CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
PARLIAMENTARY LUNCH FOR THE PRIME MINISTER OF
PAPUA NEW GUINEA, MR PAIAS WINGTI
CANBERRA 9 DECEMBER 1987
It is my very great pleasure today to welcome you to
Canberra on your first visit to Australia as Prime Minister.
Australia and Papua New Guinea have a strong and a very
special relationship, one which is firmly based on a shared
history, a shared participation in the dynamic growth of the
Western Pacific region and, most importantly, the warm
friendship of our two peoples.
My own association with and affection for Papua New Guinea
date back to my involvement as ACTU advocate in a wage case
for Local officers in 1965. Since then I have followed
events in Papua New Guinea closely; and I made sure that
Papua New Guinea was the first nation I visited after I
became Prime Minister in 1983. I have since visited twice
and had the pleasure on the last occasion of experiencing
the pride with which Papua New Guineans entered their second
decade of independence.
Papua New Guinea has been an independent nation now for
twelve years, and it is significant that you, Mr Prime
Minister, are the first leader of a new generation of Papua
New Guineans whose principal experience has been of
independence.
Throughout the South Pacific, nations are facing up to the
new challenges of established membership of the worl'd
community. In many of these nations, the issues now are
concerned with complex economic management, sophisticated
foreign policy choices and profound social questions.
It is therefore natural that members of this generation
should seek to redefine Papua New Guinea's place in the
world and its key foreign relationships.
That they should initiate such a wide-ranging document as
the Joint Declaration of Principles guiding relations
between Papua New Guinea and Australia is testimony to the
strength of our ties in a new era. 00325(;
2.
Mr Wingti and I signed that Declaration this morning.
The Declaration represents the recognition by both our
Governments of the enduring importance of the relationship
between us and of the way in which that relationship is
changing over the years.
Its themes are mutuality, reciprocity and consultation.
It stresses the sovereign equality of our two countries and
the linkage between all elements in our relationship, so
that decisions on any issue should be taken with due regard
for the relationship as a whole. It spans the entire range
of our contacts, which includes trade, investment,
transport, communications, aid, defence, legal co-operation
and border administration.
It is, first and foremost, an intelligent document which
confirms the worth of existing arrangements while opening
the way for new arrangements to be concluded under its
ambit.
As part of measures to deepen our relationship I have been
encouraging my Ministers to visit Papua New Guinea and would
urge Papua New Guinean Ministers to visit Australia for
regular discussions with their counterparts on issues of
mutual interest.
On economic issues, the direction and priorities of your
economy are now of course firmly in Papua New Guinean hands.
we applaud the progress made to date in defining those
priorities, setting achievable targets and moving to
implement them. we recognise the pressures on Papua New
Guinea's economy and the urgency of developing strategies to
meet the demands of a growing population with rising
expectations. Australia has been and will continue to be a
committed, responsible partner in Papua New Guinea's
development. The Joint Declaration of Principles makes this
plain even as it, rightly, removes " aid issues" from the
centre of our bilateral stage.
The way is open for Australia and Papua New Guinea to
continue to engage in and promote fully co-operative
activities of mutual benefit. For example we have just this
month completed a jointly funded resource-mapping project
between CSIRO and Papua New Guinea's Department of
Agriculture and Livestock. Papua New Gu~ inea now possesses
perhaps the most comprehensive store of information on its
land resources of any developing country.
The co-operative and friendly character of the ties between
us assume even greater importance in view of the
developments taking place in our region.
Without in any sense being alarmist, I have said on a number
of occasions that the South Pacific is now a less stable
place than it was when my Government came to office in 1983.
00325
I refer to the uncertainty over the future of New Caledonia,
the unwelcome interest displayed in our region by Libya, and
of course the troubling implications of the two military
coups in Fiji.
My Government was dismayed at the events in Fiji and we have
not as yet recognised any government in that country.
I believe the coups have made much clearer the potential for
regional instability and have consequently underlined the
importance of countries such as Australia and Papua New
Guinea cooperating closely to achieve our mutual goal of
peace and prosperity in the region.
We have cooperated in the efforts of our region to terminate
nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll, to resolve the problems in
New Caledonia, and to bring into being the South Pacific
Nuclear Free Zone Treaty.
In all these efforts the South Pacific Forum, of which
Australia and Papua New Guinea are members, has been a
valuable sounding board for regional problems and a useful
means of co-ordinating action to help solve those problems.
In line with the view the Forum expressed in Apia, and in
line with the Vancouver CHOGM, I took the opportunity of my
recent visit to Moscow to ask Soviet leaders to ratify the
Treaty of Rarotonga in a full and unambiguous fashion. They
have said they will consider their position again.
A strong and constructive relationship between Australia and
Papua New Guinea both bilaterally and through institutions
such as the South Pacific Forum is one of the essential
requirements for the maintenance of peace and stability in
the South Pacific.
And this brings me again to the declaration Mr Wingti and I
signed this morning. It marks a new phase in our relations
with Papua New Guinea. Future discussions, like those this
morning, will be between friends who are equal friends:
fully consulting each other when common interests are
involved; vigorous in making our point when we disagree;
but strongly supporting each other on the much more numerous
occasions when we agree. 003258