EMBARGO: 8. 30 P. M.
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR E. G. WHITLAM,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE GOVERNORGENERAL'S
DINNER, TUESDAY 9 JULY 74
SIR PAUL HASLUCK'S LONG AND REMARKABLE CAREER
HAS BEEN LANDMARKED BY AN EXTRAORDINARY NUMBER OF " FIRSTS",
TO OPEN A PARLIAMENT AND FAREWELL IT ON THE SAME DAY
IS A RECORD LIKELY TO STAND FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
THIS OCCASION IS ABOVE ALL A PARLIAMENTARY OCCASION.
WE FAREWELL A FORMER COLLEAGUE OF 20 YEARS.
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL, HOWEVER, IS A CONSTITUENT PART
OF A PARLIAMENT WHICH CONSISTS OF THE QUEEN, THE SENATE
AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. AS THE QUEEN'S
REPRESENTATIVE IN AUSTRALIA, HIS EXCELLENCY IS PART
OF THIS PARLIAMENT, So IT IS DOUBLY FITTING THAT
THIS MEMORABLE DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE PARLIAMENT
AND, I TRUST, A MEMORABLE DAY CROWNING A VERY
MEMORABLE CAREER SHOULD END HERE.
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AND A GREAT CAREER IT HAS BEEN INDEED
A CAREER OF HIGH ACCOMPLISHMENT BY A MOST HIGHLY
ACCOMPLISHED AUSTRALIAN, THE LIST IS EXTRAORDINARY
JOURNALIST, AUTHOR, HISTORIAN, ACADEMIC, CIVIL
SERVANT, DIPLOMATIST, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT,
MINISTER OF THE CROWN, VICEROY-A CAREER
REMARKABLE IN ITS DIVERSITY, YET EQUALLY REMARKABLE
IN ITS CONSISTENCY, THERE HAS NOT BEEN A PRO-CONSUL
OF MORE DIVERSE ATTAINMENT SINCE CICERO.
THIS SHINING CAREER HAS ONE CLEAR, CONSISTENT THEME,
THE SERVICE OF AUSTRALIA AND THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA,
IN ONE CAPACITY OR ANOTHER, HE HAS BEEN IN THE SERVICE
OF THE CROWN AND THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE
FOR AN UNINTERRUPTED THIRTY-FIVE YEARS,
IN THE BRIEF PERIODS WHEN HE WAS NOT HELPING TO MAKE
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY, HE WAS TEACHING IT OR WRITING IT,
AND NO LESS REMARKABLE, LADY HASLUCK,
AN HISTORIAN IN HER OWN RIGHT, OF ELEGANCE AND
CHARM IN HER WRITING AND HER PERSON ALIKE,
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AROUND THIS ROOM ARE SCORES OF MEN AND
WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH HIS
EXCELLENCY IN VARIOUS PERIODS OF HIS CAREER, WHO
HAVE WORKED WITH HIM OR WORKED UNDER HIM.
THERE ARE THOSE OF US WHO WERE HIS PARLIAMENTARY
COLLEAGUES, MANY OF THEM. HIS FORMER MINISTERIAL
COLLEAGUES. THERE ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS WHO SERVED
HIM AS MINISTER, AND THERE ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS
WHO WERE HIS COLLEAGUES WHEN HE TOO, WAS A PUBLIC
SERVANT. I MIGHT BE FORGIVEN IF I SINGLE OUT
FOR MENTION THOSE WHO WERE ASSOCIATED WITH HIM ON
A UNIQUE OCCASION OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO THIS NATION.
HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO PRESENT CREDENTIALS
TO THE FIRST SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED HATIONS,
His COLLEAGUES IN NEW YORK WERE MR. ARTHUR TANGE, fiR.
JOHN MOORE, MR. ALAN RENOUF AND MISS JULIA DRAKE-BROCKMAN.
SIR ARTHUR TANGE HAS BECOME SECRETARY OF THE DEFENCE DEPARTMENT,
fiR, JUSTICE MOORE HAS BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION COMMISSION, MR. RENOUF HAS BECOME
SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND MISS
DRAKE-BROCKMAN HAS BECOME MRS.' MOORE. OUR FIRST PERMANENT
MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS IS ASSEMBLED HERE AGAIN TONIGHT
TO FAREWELL ITS CHIEF,
HIs EXCELLENCY HAD THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF COMING TO
HEAD AS MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, THE DEPARTMENT IN WHICH
HE HAD SERVED.
THERE IS A NICE SYMMETRY ABOUT HIS EXECUTIVE CAREER.
AS HE HIMSELF RECORDS IN THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
OF HIS WAR HISTORY, HIS PROMOTION TO THE MINISTRY WAS HASTENED
BY THE DOUBLE DISSOLUTION OF 1951; HIS LAST FORMAL DUTY WAS TO OPEN
A PARLIAMENT WHICH WAS CREATED THROUGH A DOUBLE DISSOLUTION WHICH
HE HIMSELF HAD GRANTED. HE DID NOT ATTAIN THE PRIME MINISTERSHIP,
BUT WITHOUT IN ANY WAY DEROGATING FROM THE DISTINGUISHED CANDIDATES
WHO SOUGHT THE LEADERSHIPOF THE LIBERAL PARTY AFTER THE TRAGIC
EVENT OF DECEMBER 1967, IT IS NO SECRET TH. AT AT THE TIME I WOULD
HAVE REGARDED PAUL HASLUCK AS THE MOST FORMIDABLE OPPONENT,
I AM NOT SAYING THAT WE WOULD HAVE LOST THE ELECTIONS IN 1972,
BUT PERHAPS WE MIGHT NOT HAVE WON,
HOWEVER THAT MAY BE, HE DID COME TO HEAD
ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND EXPEDITIOUS EXECUTIVE
COUNCILS WE HAVE EVER HAD, IT WAS A HAPPY, HARMONIOUS,
HEADY TRIUMVIRATE. FOR THOSE TWO WEEKS IN DECEMBER, 1972,
THERE WAS TOTAL PRIVATE AND PUBLIC UNANIMITY AMONG ALL
TWENTY-SEVEN MINISTRIES, AND IN THOSE DAYS WE STRUCK
AN ACCORD WITH THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL WHICH HAS REMAINED
UNMARREDI UNDIMINISHED, HIS GOVERNOR-GENERALSHIP, THE CIRCUMSTANCES
IN WHICH HE WAS PLACED AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL,
CONFIRM CONCLUSIVELY, IF CONFIRMATION WERE NEEDED,
THREE GREAT TRUTHS: THE ABSOLUTE FITNESS OF APPOINTING
AUSTRALIANS TO AUSTRALIAIS HIGHEST POSITION, THE
ABSOLUTE FITNESS OF POLITICIANS TO HOLD THAT OFFICE
AND THE ABSOLUTE ABILITY OF OPPOSING POLITICIANS TO
BURY PARTISANSHIP IN THE SERVICE OF THE NATION,
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SIR PAUL HASLUCK'S CAREER IS ITSELF A
TRIBUTE TO THE BASIC STRENGTH AND STABILITY OF THE
AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM WHICH HE SERVED FOR
SO LONG WITH SUCH FIDELITY, AT A TIME WHEN
PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IS EVERYWHERE UNDERGOING
TREMENDOUS STRESSES WHICH CHALLENGE ITS BASIC ASSUMPTIONS,
WHICH CHALLENGE ITS VERY SURVIVAL, IT IS GOOD TO BE
REMINDED OF THE TRUE SOURCES OF ITS STRENGTH AND
TO HAVE IN THE PERSON AND CAREER OF OUR OWN GOVERNORGENERAL,
A POWERFUL, LIVING REMINDER OF THE HUMAN
QUALITIES BY WHICH ALONE THAT STRENGTH CAN BE
MAINTAINED,