PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 2 APRIL 1974
PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, some of the Cabinet decisions
yesterday have already been announced. Mr Crean has done so and
Mr Daly has done so. I, myself, will be issuing later in the day
a statement on the Animal Health Laboratory. In brief, we have
approved a project to provide major protection for the Australian
livestock industry. We will establish at Geelong a laboratory
complex and an Animal Health Laboratory at an estimated cost of
$ 56 million. This will provide a vital protection against animal
diseases for one of Australia' s most important industries.
Are there any questions?
QUESTION: Why was Senator Gair appointed Australian Ambassador
to Ireland and, secondly, was this opposed by officials at the
Department of Foreign Affairs who would have liked to see the
position filled by a career diplomat rather than a politician?
PRIME MINISTER: The Department of Foreign Affairs wasn't asked for
a view on it and, of course, didn't presume to express a view on it.
But members of Parliament have been constantly appointed to diplomatic
posts including Ireland. You remember Sir Hugh Roberton was appointed
as Ambassador to Ireland. Other serving members of Parliament who
have been appointed as ambassadors have been Sir Percy Spender
to the United States, Sir Howard Beale to the United States,
Mr Joe Gullett to Greece, Mr Dan Mackinnon to the Argentine, Uruguay
and Peru, and Mr Gordon Freeth to Japan. Members of Parliament who
have been appointed as High Commissioners have been Sir Thomas White
to Britain, Sir Eric Harrison to Britain, Sir Alec Downer to Britain,
Dr Donald C~ rieron -to New Zealand, Dame Annabelle Rankini to New Zealand
and Sir Hubert Opperman to Malta. Then there have been Consul-Generals
Sir Josiai Fran':. is to New York and Mr Roger Dean to San Francisco.
QUESTION: Mr Whitlain, did you appoint Senator Gair because of his
-Cact, diplomacy and agreement with your Government's policies or
so that jou could win another Senate seat in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: I would agree with what M Siiedden said about
Senator Gair on the 4th October: " Senator Gair is a very experienced
anid very senior politician. He has, in fact, been a very great
Australian". My attitude to Senator Gair has Always been same.
QUEJSTION: Can I repeat Mr Oakes' second part of his question?
DO yo~ t hope to win the sixth seat in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. No, I correct that; the fifth.
QIJZ-TION: I hav~ e a message from Brisbane. It states that the
qucuensland Premier he may have done this already but in Parliamniet
today he intends to announce that the Queensland Government and the
P-apua New Guinea Government have agreed to retain the present
boundiaries. Are you aware of this, and what are'your comments?
PRIME MINTSTER: I haven't heard.
QUESTION: Do you h-ia"' e dn coneo'ns to ina] e on Russia's request for
consideration of a joint Lide in Australia?
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PRIME MINISTER: You are referring to a proposal that some Soviet
scientists made in February for the establishment of a joint
Australian/ Soviet station. The proposal is that the station would
be used for purposes of photographing space objects and contributing
to a study of the characteristics of the atmosphere. That was the
way the proposal was put. The proposal is currently under study in
appropriate departments. No advice has been given to Ministers on
it, and Ministers have not considered it.
QUESTION: Was the decision to appoint Senator Gair taken while
you were Acting Foreign Minister in Senator Willesee's absence?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
QUESTION: Did the initiative come from yourself?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
QUESTION: Was Senator Willesee consulted and what was his view
on the appointment?
PRIME MINISTER: The appointment was made while I was Acting
Foreign Minister. Senator Willesee knew before he went away and,
of course, he has known since he has returned.
QUESTION: Will Cabinet mak3: the decision on whether there should
be a Russian base here and when do you expect that decision to be
made? PRIME MINISTER: Well Cabinet might, but it might not. It depends
on what the Ministers concerned feel about it. I wouldn't imagine
that there is any particular hurry. I beiieve there have been such
proposals put to our predecessors too, bucz as often happened in
those days, no decision was reached.
QUESTION: Did the Irish Government express any reservations about
a second political appointment to be Ambassador in Ireland.
PRIME MINISTER: No, the Irish Government made no comment on the
appointment. The Irish Government in fact gave its agre'teit very
rapidly.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, has Senator Gair officially accepted the
position?., PRIME MINISTER: Yes. He hasn't, I understand, resigned from the
Senate yet.
QUESTION: On the Senate election. What would you expect the
state of the parties to be in the Seiiate after the election. How
many seats do you expect to pick up?'
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't worked a( A this out. It may be that matters
are in a state of flux. There may aven be some rearranging of
various tickets.
QUESTION: What other appointments have you offered to members of
the Senate after the Senate elections?
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PRIME MINISTER: I have to wait until other governments have
indicated their agreement. Seriously, there have been no discussions
on any such matters.
QUESTION: Do you welcome the States access to a consumption ti. x
as the High Court determined it yesterday. And will you be vacatinq
the field of Commonwealth sales tax to allow the States access to
a growth tax which you have always advocated or will you be cutting
back on your commonwealth grants to the States?
PRIME MINISTER: We haven't studied the judgment yet and the other
States, apart from Tasmania, have not considered legislation on this
subject yet. Tasmania wil, as a result of the judgment, presumably
be bringing in fresh legislation. As a matter of general attitude,
however, a consumption tax, a consumer tax, is one which is quite
appropriate for States to levy in a Federal system. There has been
very much doubt and hesitation hitherto by the States in ' imposing
such taxes because there have been a great number of decisions by
the High Court on the Commonwealth's exclusive power to levy excise
duty. There has been doubt as to what taxes would be excise
duties. The High Court decision yesterday clarified this matter
quite considerably.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, in reference to your policy of accepting
only skilled or professional workers from Asia, do you think that
might cause a brain-drain from these countries that would generate
as much antagonism as the White Australia policy.
PRIME MINISTER: It might. It well might. I take this opportunity
to comment that many newspaper articles on this and other immigration
matters refer to a " migrant drive". The Government is conducting
no migrant drive. What the Government has done is to make arrangements
for the same method of assessing skills, industrial skills, which
hitherto, have applied to Europe, including Turkey, to the
ascertainment of industrial skills in S. E. Asia, the South Pacific
and Latin America and, accordingly, if people in those other countries
nearer to us now seek to migrate to Australia, their skills will be
able to be determined at home instead of being referred to Australia.
Ile are, in other words, as regards industrial skills making thiv S. vne
arrangements for our neighbourhood and our hemisphere as h4Ve be en
made for some years past in respect to Europe.
QUESTION: Is the Government prepared to pay compensation Lo mining
companies that are not able to go ahead and develop reserves that
they have vacated because of decisions in relation to the environment,
Aboriginal land rights, Aboriginal welfare? Would such compensation,
if it were to be paid, be based on E': oenditures they have incuirred
in vacating the reserves, or would it be related to their expectations
of profits, if they were allowed tco go ahead and develop them?
PRIME MINISTER: There might be legal implications in any answer I
have to that, so you will understand that I won't answer it. The
general situation is that for the last 20 years, under legislation
introduced by one of the Menzies Governments, uranium in the Australian
territories and there are very great deposits of uranium in the
Northern Territory; we don't know of any in Canberra or Jervis Bay
belong to the Australian Government. And accordingly we have suggested
to companies which have contracts to supply uranium overseas that
they can fulfil those contracts from uranium deposits owned by the / 14
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Australian Government in various parts of the Northern Territory.
We are not prepared to allow any companies to exploit uranium from
Aboriginal reserves until Mr Justice E. A. Woodward has given a
further report on Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory.
QUESTION: Mr Prime Minister, I understand that during your
forthcoming visit to Europe, you are going to visit Yugoslavia. ' Viiis
will be the first ever visit of an Australian Prime Minister to
Yugoslavia? Considering also the fact that there are a quarter of
a million Australians of Yugoslavian origin, do you expect that
your visit will improve better the relationships between the two
countries, and whether some tangible concrete matters will be
discussed? PRIME MINISTER: I have had many invitations from heads of Government
or heads of State in Europe to visit their countries. Among them
there is an invitation from Yugoslavia. Accordingly, when I visit
Europe, I intend to visit Yugoslavia. The Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
visited Australia a year ago and therefore it is proper that I should
reciprocate his visit on my first visit thereafter. I know the
contribution that Yugoslavs have made to Australia, because I believe
that in my electorate there are more people who were born in Yugoslavia
or whose parents were born in Yugoslavia than any other electorate
in Australia.
QUESTION: There is a considerable concern that meat prices are
dropping seriously. A number of abattoirs have been forced to lay
of f staff due to the virtual disappearance of export sales. The main
problem seems to be an over-valuation of the Australian dollar against
the American dollar and the Yen. Is the Government concerned about
this situation?
PRIME MINISTER: I will not make any conm f-t in public on matters of
valuation of the currency. Nobody in this job would. If prices
are falling overseas, we might even get them to fall at home.
QUESTION: Will the Government give asylum to an American war desertcr,
currently under detention in the country, and what is the general
attitudes of the Government on at least another ten deserters believed
to be in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: The Government hasn't considered this mat-6* er and I
have only had a very passing discussion about it with my colleagues.
You might forgive me however if I express a tentative view. The man
concerned has an Australian wife and Australian born children. I don't
believe it is possible that in those circumstances he would be
deported.
QUESTION: Presumably you will hope that the DLP will be killed as
a force in the Senate on May 18. Do you hope that?
PRIME MINISTER: I would believe that, there will be one member of the
DLP in the next Parliament after the Senate elections.
QUESTION: Has this hope or belief influenced your decision to
appoint Senator Gair to Ireland?
PRIME MINISTER: There are DLP candidates standing in several States.
I would not think that any of them have strong prospects of re-election.
QUESTION: You said in the House this morning you hoped that
Senator Gair would be in Dublin in July. When exactly will he take up
his appointment?
PRIME MINISTER: Before July. I am not sure. I would think about
the end of June. As you know our diplomats in various posts find it
useful and agreeable for them to have a visit by the Prime Minister
or the Foreign Minister because it brings them quite intensely into
governmental circles at their posts.
QUESTION: Can you tell me why Professor Ronald Henderson's report
on poverty was not released yesterday as expected?
PRIME MINISTER: Because it is proper to release it in Parliament while
Parliament is sitting.
QUESTION: Can you tell us, is there still time between now and
May 18 to have the sixth vacancy elected in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: The Queensland Government if the Queensland Legislative
Assembly is not sitting, or the Queensland Legislative Assembly,
if it is sitting, can made an appointment to fill a casual vacancy.
The replacement is made at the first election, Federal election,
after the occurrence of the casual vacancy in the State. The balance
of Senator Gair's term will be taken by the person elected on 18 May.
QUESTION: That depends on when Senator Gair retires. Do you know
when that will be?
PRIME MINISTER: 1.
QUESTION: Can I clarify a point in answer to my earlier question?
When I asked you whether you had had any negotiations referring to
overseas posts, what I was getting at specifically is: Have you
had any discussions with Senator Negus or any other independent
senators regarding the possibility of standing for President after
the Senate elections?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't and if I had I wouldn't tell you.