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TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE, SHERATON HOTEL, DARWIN
29 JANUARY 1989
E 0 E PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST; t~ o you believe that President Mitterand GoQ
defence contract do you believe that that should have been
kept to the level of economics and business rather than politics?
PM: Well we can't change the course of history, can we. I
think if you look at the sorts of events, political influence
is often brought to bear. I know that since I've been
Prime Minister I've always been prepared to use my influence
on behalf of Australian contacts where we are satisfied,
and we always are, about the quality of the Australian
tenders. Where an Australian tender for an overseas
contract looks as though he should get it, then they'll
have my support. We're not unique in that respect. In
fact, without going into the details, not long after I'd
been Prime Minister, in a country in our region it got
down to the French and the Australians and I happened
to be visiting the country and I put in a plug for Australia.
The French were there just about signing a contract and
we were able to a very substantial contract for Australia.
And may I say the Australian contractor did the job extremely
well and the nation very pleased they did what they
did. Now that's the way of life. So I'll be in there
fighting for the Australians when I'm in India, and they
deserve to win.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what will be the highlight
of your trip to South Korea?
PM: I think it's really a consolidation of the visit
of President Roh last year and what impressed me was then
the quite dramatic new approach of the new President in
terms both with the relationship of the Republic of Korea
with the North. and with the rest of the world. I want
to follow up on my discussions with him the implications
of that both for Korea itself and for the region. I think
it's one of the more significant things that's been happening
in recent times in our region. So I think the discussions
on that issue will probably be as important as anything
else. Of course we agreed during his visit to Australia
last year to accelerate the processes of cooperation between
our two countries in a number of areas beyond purely the
trading and economic relationship and we will be reviewing
just how well the mechanisms are going for establishing
those things upon which we agreed, for instance in the
area of the Cultural Commission for accelerating exchange
there across a whole range of areas of activities and
in the establishment of the Business Forum. We agreed
then that we'd meet as soon as possible this year to make
clear to bodies and individuals in our two countries the
extent of our commitment to these processes. The Korean
economy is growing strongly, our trade is increasing,
I want to ensure that Australia gets the benefit as rapidly
as possible of that growth, and in turn that we can make
some contribution to the development of Korea.
JOURNALIST: Is Australia's trade performance with the
four countries you're visiting as good as it ought to
be given the levels of growth they are experiencing?
PM: Well it's improving and the reason for the visit
is to try and increase the rate of Australian involvement.
I am never satisfied with where you are, I always think
you can do better. It's these sorts of areas where I
think that personal relationships are oportant and I do
have the good fortune of alrea dy good relations with the
President of Korea and the Prime Minister of India. This
will be the first meeting for me with the new Prime Minister
of Thailand and of course with Pakistan. So I hope that
out of these personal contacts~ with the renewal in the
former two countries that I mentioned and the opening
up of personal relations in Thailand and Pakistan, that
we will be able, as I say, to get the greatest benefit
of the fact of that economic growth because they do have
rates of growth which speaking of them generally are
more than twice the rate of the OECD average for instance.
So it is essential for Australia where you' re in a region
of rapid growth as I've said so often) ck'cd you've heard
me say it -we want to be in there and get as much benefit
from it and make as much contribution to it as we can.
JOURNALIST: What are the sorts of products
PM: It comes really into two categories. There is our
traditional export base and we are competitive producers
and exporters of raw materials. We have iron ore, coal
as well as in the aluminum area, and our agricultural
products. Now those basic and traditional quantities
are available from Australia in terms of reliable supply
and competitive prices. We are the best suppliers in
the world in those areas. So I want to stress that to
our friends where we go. But, the second area where I
will be particularly stressing the relevance and the competitive
nature of Australia is in the areas of telecommunications.
the telecommunications industry, the construction of
stations in the power generation industry, like we have btiit
now coal-fired power stations in a way which gives us
some expertise which is second to none in the world.
On a whole range of infrastructure developments, roads,
ports, those sorts of things, Australia is becoming an
increasingly capable, sophisticated, competitive supplier
of the infrastructure, developing infrastructure needs
of these countries.
JOURNALIST: Are we having the Thais are making on
cracking down on the drug problem out in the triangle
PM: We have close cooperation with them. As you know
we have people working in cooperation with them. This
is one of the areas I'll be discussing with our friends
Sin Thailand to review the cooperative program that we
work on together and of course if they have any suggestions
to make to me as to how there may be areas for improvement,
then I'll certainly be receptive to that.
JOURNALIST: On a domestic level I understand Justice
Muirhead delivered the first four case reports to the
Government last Wednesday. Do you see any reason why
those reports can't be released immediately?
PM: I need to discuss that with the Minister. I mean,
I just don't make a unilateral decision on that. I haven't
had an opportunity of talking with Mr Hand yet.
JOURNALIST: Do you agree with Justice Muirhead that they
should be released individually case by case as they're
finished? PM: I haven't specifically discussed that with Mr Hand.
My view would be that if the Minister was of that view
then I'd be satisfied with that. But these are matters
for the Minister concerned to have an involvement in.
I don't impose my generally speaking at any rate I
don't impose my will on Ministers. There's some times
perhaps where that is necessary. But you know that that's
the way I run the Government. Mr Hand is the Minister
there. If he had a contrary view to that of the Royal
Commissioner I'd want to hear it. But if he didn't I'd
certainly say yes.
JOURNALIST: So we could expect them to be out before
the West Australian election?
PM: Could be. I don't know. You really need to talk
to Mr Hand about that. I'm leaving today and Mr Bowen
will be acting Prime Minister in my absence. Mr Hand
will have a view about it.
JOURNALIST: Do you have any progress on the proposed
Aboriginal treaty?
PM: I'll say this. In the sense that we still have commitment
to the concept and just last Sunday week I had
I I
further discussions in Melbourne with M~ r Hand about it.
There are two sides to it as you'll appreciate. There
is the continuing process of consultation within the Aboriginal
community in this country and that is a long detailed
process. We are not going to rush that. We want to get
the full sense of appreciation from the Aboriginal people
as to what the issues are in their mind to be dealt with t
such a treaty, a compact. We are also addressing the
point of how within the non-Aboriginal community there
should be developed so that the people of Australia
as a whole are going to have the opportunity of being
informed about the issues, the concepts. This is particularly
important in view of the fact that the Opposition has
chosen so maliciously and dishonestly to misrepresent
what is involved in this concept. So I've made it clear
th at it would be impossible to achieve this position
in the life of this Parliament. But I've always had the
view that if that were not possible, if the processes
that I'm talking about had not been satisfactorily completed,
then there wasn't going to be any artificial date in my
mind that it had to be done in the life of this Parliament.
What's important is that at the end of the processes within
the Aboriginal community and in the non-Aboriginal community
that there is understanding and acceptance of the concept
because there is no doubt in my mind that this and future
generations of Australians are going to be better off.
They're going to be better able to live in good conscience
if we've done this thing. It's got such historical
importance. It's not something that should be rushed
with an artificial date.
JOURNALIST: media should get off Pat Cash's back?
PM: I hink that it is not really appropriate for me
toMe: Itin who should get off Pat Cash's back but I
think he has a few people on his back.
JOURNALIST: What is your decision on Australia's involvement
in the international peacekeeping force in Cambodia if
that situation should arise?
PM: We have made it quite clear over a number of years
that Australia is prepared to play its part in finding
a peaceful resolution to that continual tragedy in Cambodia.
And if in the now much more encouraging scene that we
see there where I think we have more grounds for optimism
than we have had at any stage, it would be suggested
that there would be some international force to supervise
the situation following the withdrawal of the Vietnamese
forces both in security terms and in intermediate
sense, and perhaps in election supervision. If it were
suggested that Australia could play a role in that, of
course consistent with our whole in this matter, we
would be prepared favourably to consider that.
PM: ( cont) But we are not there in this or any other
area in the world trying to impose Australia but we do
have legitimate interests, historical concerns, and we
will be prepared to play a part in getting, finally, a
resolution of what has been such a long continual tragedy
for the people of Cambodia.
ends
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