PM Transcripts

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PRIME MINISTERFor
Media THURSDAY 5 MARCH 1981
SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COM14EMORATIING COMMONWTEALTH DAY
Members will recall that a decision has been made by the
members of the Commonwealth to set aside the second Monday
in March each year as a day on which the purpose and
achievements of the Commonwealth would be duly marked. As
this is the last sitting day before this year's Commonwealth
Day I would like to take this opportunity to make a brief
statement to that end.
This year's Commonwealth Day is especially noteworthy for
Australia in two respects. First, it marks the
anniversary of the Statute of Westminstar, an Act of the
British = arliament which gave birth to the Commonwealth.
Second, this year Australia will host the. Commonwealth Heads
of Government Meeting for the first time.
To an exceptional extent the history of the Commonwealth has
been one of gradual., evolution, marked by continuity and subtle
modifications rather than abrupt change. But if there is one
event which constitutes a decisive step in that evolution,
it is surely the passing of the statute of Westminster in 193: 1.
That event marked the decisive transition from empire to.
Commonwealth. By establishing the principles of autonomy, equality and
free association among members, it created the conditions for
the Commonwealth to grow, diversify and establish a distinctive
role in an era . of far-reaching changes. Thus as decolonisation
proceeded with great rapidity, most of the newly independent
countries found it natural and advantageous to become
members of it. A leading Australian authority on the
Commonwealth ( Professor Bruce Miller) has referred to the
Statute as " a masterpeice of ambiguity", and no doubt in legal
and constitutional terms it was that. But politically it
pointed clearly in one direction. The time when discussion
of the Commonwealth tended to be clouded by rather dubious
metaphysics and the search for the definition of an essence
is long since past.