THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 1 MAY, 1973
PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, this morning Cabinet
made several appointments, or at least approved recommendations
for appointments to the Executive Council. The Executive Council
won't be meeting until Thursday probably and so I can't announce
them yet. My Press Office is releasing two statements this afternoon.
The first announces that the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh,
at the invitation of the Australian and New Zealand Governments,
will visit New Zealand and Australia in the first quarter next
year. The second is announcing the discontinuance of bonding of
staff in the Commonwealth Public Service.
Cabinet today decided to refer the Meat Board Report on
meat prices to the Joint Committee on Prices. That's the
Parliamentary Committee which will operate once the opposition
parties have chosen their members. Cabinet authorised Senator
Wriedt to release the Report. Cabinet spent a considerable amount
of time discussing v~ rious proposals concerning prices. When
finalised, these will be announced at the special Premiers'
Conference on Thursday next week. A preliminary draft of
legislation to establish the Prices Justification Board was also
considered today.
Are there any questions?
Q: Mr Prime Minister, was the Government serious when it asked
a producer-exporter dominated Meat Board to bring a recommendation
on meat stabilisation, and is it prepared to carry the question on
further, such as asking its officials in the Department of Primary
Industry to bring down their own scheme?
PRIME MINISTER: The Meat Board is the only statutory body
responsible for the Commonwealth. Therefore it was the only body
( only official body) on whom the Australian Government could call
for advice. You can see the Report as it is. Obviously the
Government will also get advice from its officials on these matters.
Q: Gordon Bryant has been reported several times in the last
couple of weeks as saying that the Australian Government will
not hand over the Torres Strait Islands to New Guinea and that
there'll be an enclave arrangement adopted. Is this the firm
policy of the Government?
PRIME MINISTER: I will not answer questions based on summaries
of what other people have said whether they are my colleagues
or not. As I've said very many times to you and also in other
public places the border between Australia and Papua can at the
moment be determined by the two Governments if the Queensland
Government will co-operate. The Queensland Government shows no
signs of co-operating. In fact all the actions it takes seem
designed to inflame the issue. When Papua New Guinea is
independent the matter will fall for determination through
international channels such as the International Court of
Justice where only the Australian and Papua New Guinea
Governments will have the right to be heard.
Q: Sir, on that subject I asked you several months ago
actually at your first press conference whether something
could be done about whaft's called the Offshore Legislation
in time for the conference on the Law of the Sea, and I now
ask you again when you think the Commonwealth is likely to
put up its own legislation so that the test case can be made
so that some of this stuff can go to International Courts?
PRIME MINISTER: The legislation was approved by the Legislation
Committee of Cabinet this morning. I expect it will be introduced
this week or next week. I'm not so optimistic that we can in
this Session introduce the companion legislation about
fisheries, but the basic legislation incorporating the
Territorial Sea and Continental Shelf Bill which was brought
in on behalf of Mr McMahon three years ago this month I think
that will be brought in this week or next.
Q: Does it go much beyond the Bill which was brought in by
the previous Government?
PRIME MINISTER: it includes mineral legislation too, other than
oil, which is the subject of existing legislation.
Q: Sir, you aim to put that through this Session?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
Q: on the question of the executions, Sir, are you contemplating
any action against Mr Bijedic for not contacting you or the
Department of Foreign Affairs over the matter of executions and if not,
why not?
PRIME MINISTER: This was, as I said in the Parliament, both
the Attorney and the Ambassador assumed that the other would
tell the Foreign Affairs Department. Now I'm certainly not
contemplating any action against either. This was a misunderstanding.
Of course the proper procedure should be for the Ambassador to
approach the Foreign Affairs Department. I notice in some of
the papers while I've been away that there was the allegation
that I'd been too busy to see the Ambassador or had declined to
see him. There is no truth in tlis whatever. Nobody from the
Embassy asked the Department or my office to see me, and we
checked with the Embassy and they agree that there was no approach
to see me or the Department at any time.
Q: Prime Minister, why then did they go and see the Attorney-
General? Do you have an explanation for that?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I can only assume that since they didn't
approach me and I was away that weekend and Senator Willesee
was abroad with ECAFE that they approach the third Minister
who had been involved in all the discussions when the Yugoslav
Prime Minister was in Australia.
0: Sir, are you perfectly satisfied with Senator Murphy's
handling of the whole situation regarding the Yugoslavs,
beginning with the ASIO raids and concluding with the fact
that he did not inform you of the executions?
PRIME MINISTER: You've already heard me and I've got nothing
further to say about the ASIO. About the other, Senator Murphy
should have told me or should have told the Department it
doesn't have to be me. But as I said in the House, these are
all side issues. They don't affect any major issue between
Australia and Yugoslavia or within Australia. It was quite
irrelevant.
Q: Mr Whitlam, having spoken to Senator Murphy last night
do you accept that the information was given to him unofficially?
PRIME MINISTER: No information between an Ambassador and a
Minister and a Minister's Office can be unofficial.
Q: Sir, are you confident that this will not occur again?
Have you taken steps to ensure it will not occur again?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm certain that their Ambassador and other
Ambassadors and the Attorney and other Ministers will see that
the information which they wish to exchange comes to the
notice of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Q: Prime Minister, was this issue discussed in Cabinet this
morning? If so, what was the tenor of that discussion and can
and can you tell us what was said when Senator Murphy dropped
round to your Office yesterday to welcome you home?
PRIME MINISTER: I will say nothing of what happened on either
occasion. You know I wouldn't.
Q: Prime Minister, you mentioned that these were side issues
which did not affect our relations with Yugoslavia. A number of
people however are concerned that the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
visited and had discussions with you only three days after the
executions. Does that not affect our relations with Yugoslavia?
Will you make a further protest that he didn't inform you then?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I will not make a further protest on this.
I was asked in the House about this matter and I pointed out as
evexybody knows that the Yugoslavian Prime Minister had left
Yugoslavia some days before the executions took place. As a
result of the discussions that Senator Willesee, Senator Murphy
and I had with the Yugoslavian Prime Minister we have now got
information which we hadn't got before. The incursion into
Yugoslavia took place in June or July last year and no information
could be elicited before in fact they came here. As a result of,
the discussions that took place when they did come here we now
have all the information which has come out.
Q: Wouldn't you agree, Sir, that he was less than frank however
in not telling you that these men were about to be executed
when he left Yugoslavia?
PRIME MINISTER: I think he could have said that they'd been
convicted yes.
Q: Sir, will you consider any form of compensation to the
families of the executed men?
PRIME MINISTER: This hasn't arisen.
Q: Will it arise?
PRIME MINISTER: Wait till it is raised.
Q: It was raised in the Senate this afternoon, Sir.
PRIME MINISTER: It hasn't been considered by the Government.
One can't assume one just doesn't know but one can't assume
that the convictions were wrongly based. What we object to is
the fact that people whom we claim to be Australian citizens
were not put in touch with Australia's representatives in
Yugoslavia. That's what we complain about, and it's what my
Government has complained about all along, and now at last the
issue is being discussed between our Ambassador in Belgrade and
the Yugoslavian Ministers there following on the discussions which
took place between the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and the
Assistant Foreign Minister when they were in Australia.
Q: Sir, as these trials which culminated in the executions
were in secret and we have a number of citizens of Yugoslav
extraction, would you approach the Yugoslav Government to ask
at least that diplomatic representatives be present at these
secret trials, that which we protested in countries other than
Yugoslavia?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know w1& ther they were secret trials.
They were certainly not publicised. I don't know who could
attend the trials. None of us know that. It's something we're
trying to find out. But of course we are trying to ensure that
whenever any persons whom we acknowledge to be Australian
citizens are arrested in Yugoslavia then our representatives will
be informed. As I said in the House this question of dual
nationality with the dominant nationality being that of the
country where people are residing at the moment this is not
just a matter which concerns Australia and Yugoslavia. It also
concerns Australia and Italy, Australia and Greece, Australia
and the United States. Those other three countries as well as
Yugoslavia have always taken the attitude that if a person whom
they regard as one of their citizens and whom we regard as one
of our citizens visits one of those countries then he can be
called up if he is in the proper age group for military service.
Now this is not nearly as serious a matter as a trial and an
execution. This is just the latest, the gravest manifestation
of this problem of dual nationality. It affects a great number
of our naturalised citizens. Now it might help if I were to say
at this stage that there is provision under Yugoslavian law
for Yugoslav citizens to renounce Yugoslav citizenship.
There is provision for that and any Australians of Yugoslav
origin who want to renounce their Yugoslav citizenship should
take steps to do so. The Yugoslav Government takes the attitude
and so too do other Governments which adhere to this principle of
dual nationality, that it is not sufficient for the person and
the Government of the country of his adoption to agree that he
should renounce his original citizenship. That must also be
terminated by agreement between the person and his country of
original citizenship. People should take these steps, and
it is available under Yugoslav law.
Q: Do you think Sir that the renunciation has to take place
on Yugoslav territory or can it be done
PRIME MINISTER: I don't think so. I think it can be done
through the Yugoslav Consulates and Embassy in Australia but
this is something where if anybody in Australia is concerned
he should seek the advice of the Department of Immigration.
Mr Grassby has been very actively considering this matter.
Q: Have you seen or spoken to the Yugoslav Ambassador since
your return?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
Q: Well through what means do we know that Mr Bijedic thought
that Senator Murphy had told the Foreign Affairs Department?
Has he spoken to Foreign Affairs since then, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know the exact details of what
communications there have been. I've been away as you know
for a fortnight. I saw Mr Bijedic at his request on the 16th.
I left that night.
Q: Sir, do you know whether any other people in similar
circumstances are being held in Yugoslavia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we are trying to find out.
Q: You don't know?
PRIME MINISTER: No, if we knew, we would tell the people
concerned the relatives and if they wished we would
announce it publicly. But we don't know. We are trying to find out.
Q: Sir, it's more than a fortnight since you sent off your
protest to Yugoslavia. You still haven't had a reply I think?
PRIME MINISTER: No, on the contrary, we have had some
information and further action is being taken. For instance,
as a result of the protest which I think went on Friday 13th
and as a result of the interview with Mr Bijedic on Monday 16th
I have got the information which was given to you yesterday and
which I read in the House today, namely the date of the
executions. I wanted to know that of course because there are
Australians who will want to have that information for legal
purposes quite apart from the point of view of setting their
minds at rest and that information has been secured, and I
announced it in the House in full and some of it was given to
you yesterday.
Q: It wasn't a formal reply to your protest note though?
PRIME MINISTER: There's no written reply yet but this
information has come as a result of my discussion with Mr Bijedic
on Monday 16th.
Q: Prime Minister, there are reports from Paris today that
the French Government is about to resume its nuclear tests at
Mururoa Atoll. There are also reports that the scheduled
number of tests will be reduced. Do you as Prime Minister have
any information on this?
PRIME MINISTER: No. The French Government refuses to give
any information to anybody on this subject. Senator Murphy
could give it to you more predisely because he received it
orally. The French Foreign Minister said personally he gave
his assurance that the tests would not take place during the
scientific discussions which are to take place between French and
Australian scientists in Australia next Monday and the following
few days.
Q: Sir, how will you decide whether those talks have broken
down and therefore you intend to go to the International Court?
PRIME MINISTER: We'd come to this conclusion in a very few
days I would expect.
Q: A few days?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
Q: Mr Whitlam, Mr Barnard announced yesterday that the Supply
would go with New Zealand as a last resort
PRIME MINISTER:. Yes.
Q: did you endorse the statement and how close will the
Supply go to the test zone if it does go?
PRIME MINISTER: I discussed this matter with Mr Barnard when
he was in New Zealand yesterday. I don't know how far. This
is a matter for discussion between New Zealand and the
Australian navies.
Q: Prime Minister, when do you plan to table the Report by
the three Australian scientists who went to the French test site?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure.
Q: why you haven't up till now?
PRIME MINISTER: All these matters bear upon the court case.
Q: Sir, has Cabinet or any of its Committees yet considered
the detailed proposals for new Trade Practices legislation?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I hope we'll do it next week.
Q: I think in your absence Sir, Ampol entered into a contract
with XL to refine oil and as a result of that XL has
substantially cut prices in Melbourne garages. The Victorian
Automotive Chamber of Commerce, I think is the correct title,
claims that you were somewhat taken aback by this cut-price war
and have proposed a full-scale investigation. Are these facts?
PRIME MINISTER: I've made no such proposal. I wasn't aware of
the general situation. I haven't had the opportunity to be
taken aback.
My emotions are described, in various terms while I'm away.
I see I'm angry, I'm furious. I hadn't heard that I was so
moderately affected as to be taken aback.
Q: You're not upset at the cut-price war then?
PRIME MINISTER: Not in the least.
Q: Sir, would you like to correct the descriptions of your
state of mind while you were away about the Murphy incident?
PRIME MINISTER: As you know I don't bother to confirm or
deny any of these emotions which are attributed to me.
I don't engage in long-distance controversy.
Q: Did you think it was an anti-climax in the House today
the Murphy uproar?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, completely.
Q: Sir, on that-subject...
PRIME MINISTER: I know it's too unsporting of me to disclose what
our predecessors have said in writing to each other. I'm
supposed to keep that from you as they kept it from the public
insofar as they could.
Q: Do you believe that should be made public.., this
correspondence
PRIME MINISTER: I think it's a reasonable reposte for those
people that try to insinuate there are differences about us.
The fact is that Mr Grassby, Senator Murphy and I are trying
to do something about it and we have done something. We want
to do more, but we are completely in agreement on wanting to
secure the rights of people who accept Australian citizenship
or who are given Australian citizenship. Secondly, we are
completely at one in wanting to stamp out political terrorism.
Q: Sir, I think you said in the House today that you found out
on Saturday April 14 that Senator Murphy had advance knowledge
of the announcement about the executions. It has also been
reported that you talked to Senator Murphy not long before he
left Australia about 7 o'clock on that day. The implication is
that you knew about this before he left. Could you say if
that's so, and if so did you raise it with him on the phone
and if not, why not?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn't know before he left. I didn't raise it,
therefore with him before he left. I spoke to him on the phone
about his mission to Paris about the French nuclear tests.
Q: I got the impression you might have made a mistake when
you said the 14th.
PRIME MINISTER: It might have been Sunday the 15th. I don't
remember this. It was sometime at that weekend and I learnt
as I said from a cable from Belgrade our Ambassador in Belgrade
and I looked in my diary to see what day it was. I can't be
sure what day it was, but it was on that weekend. I think it's
more likely that it's the Saturday, because I notice I was
rather freer in my engagements on Saturday than I was on Sunday.
Q: I thought you'd only learned when you say the Ambassador
on the Monday?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I might have learned of it on the Sunday.
I think it was the Saturday.
Q: Will Australian sailors on H. M. A. S. Supply be in any danger
when they go into the French nuclear test zone?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope not. They'll be volunteers so they
would be accepting such risks as there might be but I don't know.
Q: When you say they'll be volunteers, they will be asked to
volunteer for the trip or what?
PRIME MINISTER: Any persons going into any danger zone will
do so as volunteers. There will be no compulsion on any R. A. N.
personnel. There will be no orders given to R. A. N. personnel
to go into this zone.
Q: But there will be R. A. N. personnel...?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, but I don't know if they'll be in the zone
because the French have not said where the tests will be.
Their practice hitherto has been I think to issue orders for
aircraft and shipping a couple of days beforehand.
Q: Would we break those orders. I mean would we sail within
the zone?
PRIME MINISTER: Every nation shares the high seas and no
nation has the right to close them to any other nation.