PM Transcripts

! tAUSri( AIIA
PRIME UISTIER
FOR MEDIA 21 JANUARY 1983
WEST INDIAN CRICKETERS' TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
The Australian Government deplores as a clear breach of
the Gleneagles Agreement the current tour of South
Africa by an unofficial team of West Indian cricketers.
I entirely agree with the recent statements by the
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Ramphal, and by
Commonwealth West Indian Governments and cricketing
authorities, who have made it clear that the individuals
on the. team will be debarred from representing their
countries in international and national cricket in the
future. The South African sporting authorities sought, through
offering considerable financial inducements to the
individuals concerned, to defy the internation * al ban on
sporting contacts with South Africa while apartheid
persists in that country. The strength of international
condemnation of this unofficial tour, including in
Australia, demonstrates that they did not succeed.
Because of the deliberate and blatant nature of this
particular attempt to breach the Gleneagles Agreement
and the understandings reached at the Melbourne
Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the peo'ple
involved in this particular tour will not be given visas
again to visit Australia.
I believe that these views are widely shared by
Australians. The Government is grateful for the support
its policy on sporting contacts with South Africa has
received from Australian sporting organisations.