THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 5 DECEMBER 1972
PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen; you were told by way of
a press release at two o'clock this afternoon that I had called
on the Governor-General, at his request, at 12.15 this afternoon
and had accepted his commission to form a Government.
I gave him the reasons why I believe that there should
be an interim Government formed by the Australian Labor Party
and that for the purposes of that Government two persons would
be enough,. The statement gives the reason, or some of the
reasons, why it was urgent to have a Government to carry out the
mandate that the Party received at the elections last Saturday.
The nature of the matters which I mentioned would show
why ii. would be more effective to have these decisions made by
an interim Government which sympathised with them rather than by
an interim Government which had opposed them. It would be a more
appropriate thing for both the incoming Government and the outgoing
one to have the responsibility of those decisions.
At 3.30 this afternoon Mr. Barnard and I accordingly
waited on the Governor-General and he swore us into the portfolios
which you have. NOW, are there any questions?
MEGAN STOYLES, Mr. Prime Minister, could you please give
us the timetable of when people gaoled under the National Service
Act will be released and also the timetable for ending
conscription?
PRIME MINISTER:. Well, first of all, I'll ask Mr. Barnard to give
the matters which fall to him as Minister for Defence for ending
the call-up.
MR. BARNARD: Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen. As you
know, I have already had discussions with officers from the
Department of Labour and National Service, the members of the
Department of flip Army and I have this afternoon released a
statement which will be available to the Press and which
discontinues the call-up. There will be no furt-her call-up.
Those who have already received a notice of call-up will not be
obliged to act or. them. So, as from today, notices will be
going out to those who have received their call-up notice that
they have no further obligation under the National Service Act.
PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, for the matters which fall
to me for the time being as Attorney-General. Yesterday and
today Senator Murphy, who will be the Attorney-General
when the full Ministry is appointed, has been in consultation
with the officers of the Attorney-General's Department and has
prepared the papers. Instructions have now been given that all
pending prosecutions are to be withdrawn. The Commonwealth
Police have been asked to withhold execution of outstanding
warrants and papers have been prepared for the Governor-General
to remit the sentences, the remaining portion of all prison
sentences, of those who are now in prison and also the
remission of all outstanding fines. Those papers I've signed
them I have told the Governor-General that they will be
submitted to him. At this stage I don't know when or precisely
how they will be submitted.
JOHN LOMBARD, " MELBOURNE SUN": About the blokes who are already
in the Army, national servicemen, what exactly will be the
machinery for giving them the option for leaving the Army. Can
it be done without an amendment to the National Service Act?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll ask Mr. Barnard.
MR. BARNARD: Yes. Again, Mr. Prime Minister, I have already made
a move on this question. What I do want to ensure is that no
national servicemen will be disadvantaged as a result of changes
that we will be making to provide additional benefits to those
who are serving in the armed forces but the machinery has already
been put in motion. I expect that before the end of this week
the necessary regulation will have been provided that will enable
the discharge of those national servicemen who are now in the
armed forces to take their discharge. Now, we would hope that
they will be phased out after they have been advised of the
additional benefits they would receive if they decide to continue
their 18 months service as national servicemen. So they will
receive that advice. Then they can decide whether they will
elect to take their discharge or remain and complete their
18 months. Now the necessary machinery has already dealt with
the requirements and they will be advised before Christmas.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN, May I ask a question of the Prime
Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister? Sir, does this first
Whitlam Ministry mean that you will have a second Whitlam.
Ministry next week or the week after or is this to be called a
two man dictatorship or is this an unprecedented move? That's
my first question to you, sir, and to the Deputy Prime Minister,
when you say the national servicemen are phased out, sir, do you
mean they are phased out into unemployment or are they phased
into employment by the National Service Department?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all about when there is a full
Ministry appointed. Perhaps I can enlarge on the reasons which
were given in the press statement at two o'clock this afternoon
for having to wait so long before there ca-n be a meeting of the
Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, the Caucus, to elect a Ministfy.
The elections, which were held last Saturday, are very
close in many electorates and tihe voting is very complex. Under
ti e lw it is not possible t~ o distribute preferences until ten
days after the poll, unless the number of votes which are still
awaiting delivery by post would not affect the result.
Now, the complication in this election is that therp
are a very great number of electoral divisions where previously
there was only one coalition candidate because that candidate
was a Minister and the coalition partner did not oppose
Ministers. In many of these electorates, however,-the Minister
retired and accordingly had both a Country Party and a Liberal
candidate standiing. The number of votes outstanding, therefore,
has to be taken into account in determining whether it is the
Liberal or the Country Party candidate who will be eliminated
first. The Liberal candidate, his preferences would be nearly
certain to go all to the Country Party candidate. If the Country
Party candidate was elimina~ ted first, some preferences would go
to the Labor candidate and so, therefore, it takes probably
the ten days to do it. Furthermore, there are a considerable
number of electorates where the Chief Electoral Officer has already
been told there will be a recount and he advised me yesterday
that in these circumstances he didn't see where he would be
able to give a result in many of these electorptes where the
Labor candidate could be expected to win before Friday of next
week, or even the weekend.
Now, in those circumstances, the Caucus could not be
held at the present time until Monday week and then the Caucus will
have to elect the Ministry and the Caucus will then have to
decide, or the Ministry, if the Caucus so determines, will h~' ve to decide
what will be the new Ministries.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN: you think you will be automatically elected
Leader, sir, do you?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't heard that I will be opposed but
whoever is the Leader will then have to allocate the Ministers
among the portfolios then to be determined. It may be that not
until tomorrow fortnight, the 20th of December, can a full
Ministry be sworn to take the place of thi--irterim one.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN: And that will be a secon d Ministry?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it will have to be because it is not just
a question of handing over some portfolios to new members who
have then become Ministers. There will inevitably be some chnnges
in the nature of the Ministries. There are to be some
amalgamations, maybe, but also the Party is committed to creating
several new Ministries.
MR. BARNARD: The discussions I've had with the officers of the
Department of Labour and National Service have been on the basis
to ensure that their re-employment rights are protected and,
as you know, this is already of course included in the National
Service Act. I wanted to, myself, ensure that their re-employment
rights were protected and the machinery for providing for those
who want to take their discharge will be, at the same time, looked
at by the Department of Labour and National Service to ensure that
the job opportunities are available.
DAVID BARNETT, Last year during the visit to Peking you
told the Chinese Premier, Mr. Chou En-lai that " If my Party wins
the election, you will be able to see the first visit by an
Australian Prime Minister to the Chinese People's Republic and
its sole capital of Peking". Mr. Chou replied; " We will welcome
that". What steps, sir, are you taking to bring about the
recognition of China? When would you like to make this visit?
PRIME MINISTER: Our Ambassador in Paris, Mr. Renouf, has arranged
to meet the Chinese Ambassador in Paris, Mr. Huang Chen, at,
Canberra time, four o'clock on Thursday, a. m. I meant Thursday
morning, and cables have gone to him suggesting the terms upon
which there should be full diplomatic representation by each
country in the other. You ask when to visit. There will be,
early in October, in Tokyo, a Japan-Australia Ministerial Meeting.
It would seem. appropriate before, or after, that meeting for me
to visit Peking.
L. OAKES: Sir, on that subject, I think you have a message from
Mr. Forace from Mr. Chou. Could you tell us the contents of that
message?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I have received the message. I don't think
it would be appropriate for me to state the contents of it.
ALAN REID, Sir, you made employment a very high priority
of your policy speech. Obviously the Parliament cannot meet
until February. Are there any administrative acts that you could
take in the interval to assist the school leavers and alleviate
unemployment and also, sir, if I may ask an unrelated one, a lesser
one, nevertheless interesting, what is going to happen to the
New Year's Honours List?
PRIME MINISTER: First, school leavers. I expect to be seeing
Mr. Crean within the next few days. On Sunday I'll be seeing
both Mr. Dunstan and Mr. Tonkin where unemployment in urban
areas is considerable. As you know, unemployment relief up till
now has been made for rural areas. In those two States there is
the largest percentage of the population in the capitals and
because of this unemployment is worse in those States because
the rural areas bulk less. I'll be seeing them on Sunday.
Mr. Crean I hope to see before then, certainly after that.
Honours Lists. This question is premature, if you don't
mind me saying so. I am making a submission to the Governor-General
on this matter since he raised it with me.
ALAN BARNES, " THE AGE": When you were Leader of the Opposition,
sir, you...
PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Barnes, " Age", and ageless.
ALAN BARNES: When you were Leader of the Opposition, you suggested
that the Liberal Governmen~ t should make a Christmas bonus, give
$ 100 to each. of the pensioners as a means of stimula~ ting the
economy. Does your Government intend to carry through your own
a dvi ce?
PRIME MINISTER: It needs parliamentary action and that cannot be
done this year.
FRANK CHAMBERLAIN: Could you make it retrospective, sir, at
Easter? PRIME MINISTER: That would not enable any boost to spending, though.
JOHN O'FARRELL: But do you still intend to do it?
PRIME MINISTER: I will consult my colleagues on this matter. I
notice it is ore of the things which is suggested in the " Australian
Economic Review" published by the Melbourne University Institute
of Applied Econornio and Social Research.
BENNELL, 7 NETWORK: Sir, you will have a 27 member Cabinet. I
wonder how you are going to get over the legislative delays that
Mr. McMahon recently complained of with his very much smaller
Cabinet?
PRIME MINISTER: None of my Ministers-will be slow, none of them
will be without political perception.
BROWN," ICOURIER-MAIL": Sir, you have won this election in the
suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. Apart from rejuvenating these
areas, what priorities do you have for the rest of Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We have won them in the suburbs of Sydney and
Melbourne because that is where so many people live. We will, in
fact, be aiming to do things which will be of benefit to all
those areas where there are large concentrat4ons of population
and, as you know, we propose to involve local government for the
first time in national financial arrangements. There are
considerable growing areas already in some provincial centres
and we aim, through measures of decentralisatiop and co-operation
with the States, to make more such areas. In proportion to
popula-L-cn we did, in fact, increase in quite a number of such
provincial areas.
MICHAEL SCHILDBERGER, NATIONAL 9 NEWS: Mr. Prime Minister, can
we expect any tax changes before the next Budget or perhaps have
another mini-Budget before the next August Budget?
PRIME MINISTER: I would not expect there would be any tax changes
other, I would hope, than maybe excise duty on wine and sales tax
on contraceptives.
CHAMBERLAIN: Both eliminated?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
BARNES: Is that an undertaking on the latter? You undertook in
your policy speech to immediately abolish the wine tax.
PRIME MINISTER: I am checking this at this stage to see whether,
as I think can be done, the announcement can be made that
legislation will be brought in retrospective to the date on which
these announcements were made.
MUNGO McCALLUM, " NATION REVIEW": Prime Minister, you have not
only made a number of appointments to your own staff and named a
number of people who are obviously going to be close advisers to
you. A number of men who are obviously going to be important
Ministers in the coming government have also named people who
are going to be important to them and perhaps personal advisers.
To what extent is this going to affect the normal public service
structure? To what extent is this going to mean that you are
in fact running a presidential government with the people who are
really giving you the advice and to some extent making decisions
pulled in from outside both the electoral and public service structure?
PRIME MINISTER: This is not a matter upon which I would presume
to make any decisions before a full Ministry is appointed. This
is an interim Ministry and it will make those decisions which are
urgent to carry out mandates. This is not a matter to which I
have given any consideration. It is a matter which can wait until
the Ministers are elected by the Party and allocated by the Prime
Minister. The objective, if it comes about, is to depoliticise
the public service so that persons who are responsible for carrying
out political decisions will be known to be appointed by a
Minister at his whim and disposable at his whim. The public service,
of course, will be less political if there are such personal
advisers known to be appointed.
CHAMBERLAIN: Prime Minister, specifically following Mr. Mungo
McCallum's question, there are some decisions made by the previous
Government, urban development, decentralisation and what have you,
and an organisvtion calling itself NURDS has been developed and
big appointments been made. Now, do they unwrap thsemselves or do
they go into suspense?
PRIME MINISTER: Here again, it is not a matter where we have to
make a decision at this sto& p. There are some matters in the
urban context which I did undertake in the Party's policy speech
to make, if possible before Christmas, and I will be making these
after consultation with Mr. Uren and, I hope, Mr. Jones on Friday.
I say I hope because I have not been in touch with Mr. Jones
myself because of the pressure of other things today, but Mr. Uren
will be here on Friday and if Mr. Jones is here we can discuss
still more matters in this context, and NURDA will be among the
bodies which we will consult on these matters which we want to
get under way before Christmas. They invclve, really, letters by
me to the Premiers concerned.
ARMFIELD, " AGE": Mr. Whitlam, under Labor's system of open
government, will members of the armed forces, including the
Military Boards, be able to make public their views on service
matters such as the effects of ending national service?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a matter of Government policy where it would
be improper for the opinion of any such Boards to be sought or
tendered. The people have decided this matter.
DAVID SOLOMON, " CANBERRA TIMES": Sir, what are your priorities
in the next two weeks? What does your Government in the next two
weeks intend to do and what will be the major priorities of the
Government which will be elected tben?
PRIME MINISTER: I should only say what will be the priorities
of this administration. The priorities of the following one are
for it to determine, for Mr. Barnard and me to share in making.
I have stated three matters in the press statement at two o'clock
this afternoon the abolition of conscription, the reference of
colour television to the Tariff Board ( I am seeing Dr. Cairns on
this matter with the head of the Department of Trade and Industry,
Mr. McKay, at 6 o'clock tonight), the application to the
Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to re-open
the equal pay case so that the Commonwealth, which had intervened,
can now state ' support for the case. I have been in touch with
Mr. Cameron about this. I mentioned some matters in foreign
affairs. China I have already answered some questions about.
There are also matters in the United Nations General Assembly
which concludes its deliberations, I think, on the 19th.
TED BARKER, " WEST AUSTRALIAN": Sir, have you raised the
question of revaluation in your talks with'Sir Frederick
Wheeler, and could you give an indication of what your
government plans on the currency?
PRIME MINISTER: I have not raised it. This is not a matter
which the present Ministry would deal with and, frankly, even
if I had raised it, it would not be proper for me to tell you.
JOHN O'FARLL, " SYDNEY MORNING HERALD?: I was wondering if we
could revert to China? Would you expect Dr. Stephen FitzGerald
would be Australia's first Ambassador to China, and would you want
this man to be our first Ambassador? Would you press him to be
our first Ambassador?
PRIME MINISTER: I noticed that Dr. Stephen FitzGerald has been
nominated in some journals for this purpose. I notice Mr. Ross
Terrill has been nominated by some other journals. -You will
appreciate, ladies and gentlemen, that I could not discuss any
person, man or woman, as a prospective Ambassador or High
Commissioner until the person's name had been submitted to the
receiving country and had approved. Before agr'ement that's for
your benefit, Francois Chamberlain I could not make any comment
on such matters.
KEVIN POWER, 2tJE: Prime Minister, when will the Parliament meet
next year to deal with the legislative content of-your mandate?
Will it be early or will it be in the normal time?
PRIME MINISTER: Here again, it is not a matter upon which this
Ministry would presume to make a decision. It is a matter
certainly for the next administration.
WARREN DUNCAN. Prime Minister, what would be your first
moves towards granting land rights to aborigines, and do you
intend im.' mediately to involve the aborigines in the work of their
department?
PRIME MINISTER: Here again, this is a matter which must wait
until the next administration. .' It is a matter upon which a full,
distinct Minister for Aborigines has to be appointed. I have
already discussed the matter this morning, half past ten, with
Dr. Coombs, among other matters.
CHALMERS. ATN NETWORK: Mr. Prime Minister, will Dr. Coombs be
an adviser to this administration?
PRIME MINISTER: He is.
TRUMBLE. " NEW YORK TIMES": Sir..
PRIME MINISTER: Republican or Dem~ ocrat?
TRtUhBLE: On the fence, Sir. I am at sea, I was a Democrat for
Nixon. In opposition, you and Mr. Barnard both raised the
question of the American military installations in Australia
with particular reference to the secrecy surrounding them and
then of course there is a question raised in the Labor Party
platform on the matter of foreign administration of bases on
Australian soil. Could you at this time, Sir, indicate the
policy your government will take on these questions?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a matter upon which no consideration
will be given or really could be given by this interim
administration. I would like to make it plain, however, that
there now need be no secrecy, because Mr. Barnard and I can find
out whatever we want to. The fact'that there has been secre * cy
up till now has not been a condition imposed by any United States
Administration.
BARRON, " SYDNEY SUN": Why did you decide to restrict the present
Ministry to two, why not spread the responsibility a bit thinner
with some of the men you have already described as certainties,
particularly thE Senate Leader and his Deputy?
PRIM~ E MINISTER: The difficulty is, where do you draw the line
on this? There are some people in the. HParliament, the fact that
they are going to be elected is already quite obvious, who are
in the House of Representatives, who have been in the House of
Representatives longer than Mr. Barnard or I and who have been
on the Caucus Executive longer than Mr. Barnard or I. Mr. Crean
has been on the Executive since 1954, Mr. Cameron since 1958.
Obviously if the test of seniority and service is to prevail,
they would be entitled to have priority over anybody else, but
you will appreciate that if I were to choose two persons from
the House of Representatives there would be, what is it, ten
other members of the House of Representatives in the old Shadow
Ministry, all of whom have clearly been re-elected and it would
be invidious for me to presume to pick out which of my House of
Representatives colleagues would be senior in service,
significance, portfolio, and accordingly it was most appropriate
to choose two persons alone. Perhaps I might comment also
there is an appropriateness about having an interim Ministry of
only two because any matters which have to be done by the
Executive Council would require. the Governor-General, who is
not a partisan person, to be present. It is unusual to have a
Ministry of two persons., There is, therefore, the public
safeguard of having the President of the Executive Council
constituting the Executive Council with those two Ministers.
There is, you will notice, no Vice-President of the Executive
Council. CHAMBERLAIN: That means Sir Paul Hasluck has the casting vote?
PRIME~ MINISTER: In the case of disagreement between the
partisan members of the Executive Council. As you know, there
has not been disagreement between the two pattisan members of
the what's the term, the active Ministers, the active members
of the Executive Council, the Minister's Executive Council on
Call, isn't that the term? in the 18 years they have served
in the Parliament together.
O'FARRELL: Those reasons you have given do not apply to
Senator Murphy or Senator Willesee. Why havn't you included
them as members of' the Executive Council?
PRIDMC-MINISTER: I have mentioned two members of' the House of
Representatives who, by any test, are senior to Senator Murphy
and Senator Willesee.
0O'FA' 7RRELL: Yes, but they are not subject to re-election.
They are there now. They are safe Labor men.
PRIM~' E MINISTER: I think they are all safe Labor men.
MAX 1HAWKINS, " BRISBANE TELEGRAPH": How urgent or how soon
would you or Mr. Barnard wish to consult with the Five Power
partners in South-East Asia and with the ANZUK partners on the
arrangements there, the defence arrangements there, having in
mind the party's proposal that we will withdraw our battalion
group from Singapore in the foreseeable future?
PRIME MINISTER: There is no urgency in this matter for the
present Ministry to determine. The battalion and the brigade
which are in Singapore don't end their tour of duty, I think,
until January 1974. This is a matter which clearly, not only
can, but should be left till there is a f'ull Ministry. -In any
case there is no urgency. As you know, Lord Carrington who was
due to come out here at the beginning of this year, will, in
fact, be coming in January and this is a matter which, among
others, might oe discussed with him.
BILL DARCY, I was wondering if you could tell me
whether you are hopeful that diplomatic relations between
Australia and China will be established there prior to your
visit later next year?
PRIME MINISTER: I would certainly expect so. I mentioned the
Japan-Australia Ministerial Meeting early next October. I would
certainly hope that there would be full diplomatic representations
between the countries, between China and Australia, by then; an
Ambassador resident in each capital.
L. OAKES. " MELBOURNE SUN": Prime Minister, you mentioned earlier
that the urgency of some United Nations matters was one of' the
reasons for the establishment of your interim Ministry. Can
you tell us whether any decisions have been made so far by
your Cabinet on those U. N. matters, what are they, and what
instructions have you issued?
PRIME MINISTER: There are two matters where I made a decision.
One concerned Rhodesia. In Committee, on one resolution
concerning Rhodesia, Australia had abstained, on another,
Australia had opposed, voted against. In each case, when the
resolution now comes to theGGeneral Assembly, Australia will
support, vote in support. On the other matter, concerning the
Sirl Lankan proposal for a zone of peace in the Indian Ocean,
in* Committee Australia had abstained, In the General Assembly,
Australia will now vote in support.
CHRIS, REEVES. A. T. N. NETWORK: Prime Minister: Can you tell
us please the terms that you have suggested for recognition of
Peking? PRIN. 1E MINISTER: Briefly, the Canadian.
BENNELL: Have you set a timetable, Sir, for the expulsion of
the Taiwanese Ambassador here at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: No.
CONNORS: Mr. Whitlam, could you give me a run-down of the
likely responsibilities of the new Department of Northern
Development and where its responsibilities may end and start.
geographically? PRIME MINISTER: No, this is a matter upon which I have already
had discussions with the relevant Departmental Heads. It is a
matter upon which Mr. Barnard, Senator Murphy, Senator Willesee
and I will be having discussions with some of our colleagues
also, but we will be involved in the discussion of all the
departments so that we will be in a position to make a
recommendation to the Caucus when it is able to meet, or if it
so wishes, to the new Ministry.
BRUCE MERCHANT. MACQUARIE RADIO NEWS: Mr. Whitlam: Could you
tell me whether you intend to hold a full scale Premiers'
Press Conference here in Canberra, Premiers' Conference before
Christmas? PRIME MINISTER: Nobody had suggested it. I don't believe it
would be possible.
MERCHANT: After Ch ristmas, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: There has been no such suggestion. I don't
think I've had' the suggestion, there might be in writing, I~ vve
not seen, I've not had any such suggestion from any of the
Premiers. WARREN DUNCAN. How soon do you think it will be before
your Government has an effect on the soaring land prices, not
only in the major cities, but in the growth areas that you and
the N. S. W. Government have nominated.
PRIME MINISTER: I hope to have discussions, as I said in my
Policy Speech, with the Premiers of Victoria and New South Wales
and Mr. Uren concerning Albury-Wodonga. The Hamer Government
in Victoria has nominated . Klbury-Wodonga. This administration
has been returned, among other things, on the nomination of
Albury-Wodonga. I don't know what approaches might be made by
any other State Government about any other centres. I certainly
would be discussing with Mr. Uren and his Department of Cities
any such matter, particularly this question of land prices.
12.
BOB BAUDINO. NEWS LIMITED: Can ask this again, twenty six
nations today moved a resolution in the Trusteeship Committee
of the United Nations calling for Australia to prepare a new
timetable on independence for Papua New Guinea. Australia
as late as November 20, gave a timetable saying this would come
in December 1973. Do you propose to update this?
PRIME MINISTER! W Events are moving so quickly in Papua New
Guinea that it is not inconceivable that that date of December
1973 could be reached. It is altogether probable thatPPapua
New Guinea will be fully independent and, one trusts, admitted
to both the United Nations and the Commnonwealth of Nations
before less than two years, no more than two years from now.
You know that Mr. Somare has sent a message to me. This is a
matter where I can repeat what I have said in the Parliament,
what Mr. Somare himself believes, that the term as Minister of
External Territories of Mr. Andrew Peacock made the
development of the progress towards independence of Papua New
Guinea very much easier than any of us could have expected
when some of you came up with some of us at the beginning of
1970 and again, at the beginning of 1971.
CHAMBERLAIN: Relevant to that, Sir, the Queensland Premier
is arguing about the boundaries between Queensland and Papua
New Guinea and says he won't tolerate any Federal interference.
Have you any view on that?
PRIVIE MINISTER: I have. It is well known but I think he can
wait until the full Ministry is appointed. I haven't yet had
time, I hope you will understand, to see what the position is
in the Department of Foreign Affairs on this matter, but quite
clearly, in the interests of good relations between Australia
and Papua New Guinea, this boundary must be made acceptable in
contemporary terms. The last visiting mission of the United
Nations Trusteeship Council to New Guinea reported on this
matter. It is going to receive increasing international
attention. The boundary which has been fixed by agreement
between Australia and Indonesia obviously forms a precedent
for a boundary between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Queensland is part of Australia. Australia alone has any
international standing.
BRIAN JOHNS: Prime Minister, you mentioned that Dr. Coombs had
given you advice today. I was wondering if you could tell us
has he joined your staff? If he hasn't, is he going to join
it and the conditions on which he would join, because I no * ticed,
and it is a supplenentary question to an earlier question that
Mr. McCallumn asked, and you said that you were trying to
depoliticise the Public Service by making these personal
appointments. I was wondering would he relinquish his other
public service posts by joining you?
PRIME MINISTER: He will be joining my staff. The conditions
are a matter of discussion between him and Sir John Bunting.
I think there were discussions today, but I'm not sure if,
because of the visits to Government House, this has been done
yet.
13.
MAX HAtWKINS: On regional development. During the campaign,
you also mentioned Townsville as one of the key centres that
you would like to see reasonably developed. Do you still hold
to that view now that you haven't won the seat of Herbert which
you hoped to win?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course. There was never any prospect of
us winning Indi or Farrer, but what I've said about Albury-
Wodonga stands. The significance, why I mentioned Townsville,
of course, was it is a centre whose problems arise, whose
advantages and problems alike arise from the Commonwealth's
very great involvement there. It'd always had the involvement
of the Air Force base, but of course in the last ten years
there has been the upgraded railway from Mt. Isa and the
consequent copper refinery; there has been the Army base;
there are two C. S. I. R. O. Research Laboratories; there is the
University. Accordingly, the demand on services in Townsville
has been brought about by Commonwealth involvement more than in
any centre in Australia other than Canberra itself. The one
particular thing where Townsville is deficient, where the
deficiencies are exceeded only by those of Adelaide, is in the
quantity of the water. Adelaide, of course, has problems of
quality of water as well. The other significance about
Townsville is, of course, that it is the natural point of entry
for one of Australia's greatest tourist attractions, the Barrier
Reef, and is much closer to those countries from which tourists
are most likely to come, Japan and America.
ALAN RAM~' SEY: Prime Minister: I realise that this is not a
matter of pressing urgency for the present administration, but
do you share Mrs. Whitlam's views, publicised views, today on
the legalisation of marijuana?
PRIME MINISTER: I have never discussed it with her. I think I
will leave it to the new Ministry. In general, I would not
expect on this matter any difference in approach from those
which have been adopted or foreshadowed by Mr. Chipp. I would
think this is one of those matters, such asi. Papua New Guinea
under Mr. Peacock, where there will be no great differences
between the outgoing administration and the full Ministry which
will be appointed before Christmas.
PAUL WEBSTER, " THEi AUSTRALIAN": Could I ask whether Australia
will accept a limited form of representation from Taiwan as it
has in Tokyo at present? Secondly, are you going to review
your relations with South Vietnam and Cambodia, and thirdly, do
you intend to seek some form of recognition in Hanoi?
PRIME MINISTER: The last one would not be regarded as urgent
by the prese . vt administration. The middle one, about South
Vietnam, this is not a matter which the present administration
would regard as calling for a decision within the next ten or
twelve days. The first one, the..
PAUL WIEBSTER: Taiwanese representation here in a limited form
as it exists in Tokyo at present.
14.
FRIKE MINISTER: This would appear a reasonable matter that
there should be unofficial contacts, commercial contacts,
between Taiwan and Australia after full-diplomatic representation
between the People's Repablic and Australia just as there are
still between Taiwan and Japan.
JOHN STUBBS: As Minister of External Affairs~ and Prime
Minister, what are you going to do about our political
appointments of the pre-vious government such as Gordon Freeth
in Tokyo, and Dame Annabelle Rankin in New Zealand? Will you
replace them immediately, or have discussions with them?
PRIME MINISTER: The present administration would not deal
with either matter. If, in the next administration, I'm Minister
for Foreign Affairs, as I expect, I would not think these are
matters of any urgency whatever. I have no reason to believe
that Dame Annabelle Rankin or the Honourable Gordon Freeth
would not carry out the policies of the new government with
complete competence and loyalty. In fact, there was an occasion
for me to send a message today to New Zealand via Dame Annabelle
Rankin and I gave instructions that my personal regards should
be passed to her.
DAVID SOLOMON: Sir, a multi-part question also. First of all,
you mentioned Sir John Bunting. Could you say whether you have
decided to keep him on as Secretary of the Prime Minister's
Department and what other decisions you have made regarding
senior Public Service appointments, and secondly, concerning
open government, what do you intend to do to make open
government a reality, and will you keep by your prior
undertaking to have regular press conferences every Tuesday
in Canberra?
PRIME MINISTER: I asked Sir John Bunting if he would be happy
to continue in his present post, as I would be very happy if
he were to do so. He said he would. I was pleased. It is my
view that, whenever I am in Canberra on Tuesday, I should have
a press conference. I suppose one would still have to work
out what time suited the Press best. It may be that it might
suit sometimes to have them in the morning, sometimes in the
afternoon, but obviously I would take the advice, I would try
to meet the advice, the wishes, of the President of the Gallery
on such matters. Gentlemen, might I just say this; since there are
quite a number of foreign policy issues upon which I have been
asked questions. In the foreign affairs field there are a
number of important questions I would like to discuss with
my colleagues and my policy advisers rather than say things
today which might have the effect of foreclosing some policy
options open -to this administration or the full Ministry.
The change of government, however, does provide a new
opportunity for us to reassess a whole range of Australian
foreign policies and attitudes. In the weeks ahead, I shall,
in consultation with my Ministerial colleagues and my policy
advisers, be reassessing these policies with the general
intention of developing more constructive, flexible and
progressive approaches to a number of foreign policy issues.
I wouldn't want to say more now than that the general direction
of my thinking is towards a more independent Australian stance
in international affairs, an Australia which will be less
militarily oriented and not open to suggestions of racism;
an Australia which will enjoy a growing standing as a
distinctive, tolerant, co-operative and well regarded nation
not only in the Asian and Pacific region, but in the world
at large. I hope you don't mind me volunteering those comments.
It is an early opportunity of me replying in general terms to
the good wishes that I have received from a very great number
of Heads of Government throughout the world, particularly heads
of fraternal parties, other Social Democratic and Labor
Parties, and Heads of Government in our region. Inevitably it
will take me a few days before I can make an appropriate
individual response to these expressions of goodwill which
have been very heartening indeed.