FOR MEDIA 11 APRIL 1984
The attached letter was sent to the Opposition Leader today.
PRIME MINISTER CANBERRA,
1 0 APR .1984
The Hon. A. S. Peacock, M. P.,
Leader of the opposition,
Parliament House,
CANBERRA A. C. T. 2600
Dear Mr Peacock,
Thank you for your letter of 6 April, concerning the
proposed visit of three South African politicians to
Australia. I note that you have declined to give the written
assurance, which I requested, that the visit would
not be exploited by the politicians concerned to
promote apartheid doctrine and policies. I note also
that Mr Durr, a Member of the South African Government
Party, who has apparently been the spokesman for the
South Africans involved in this exercise, is reported
as having similarly declined to give such an assurance.
These developments confirm the Government's view that
the principal purpose of the visit, as originally
conceived by the South African Embassy, was to promote
apartheid. In such circumstances, the Government
will not be able to grant entry visas.
In my letter of 5 April I outlined in detail my
Government's policy of not granting visas to South
African official representatives who seek to come to
Australia to promote apartheid. Mr Durr has since
been quoted as claiming that " the conception of
so-called apartheid, as it is apparently perceived by
the Australian Government, is a conception that is as
dead as a dodo".
You may be aware of the report on the weekend of the
detention for three years of two South African children
under five years of age, while their racial identity
was determined. Such horrifying reports confirm only
too clearly that the obscenity of apartheid remains the
policy and practice of the South African Government.
I attach South African Government statistics received
from the Australian Embassy in Pretoria, which confirm
in appalling detail the basis of the Australian
Government's policy and give the lie to Mr Durr and
other apologists for apartheid.
In your letter, you state that your own record in
opposing apartheid is unimpeachable. It is certainly
true that the Fraser Government had a very good
record on Southern African issues. I am disappointed
that the Coalition Parties appear to be walking away
from it under your leadership.
Yours sincerely,
& 0z" jJ
R. J. L. Hawke
ATTACHMENT
SOUTH AFRICA APARTHEID STATISTICS
169 people were prosecuted in 1983 under
Section 16 of the Immorality Act, which
prohibits sexual relations between members
of different racial groups. The prosecutions
resulted in 126 convictions, of which 86 were
in the Transvaal, and 27 people are still
awaiting trial;
during 1983, 142,067 blacks were convicted of
" pass law" offences relating to reference
books and influx control in the nine main urban
centres of South Africa. The highest number
of convictions was on the East Rand :( 55,454)
and in Johannesburg ( 37,562);
during 1983, 911 coloured, 407 Indian families
and 46 white families were moved from their
homes under the terms of the Group Areas Act.
Most of the removals were in the Western Cape;
a total of 104,607 blacks were arrested for
trespass during 1983. This compares with the
figures for coloureds 13,558, whites 1,174 and
Indians 601;
in 1983, 10,855 black people were prosecuted
under the curfew regulations;
in the field of education, in 1982/ 83 the State
spent R1,385 on each white school child, R593
for a coloured child, R871 for Indians, and
R192 for black school children;
under the Coloured Labour Reference legislation
operations in the Western Cape, a total of
2,238 black workers were refused employment in
the Western Cape during 1983 by the Department
of Manpower.