N
PRIME MINISTER
CSECK AANST DELIVEY HL . Y
SPEECH BY TH PRIM MISTER OF AUSTRALIA
THE ROB R J L HAKE AC NP
T 00GIVEN BY TE PRIME INSTM
OF PAPUA NZW CUINA
MR RA8BIE NAMALXU
STATE PFNCTION ROOK, PARLIA HOUSE
PORT MRESBY 3 SEPTMBMR 1990
When I first visited Port Moresby, the year was 1965, and
Australia's relationship to what was then called the
Territory of Papua and New Guinea was a purely colonial,
decidedly paternalistic one.
In the years since, I have visited Papua New Guinea on many
occasions and, when I have not been able to visit, I have
kept myself closely informed of events here.
I witnessed your steady progress towards independence and
the eaergence of the leaders of your new nation; I
understood your pride and joy as you celebrated independence
in 1975; I have watched with a sense of involvement and
encouragement the steps you have taken since independence;
and now I return, for my fourth visit as Prime Minister, to
meet with you again on the eve of your 15th anniversary of
nationhood. Recalling today that first visit to Port Moresby in 1965, I
think you are entitled to be deeply satisfied that the
legitimate expectations about nationhood and selfdeterminatinn
that wpre ttrring then, have been so
significantly fulfilled.
Let us be clear in describing the magnitude of that initial
task of nation building. The old Territory of Papua New
Guinea, its boundaries and components, was a purely
artificial entity the product of decisions made by
imperial planners in far-off capitals. There was little
geographic or ethnic coherence to it; it was truly the
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independence for a nation of Papua New Guinea had a doubly
difficult challenge: they had not only to create the
institutions of nationhood, they had also to create the very
concept of it.
So your achievement is so much the greater than many others
who started with simpler and more natural building blocks.
S
2.
But I don't pretend no one should pretend that the
decade and a half that have passed since independence have
been plain sailing. They have not, for that matter, been
plain sailing in Australia.
It is true to say that Papua New Guinea has never passed
through a more difficult test of character and resolve than
it is passing through today. That is my judgment and it is
your judgment too, Prime Minister.
From many sources some external, such as the tall in
commodity prices, and some internal, not the least of which
is the question of Bougainville strong pressures are being
felt that pose the profoundest challenge to the nation that
years ago was albout to celcbwiito ito indoporidonce.
I want to say at the outset how grateful I an to you Rabbie,
and to Margaret, f or your kind invitation to Hazel and me to
visit at this difficult time.
We have already spoken about these important issues,
Mr Prime Minister, and we shall do so again. I want to say
how greatly I value hearing your views, and the views of
your colleagues and of the many other political and business
leaders I shall meet throughout Papua New Guinea on this
visit. At the same time, I hope in all these discussions to outline
Australia's views to underline both the depth and enduring
nature of Australia's friendship and commitment to Papua New
Guinea; and the very real constraints the very proper
constraints we feel in intruding in any way in Papua New
Guinea's own efforts to solve these troubling issues and to
realise your considerable potential as a sovereign nation.
I want to develop these thoughts first by making some
comments about the broader international environment in
which we operate an environment that has changed in
fundamental ways even in the fifteen months since you, Prime
Minister, last visited us in Canberra.
We are seeing nothing less than the emergence of a new world
order. After four decades of the relative certainties of
superpower deterrence as awesome and terrifying as those
certainties were we are moving with hope into an era in
which superpower cooperation is replacing rivalry; in which
disarmament is replacing the accumulation of weapons; and in
which democracy and the respect for huan rights are
replacing despotism and the abuse of human rights.
We are each democratic nations. we are each conceurzed to
see international peace and co-operation. These are
therefore trends most welcome to Australia and Papua New
Guinea alike.
But the optimism with which we survey this less threatening
world is tempered by the fact that, in the wake of the
sharply bipolar post-war decades, multipolar diplomacy may
provide different uncertainties and different headaches.
A 3.
We have every reason to hope that the great international
institutions in which Australia and Papua New Guinea
participate like the United Nations and the Commonwealthwill
work better, but their workings will be more complex,
more challenging.
Patience will be needed to hear out the more numerous
voices, and skill will be needed to weigh uip the more finely
balanced competing interests.
And of course regional conflicts can still pose grave
threats to peace and prosperity as we are starkly seeing
in the Persian Gulf today.
In such a world, consultation and regional cooperation will
be not just optional extras for governments; they will have
to become deeply engrained habits.
In this regard, I believe we nations of the Asia-Pacific rimhave
good reason for confidence.
First, we have an unparalleled basis for building prosperity
for all ou~ r peoples.
This region of high growth, high output, high productivity
and intense trade complementarities, is rich in
opportunities for all of us; though or course in this
intensely competitive region, we will have to run faster
just to keep up for example, in attracting foreign
investment and integrating ourselves with regional
developments. Second, friendly, constructive and candid dialogue among the
nations of our region is already a fact of life as ASEAN
shows and, of direct relevance to Australia and Papua New
Guinea, as the South Pacific Forum also shows.
I point with a certain pride of authorship too, to the
progress being made by the new regional foru of Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation. I look forward with
anticipation to the time when Papua New Guinea can itself
become a member of APEC.
This changing world requires us to look closely at the
nature and prospects of the Australia-Papua New Guinea
relationship. The transformation of the global strategic environment, the
dynamism of east Asia, and the emergence of new generations
of post-independence leaders and issues throughout the South
Pacific including here in this most populous of the
Pacific Island countries have rendered many of our
assumptions and images-of the past outdated and irrelevant.
our relationship is too important to us both to see it
suffer from any failure by us to bring ourselves and our
assumptions up to date.
The real, contemporary basis of our relationship is
accurately described in the Joint Declaration of Principles
that was signed by then Prime Minister Wingti and myself in
1987.
Together with other agreements, and notably the Development
Cooperation Treaty that Prime minister Namaliu. and I signed
last year, we have a comprehensive framework within which to
take forward the relationship between our two countries well
into the next century.
The absolutely fundamental feature of that framework is the
recognition that we are each sovereign independent nations.
The relationship between us has thankfully changed
utterly from the colonial one that I saw at first hand in
1965; it has changed substantially since independence; and
it is evolving still.
The Joint Declaration a wholly commendable initiative
first propoood by Papua Now Guinea wo A lndamrk in this
evolution because it recognised and articulated that the socalled
' special' relationship between us that dominated the
first decade or so after independence, was itself a phase
through which we had passed.
In many eyes here, the ' special' relationship represented a
restriction on your political and economic sovereignty an
unsatisfactory half-way house on the road to full
sovereignty.
The Joint Declaration was designed to spell out the fact
that Australia and Papua New Guinea, enduring friends as we
are and uniquely important to each other as we always will
be, are nevertheless independent nations with sole
responsibility for shaping our own destinies.
I'k ppa" RwnuR" fl&~! ta in Inn1k1ng at h
whe chancjun iiiu vu. aixt ziage-_, : or oxasuplu, La. vie boon
designed to recognise the principles outlined in the joint
Declaration. Instead of simply providing direct budget assistance, our
total aid package still running at more than $ 300 million
a year is increasingly being directed to specific projects
determined in accordance with Papua New Guinea priorities.
We sponsor projects in taxaition and customs not to do the
job of revenue raising for you but, as a friend, to assist
Papua New Guinea itself to strengthen these essential
institutions of nationhood, and so to improve your own firm
foundations for revenue. one of the stated goals of the
Treaty that we signed last year, Rabbie, was the achievement
by Papua New Guinea of fiscal self-reliance.
We provide police assistance not because we believe we can
solve law and order problems but to help you do the job
yourselves.
We are involved in land management and rural development
schemes with the same intention in mind.
We have provided some 2000 Papua New Guineans with
scholarships and training awards in Australia over the last
decade in the firm belief that people with education and
training are the best resources for any country, Australia
included, to make economic and political progress.
This transformation in our aid package reflects the broader
truth of Papua New Guinea's sovereign independent status.
We have no wish to intervene to solve your problemsi it
would not be proper for us to interfere in the way you
manage your affairs.
More importantly still, Australia has no-caMacj finally to
solve these problems.
Because if effective solutions are to be found and of
course, they can be found they must be solutions that
emerge from within Papua New Guinea and are implemented by
Papua New Guinea not from outside.
Like all societies, Papua New Guinea has its own way of
doing things. Your ability to talk things through, your
capacity to find solutions that fit, are arts that are
different from those that have evolved in
Australia and elsewhere; and that are
essential to the successful creation of a
cohesive, efficient Papua New Guinea nation.
It is simply not possible or desirable to turn the clock
back to 1975 or 1965 or for that matter, 1985, before we
signed the Joint Declaration of Principles.
The suggestion occasionally made that Australia should
transfer large numbers of public servants or consultants
or military advisers to help you is just not on.
That would make a mockery of the whole process of
independence and nation building which the Founding Fathers
of your country so forcefully and so properly demanded.
Of course having said all that I would not want to be
misinterpreted as suggesting that Australia will somehow
walk away from our commitment to help Papua New Guinea.
I tell you emphatically, we are too important to each other
to allow that to happen.
We've been through too much together for our friendship ever
to be broken.
-4
6.
And you have made too much progress in building a tree,
democratic society with a free press with established
capacities for the fair delivery of services to all parts of
the nation with continuing economic development for us
ever to want to see that progress reversed or those
principles diminished.
But we simply cannot nor would you want us to reinsert.
ourselves in your domestic issues and attempt to impose a
solution that could only be second-best, short-lived, and
ultimately counter-productive.
This is the context in which I place any consideration of
the question of Bougainville.
We fully support the Papua New Guinea Government's resolute
commitment to a political solution and we agree with you
that Bougainville must remain an integral part of Papua New
Guinea. We welcome the Endeavour Accord as a possible framework for
the restoration of services to Bougainville and as a stop in
the right direction towards the resolution of this issue.
we want to see a settlement. We have already indicated our
willingness to assist in the rehabilitation of Bougainville.
But we have no direct role in constructing a settlement.
Our Defence Cooperation program with Papua New Guinea is
aimed in common with the rest of our assistance to you
at strengthening the institutions of your nation.
We are committed to helping you improve the capability of
your security forces, although the objectives and priorities
for their use in meeting the new challenges of the 1990s are
of course for you to decide.
The time is long past when Australian forces could act in an
internal security role in Papua New Guinea, except perhaps
in the most extraordinary, agreed, and limited of
circumstances. That means no doubt there will be some changes in emphasis
in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force's objectives and
perhaps structure. When Papua New Guinea is ready, we will
be happy to help you develop the necessary capabilities
under our Defence Cooperation program.
Ny friends,
These are the kinds of issues important and complex ones
that i look forward t6-discussing with you all during this
visit. I am confident the future for Papua New Guinea, and its
relations with Australia, are bright if we continue to
make the right decisions.
In saying that I am not indulging in idle speculation or
polite platitudes.
I truly believe that you should have every confidence in
your abilities and your prospects.
I look at the physical resources of your great land: the
agricultural, mineral and energy wealth that is waiting to
be tapped.
I look at the considerable sum of foreign private
investment in Papua New Guinea, including $ 1.8 billion
already invested by Australians a sun that is likely to
rise sharply.
I look at the support you have been extended by the
international financial community, as evidenced by the
recent World Bank Consultative Group Meeting, which reflects
very widespread approval of your program of stabilisation
and long-term structural adjustment.
I luuk uL ripa New Guinans growing roles on the
international stage, reflecting an increasingly outwardlooking
orientation and backed up by an ever stronger
network of nations here in the South Pacific who together
are confronting and resolving critical regional issues.
Papua Now Guinea's voice an independent and clear voiceis
heard with respect by nations in the region on a wide
range of issues. we will ourselves always listen with
respect to what Papua New Guinea has to say.
I look at the strong democratic institutional framework of
nationhood that you have created, and your genuine efforts
to increase political stability through reforms to the
Constitution. I look at your repeated capacity to produce political
leaders of character, vision and resolve and I most
certainly include you in that list, Mr Prime Minister.
Indeed Prime Minister your policies on economic
stabilisation, your outward-looking conduct of foreign
policy, your determination to achieve political and economic
reforms designed to improve national stability and
efficiency are all praiseworthy and proper initiatives that
can only improve the welfare of your people.
And not least, I look at the vast resources of these people
the men and women of Papua New Guinea themselves:
resilient and courageous people who have done so much so
rapidly to build a modern nation in an ancient environment.
with all these advantages, mr Prime Minister and
distinguished guests, you should have no doubts about Your
own capacity for the delicate, difficult, demanding but
exhilarating task of national development that stands ahead.
And you should have no doubts that through this process
Australia will stand with you as a close neighbour and firm
friend. ccc