PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA SATURDAY, 23-OCTOBER 1982
LAUNCHING OF THE BOOK, " 16 PRIME MINISTERS"
It is a very nice thing that the whole family is here,
it is nice for that to be so on this occasion. There are many
old friends of Sir Alexander' here and it is good to renew
Ob aquaintances of people who are in the Parliament when I was
first there and when Alex was first there. It does not'
hurt to remind ourselves just for a moment that Alex had an
enormous tradition of service to South Australia and to
Australia as his father had before him, and as I suspect his
son has after him. Australia is certainly very much the richer
for individuals and for families who have that commitment to
the service of Australia in a way which enables them, or in a
sense commands them to devote all their time and all their
energies to trying to do something for this country.
Many of you would know Alex's own history. It is maybe a commentary
on the passage of the years that Alex was one of a significant
number of prisoners of war of the Japanese, and he was in the
Federal Parliament when I first joined it and that must have
been an experience that none would or could ever forget.
Alex was Member for Angas and was re-elected five times. I can
remember electioneering with him, not on his account, but on
one occasion when the Liberal Party very nearly won electorate of
Grey, and the very-obvious respect with which he was held
by everyone who me t him, wherever he went and it was good
to see.
I was speaking with Clyde Cameron here this morning and he
said Sir Alexander was one of those who had friends on all sides
of the House and he was able to expres3 his views and his arguments
in a way that was forceful and clear-cut but in a way which did
not arouse enmity,--in a way which deserts friendship.
That is very much a hallmark of this particular book. There
have been many books written I suppose about politicians and
contemporary figures. I do not think you have published any of these
and if so,-that is to your credit. Idon't think any of these
contemporary works would be worth publishing. There was
one very brilliant one written about rrie of about 100 pages of
totally blank paper. That might have been the best of them. / 2
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Alexander's book is something of a very different character
and of very different quality. His own character shines
through the book. He describes the six Prime Ministers and
other ministers also of Australia and the United Kingdom in a way
which is kindl~ i and perspicacious in a way which makes it perfectly
clear that he does not necessarily agree with anything that
they have done, or every aspect of their character, but in a
way which at the same time could not possibly give offence
to anyone, to any friend or relative who might want to read
this particular book. That says a very great deal about
. AMexander, that was his character he had the capacity to
disagree, but to do it in a pleasant and in a friendly way.
It does give us an insight into the six Prime Ministers. I
have read, not every word of the book, but I have certainly
read all of that part of the book which I think is most
relevant to my own experience in relation to three Prime
Ministers. I think he covers the ground very well and gives
an insight into a number of issues of consequence in which
Alex himself played a very significant part.
From what we know of biographies if somebody got up and
said he was going to write about certain people, I suppose
they would have felt nervous about it and what was going to
be said because so often people always seem to want to write
the wounds, the hurts, to try and find out what was wrong and
to try and demonstrate that there was no good whatsoever. I think
that. is the reverse, the very opposite of the kind of book that
this in fact is.
There are many things that could be said. Alex gave a number
of insights into the people concerned, but also in the book
there is an insight of Alexander in the words of some of the
Prime Ministers. Sir Robert Menzies said he was a man of high
education, of wide information, of great purposes with an
uncommon capacity for getting on with people, for presenting
his views strongly but without forfeiting friendship. That
suggests a great deal of what this particular book is all
about;. Courtesy* is one of the things which just seems
to have gone out of the window so far as Federal Parliament
is concerned..,
About enzies' dinners ' at The Lodge , he said, These dinners never lasted
long enough. He was ' an incessant worker and usually returned to ' the House,
soon after 8, but tho~ se interludes enabled memb~ ers to discover the warmer
side . of a man who. wzs the opposite to -what some of his critics
alleged him to The judgements of Menzies, of Holt, to
Gorton and I suspect also of Wilson, Heath and Brookeborough
but those last three were obviously ones I knew not so weL
were good and sensible judgements.
The book also reveals Alex Downer's own concerns, a crcndntmnt-to public
service, to the highest standard in public service. He was a believer,
a leader in the Parliament in the Parliamentary institution.
In the Commonwealth itself he epitomised much of what this
State and much of what the Liberal Party stood and stands for.
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The courage with which Alex finished his book is also very much
a part of the man. It must have been dif ficult. -I hope Mary
that it is something that you have been-looking forward to, and
I am sure it is, that fact that this book is published And
published now in a way which I believe, will get wide acclaim.
There were a number of issues which were important during
Alexander's time. I was in the Federal Parliament during his
long period of service as High Commissioner in the United Kingdom,
there was the great issue of the Common Market and as I would
believe, and it has come through the book, that Alex did not
much like the desertion of the Commonwealth for some new
relationship with the European community. I think later
history might make that judgement to be an accurate ' one.
He subscribed to a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
which was not necessarily called that at the time, but at
a difficult time when the Commonwealth was going through a
period of transition and moving to a new time and to a new
form. He also describes the battle that Harold Holt put up to try
and prevent British withdrawal from east of Suez at a time
which was obviously difficult through South East Asia and
difficult in relation to Australia as an ally of Britain
and also difficult in r -lation to the United States as an
ally of Britain. In spite of
the arguments put forward by Australia, by New Zealand and
by the United States, the British decision to withdraw was
irrevocable on financial,' resource and economic grounds alone.
The book is an insight into the inner workings and relationships
between leaders of government, between governments of a kind
which we have not had up to this point. -many
of us also remember Alex very much for the speeches he often
gave in the United Kingdom. which were saying things that needed to be
said, but perhaps they were not always heeded as much as they should have been.
This is* a. -valuable book, a thoughtful one and it
says as much about Alexander himself as it does about the
six Prime Ministers. I have very great pleasure in launching.
the book. I wish it well and if there are any other contemporary
historians around, they would particularly do well to read
it. 000---