CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL. DELITVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA
HON RJL HAWKE, AC MP
OPENING CEREMONY
SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL MEETING
SYDNEY 9 MARCH 1991
Mr President, Mr Secretary General, delegates, colleagues,
friends, welcome.
This Party Leaders Meeting of the Socialist International
opens today against the background of a world witnessing the
most dramatic change in a generation and more. It is the
background of the immensely important developments all over
Europe and in the Soviet Union, the dynamic transformation
in the Asia-Pacific region, and the aftermath of the Gulf
war, with all its dangers and opportunities, not only for
the Middle East, but for the whole world community.
This Conference also comes at a special time for the
Australian labour movement. We celebrate this year the
hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Australian
Labor Party. And, as a party, we celebrate this anniversary
entering our ninth consecutive year in government.
We in the ALI' are proud of our achievements over the past
eight years; we are proud that through those achievements we
have met the century-old aspirations of our Party and of the
movement to which we all belong.
At every step we have sought to foster a sense of a. nmunity
interests wit~ h which all Australians can identify.
Such an approach came as a vital change after years in which
our national affairs were seen as an inevitable and.
unresolvable struggle between interests which were by their
inherent nature fundamentally opposed; and in which every
issue had its: winner and its loser.
This search for a national community of interest has been
the constant theme of my career; it is basic to the concept
and the workings of Parliamentary democracy; and it has been
fundamental to the highest ideals of democratic socialism.
What makes the present state of world affairs so remarkable,
so exciting and so challenging is the way in which we have
seen, over the past few years, the emergence in the
international. community of a similar sense of community of
interest. For the first time in fifty years, the people of
the world are more conscious of the interests they share
than of the issues that divide them.
The genesis of this great change has been the end of the
Cold War the abatement of fifty years of relentless
strategic competition between the superpowers. But by
definition the end of the previous era cannot determine the
shape of the new.
The shape of the post-Cold War era depends on whether the
confrontation of the past fifty years is to be replaced by a
positive spirit of cooperation between nations a true
reflection of the community of interests between nations
or whether it: will instead be replaced by a negative spirit
of isolationism and self-centredness.
On 2 August ]. 990, Saddam Hussein challenged the world to
decide which it will be. His invasion of Kuwait has forced
the world to determine the nature of the world community and
the way in which it will cooperate in the years ahead.
In that process we have found ourselves casting back to the
tantalising years of optimism following the Second World
War. At that time the founders of the United Nations,
learning from their vivid and bitter experience of a world
sliding into chaos, drew up principles of international
behaviour which would prevent it all happening again, and
established machinery which would make those principles work
in practice to keep the peace.
The essence of the principles they established can be very
easily stated: national borders must be respected, and
those who violate borders by force must be resisted.
The machinery they established was more complex; but it too
relied in the ultimate on a simple proposition. It.., as
clearly expressed by one of the key architects of t. United.
Nations, Aust: ralia's Labor Foreign Minister of the day, Dr
H. V. Evatt. He said that in confronting aggression, if
economic or diplomatic sanctions " are deemed inappropriate
or prove ineffective, the Security Council may take any
military action necessary to suppress the aggressor"'.
We in Australia believed from the very outset of the Gulf
crisis that Saddam Hussein's aggression must be resisted,
and that the United Nations offered the only effective way
to achieve that. We also believed that the Gulf crisis
constituted a vital test of the ability of the world
community to work through the United Nations to preserve
peace in the post-Cold War era.
So from the outset, Australia supported the United Nations
as strongly as we could, first in its efforts to solve the
crisis peacefully through diplomatic efforts and sanctions;
and when that proved ineffective, by providing forces as
requested by the Security Council in Resolution 678 for
operations to expel Iraq from Kuwait.
We are relieved that those military operations were so
swiftly and successfully concluded. But most of all, we are
pleased that the international community, acting through the
United Nations, has succeeded in acting together to meet and
defeat an aggressor who had not just crushed and swallowed a
weaker neighbour, but had also challenged the basic
principles of international order.
This has been a victory for people everywhere who would live
in peace. And it offers the strongest reassurance that the
end of the Cold War will truly mark the start of a new era
of international cooperation based on a community of
interest. Because the most striking feature about the
international response to the Gulf crisis was the way in
which nations from every continent of the world, with every
shade of opinion, recognised the interests they shared with
each other in opposing and reversing Saddam Hussein's
aggression. The common response of all members of the United Nations; of
the members of the Security Council, and of the two
superpowers, reflected their shared interests in a peaceful
world order. But those shared interests reflected, in turn,
certain shared values: national self-determination, national
sovereignty and the rule of law over the rule of force.
These are the values which the parties represented here at
the Socialist International have long stood for and
articulated. They are our values.
My friends,
I made it clear throughout the Gulf crisis that it W's
Saddam Hussein's violation of those values that wasi his most'
repugnant act his greatest crime.
I did not say this in any pie-in-the-sky rhetorical sense,
or with any desire to cloak the harsh reality of military
conflict in a mantle of confected principle.
I said it because I meant it in a literal way in a way
that has direct and vital significance to the way that we
conduct ourselves as an international community in the
coming decade.
The point is that those values and the overwhelming desire
for freedom which lies within us all, are, increasingly,
tangible realities for millions of people around the world.
The reforms initiated by President Gorbachev inside the
Soviet Union unleashed powerful forces across Eastern
Europe, toppling unrepresentative regimes through the sheer
and irresistible pressure of popular demand.
In eastern Germany, in Czechoslovakia, in Hungary, in
Poland, in Romania and in Bulgaria the human spirit has
triumphed. The human voice is being heard once more, where before was
only the monolithic silence of oppression.
Australians, so distant from the events, nevertheless shared
the sense of euphoria as the Berlin Wall was brought down.
And all this emerged within the context of a more
constructive superpower relationship, in which the spectre
of nuclear holocaust was replaced by the prospect of a more
peaceful world.
It was this dramatic and uplifting prospect that Saddam
Hussein threatened to rip away from us.
It was ultimately to regain that hope and to reaffirm our
values that we had to fight in the Gulf.
But, my friends, the members of the Socialist International
are entitled to derive particular satisfaction from this
victory the victory of the people over their tyrants; of
expression over oppression; of sanity over irrationality.
For these victories are in a profound sense our victories.
One hundred years ago the founders of the Australian Labor
Party made a critical, a fundamental decision.
Throughout the then Australian colonies, representatives of
the industrial movement recognised that their goals would be
best advanced, and their members best served, through
participation in the parliamentary system.
Rational persuasion and legislative reform were perqeived as
the best means towards improved standards of living.
Whatever tensions there may have been within the Australian
labour movement since then and there has been, perhaps
regrettably, no significant lack of them there has never
been effective questioning of the merits of that watershed
decision, one hundred years ago.
So when we see other nations, such as the nations of Eastern
Europe, gain or regain their democratic voice when we see
the collapse of so-called socialist parties and regimes that
had suppressed or made a mockery of popular democracy when
we hear once more the clamour of political parties engaged
in democratic contest then we have every right to rejoice
and every right to feel vindicated.
Their victory is indeed our victory.
There is a further lesson.
When the East Europeans overthrew their political masters
they also overthrew the corrupted inefficiencies and
injustices of their command economies.
These economies had for decades denied their subjects
adequate access to basic goods and services they had
denied their industries except their armaments industries
access to technological innovation they had denied their
workers the best opportunities for growth they had shut
the door on investment.
And they did so while committing, in many cases, outrageous
assaults on their natural environment.
In short, they delivered low standards of living, and denied
the basic aspirations of working people to economic security
for themselves and their families..
In the words of President Havel, who appealed to those of
his fellow Czechoslovakians creating things of value for
society " Once again you will be creating these things for
yourselves and those close to you, not for those who rule
over you or for the abstract future of a utopian ideology.
I ask them not to forget that the profit they create is
not an end in itself, but a means to enhance the common
wealth of society, and to create conditions for a generally
dignified and full human life"
These sentiments point to the great contrast in the
countries and the economies in which social democracy has
played a dominant role, whether as the party of Government,
or as the principal Opposition.
The contrast between the two Germanies says it all.
In hailing the failure of the central command systems, we do
not, of course, by any means concede the case for
untrammelled, unreformed unreconstructed capitalism
The leading Australian Labor historian, Professor Bede
Nairn, has written a seminal history of the Australian Labor
Party, which he entitled ' Civilising Capitalism'.
Parties like the Australian Labor Party have reformed the
system to provide social justice, to enhance personal
freedoms, to safeguard the environment, to protect the
world's resources and at the same time, make the economic
system better and fairer.
That is the historic achievement of the parties of social
democracy.
And that is the precise reason why, in the arrogance of
their years of power, the advocates of the command system
reserved their strongest anathemas for the parties of social
democracy.
My friends,
Let there be no doubt. There is a long distance to travel
before we can declare our task complete.
But in the challenges and opportunities of this new
international order, we can certainly see that our
aspirations have come closer to fulfilment.
Because if indeed we live in a world where collective security
and the rule of law are more secure values and I
believe we do;
if indeed we live in a world where the forces devoted
to the repression of the human spirit have been set
back on their heels and I believe they have;
if indeed we live in a world where the awesome build-up
of weapons of mass nuclear destruction is less
necessary and I believe it is;
then we have indeed moved closer to our goals.
In such a world, we may legitimately entertain the hope that
the resources formerly devoted to the suppression of the
human spirit may now be invested
in the liberation and the enlargement of the human
spirit; in feeding and sheltering and comforting those who need
help; in securing firm foundations for sustainable ec pomic
development; and
in building security and prosperity for our children.
My friends
The values we share are also increasingly taking hold
outside Europe. We have been heartened to see at last clear
evidence of change in South Africa. Apartheid is not yet
dead, but its end is near.
The changes -taking place in South Africa could not have been
achieved without the comprehensive involvement of the
international community. Australia, with its partners in
the Commonwealth, led in the process of imposing practical
measures to bring South Africa to its senses. The efforts
my Government made have been matched by the commitment and
strength of -the Australian labour movement's opposition to
apartheid. : 1 pay tribute to the role of the international
labour movement in its struggle against oppression in
southern Africa.
It is Austra. lia' s view that the point is being reached where
President de Klerk's efforts deserve encouragement, as his
predecessors intransigence warranted condemnation.
Together with the Commonwealth, we have agreed that pressure
on South Afri ca should be eased as promised reforms are
implemented. We urge the South African Government to
maintain the momentum of reform and to speed the process of
reconciliation and dialogue with black leaders.
Friends, The revolutionary transformations taking place in global
economic life are nowhere more visible than here on the
Pacific Rim. This region generates one-third of the world's
trade and more than half its economic output. It contains
the world's fastest growing economies.
Our region also contains and we cannot ignore them
points of tension between ethnically and culturally diverse
peoples and nations; glaring disparities between wealth and
poverty; and some of the world's most fragile and endangered
ecologies. Many of these problems are being addressed.
I am proud of Australia's efforts to promote a lasting and
peaceful solution to the problems in Cambodia. Not only
have many years of tragedy been visited on the Cambodian
people, but -the continuation of this crisis has threatened
the security and harmony of our region. Australia has taken
the lead in promoting an international solution based on a
direct United Nations role in Cambodia. We are committed to
the long-term integration of Indo-China into the regionfor
too long has it been an island of stagnation in' a sea of"
dynamic growth.
The logic of geography and economics directs Australia
towards the dynamism and vitality of the Asian economies.
As a Government, we have taken up the challenge of these
tremendous opportunities and responsibilities: the
opportunity to act, individuality and collectively, to build
a safe and prosperous future for our region; and the
responsibility to play our role in the development of a
safer and fairer global environment.
The process of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation a process
which I initiated in Seoul in 1989 seeks to advance the
common interests of regional countries, consistent with a
fundamental commitment to fair and open trade.
Our region can, through its own internal behaviour, help set
an example in the world. If Germany and Japan were the
economic miracles of the 1950s and 1960s, countries
elsewhere in Asia were the economic miracles of the 1970s
and 1980s. And, from the outset, one of the objectives of
APEC has been the encouragement by the region of fair and
open international trade as a key to global prosperity.
But beyond that, our region is capable of demonstrating the
capacity of countries not so long ago torn by conflict,
countries with traditional rivalries, countries at different
stages of development, and countries of great cultural
diversity to cooperate together.
We hope, through institutions like APEC, to develop in the
Asia-Pacific region the sense of a community of interests,
and the awareness of shared goals, which the United Nations
sets out to foster at the global level.
We believe that the end of the Cold War offers to our
region, as it does to other parts of the world, the
opportunity to build a more just and more secure
international order.
To play a constructive role in that great process is the
dedicated commitment of the Labor Party and government I
have the honor to lead, and on whose behalf I again bid you
most welcome to our country. WW* W* ΓΈ o~