached, should
go ahead. Their development would involve some hundreds of
millions of dollars and this I think is an indication of
what is likely to come in the future. As world recovery proceeds
I beleive we will see more foreign investment in Australia
and I have found from people I have met in this country foreign
investment guidelines are understood and fully accepted. / 7
a. 7.
Q. You stated that your party welcomes foreign investment
and yet the opposition feared environmental damage to the
natural resources. Has your party taken any steps to safeguard
the natural resources from foreign investors?
A. Well I think there are two elements to that question.
Perhaps if we believe that a particular project can affect the
environment there is a capacity to have an environmental
inquest statement so that it can properly be assessed. It
would not be our intention that that should be a device to
hold up particular matters but merely to make sure that all
factors are taken into account before major developemental
projects proceed. And there are guidelines for foreign
investment which are intended to preserve a รต ignifici. nt
degree of Australian equity in new ventures and partnerships
but some projects are so large that Australia certainly is not
able to supply all the capital that she wants for the development
of natural resources and other matters and very significant
overseas investment is required. I believe that not only in
Australia's interest but in the interest of other countries
who would want more iron ore and bauxite and natural gas and
other matters that are waiting for development.
Q. Australia has ordered new warships from the United
States. The cost growth of these ships has been great. Will
Australia still be able to afford them?
A. Oh we will be able to afford them, yes. We would
like to see the United States if she could, place some orders
for some more things in Australia. There is a trade balance
in the United States' favour. I already mentioned that the
defence vote is going to increase steadily over the next few
years because we believe that is necessary. I don't think
you need have any fear the bills will be paid.
Q. Would you make an assessment of the agricultural
situation in Australia. Do you expect Australian grain and
beef exports to continue to come into competition with
American products in the world markets.
A. Yes. I don't know how much wheat we will have
for export next year as there has been a very severe drought
in many of the wheat producing areas and many of the sheep
producing areas which hadn't broken when I left Australia
and in a number of wheat growing areas the grain had been
planted dry and as farmers would know that is a risky
proposition. There is a real possibility that the wheat crop
will be very significantly down although we wont know that
probably for the next three or four weeks when we will be
able to get fairly accurate estimates. We had a capacity
to supply beef to the United States and at any time that you
are willing to take a larger share of Australian beef I think
o o/ 8
is 0 0 0/ 9
8.
we would be very happy to make it available to you. After
all, it -is only repaying some kind of a debt that T think we owe
as there was a starving colony in about 1792 and it was
probably saved from starvation by a shipment of United States meat
well cured over the nine months trip in a ship called
' Philadelphia'. Well that is a debt we feel we have an
obligation to repay and to go on repaying.
Q. During your visit have you made any progress on
the beef carry over dispute with the United States?~
A. I think that, I can say, is an area where two good
friends are having a vigorous discussion. The vigor of that
discussion will continue.
Q. Following the Stonehouse affair has any action
been taken to restrict the right of free access hitherto accorded
Members of Parliament from the United Kingdom. That is are
they now required to complete the same immigration formalities
as other aliens?
A. Well, I believe that everyone should really comply
to common rules in these particular matters and that is the
general thrust of our policies.
Q. In Australia do environmental impact statements
embrace economic impact considerations. Is the economy in
other words considered a major component of the environment
legally, or is it a matter of policy?
A. Well in any project that is being undertaken obviously
the economy is very much a part of it, but the environmental
impact statements as such are more related to the natural
environment or to the human environment and the way the
particular projects or developments are likely to have an
impact on that. I think the economic element tends to be
assessed separately.
Q. How will Australia escape the cycle of wage increases,
more inflation and then more wage increases?
A, By continuing to support the policies of the present
Government in Australia.
Q. One more beef question. How does American beef
compare in tenderness, taste and flavour to Australian beef?
A. Well I think that depends upon habits and practice
and we are probably each entitled to our own national
prejudices. There are some things I could say about this but
again it could perhaps be an intrusion in this particular year.
President of the National Press Club then said:-
Before the final question I would like to present to
you Mr Prime Minister the National Press Club Certificate of
Appreciation.
Thank you.
'' 0 And also for your trout fishing trip to Great
Slave Lake in Canada we have the coveted National Press Club
Windbreaker in the extra large size especially for Australian
Prime Ministers.
Qo And now for the final question. Are you the same
Fraser who used to play on the Australian Davis Cup team?
A. Well you know, after I had been a member of Parliamemt
for about ten years one of my constituents came up to me and
said: " Don't know how you do it. You are in Parliament,
you report weekly to your Electorate and I get reports every
few minutes that you are here and there playing tennis in
the United States and Britain and you had a wonderful match
last Saturday but I thought you were down at that tea party
opening a new hall." I don't think we are any more related
than Smiths are related to Smiths. We are not.