PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP, MENTEC, YOKOHAMA -19 SEPTEMBER 1990
E & 0E PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke on the Olympics, do you see a time
approaching where smaller countries are going to be unable
to hold them at all?
PM: Well as I've indicated last night, I think there must
be some concern about the increased difficulty of the
smaller countries having the opportunity. I want to
emphasise that my observations are not in any sense made in
sour grapes. I congratulate Atlanta in their success and I
do wish them well in holding the Centenary Games in 1996.
That will mark a centenary of the Games in which they've
only been held once in the Southern Hemisphere. Now with
the current frequency with which they are being returned to
North America it must be a matter of some concern as to
whether countries like, for instance, Australia with a
proven capacity to discharge the obligations of holding the
Games, whether they are really going to be able to have the
opportunity of delivering. I mean I make those statements
in the light of what so many members of the Olympic movement
have said to us in the last 48 hours before and after our
presentation. They went out of their way quite gratuitously
to say our case was good and our presentation was the best.
* Yet in those circumstances you still can't win.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke do you think that the African
countries moved on block towards Atlanta in one of those
middle votes and if so why do you think they did that? Was
it just because Atlanta has a big black population?
PM: I can't answer why that's so. I would have thought,
and I hope everyone will understand the sense in which I say
it, but I would have thought that the record and standing of
Australia on issues of fundamental importance to our friends
in Africa would have been such that we would have attracted
a larger measure of their support than we obviously did.
Again that's not said with sour grapes. They must cast
their vote the way they would. I think there were lots of
inducements and considerations that applied in their
thinking. At any rate the end result is that we didn't get
enough votes. We didn't win.
2.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke can you elaborate on what you meant
this morning when you talked about restructuring the United
Nations to accommodate Japan?
PM: My words were that I believe that there needed to be an
understanding in the world today that no effective world
order could be contemplated which did not recognise the
great significance of Japan. That it has and will have into
the future a political significance which will increasingly
come to match its status as an economic giant. Now I was
deliberately not specific about that because there is a
number of ways in which that could be done ranging, for
instance, and I say this without prescription, but it could
go from at one level the amending of the United Nations
charter to make Japan an additional permanent member with
full veto rights. You could have that at one extreme. You
could have other changes which did not involve an amendment
of the charter. I want to emphasise that these are matters
for the world community of nations within the United
Nations. They must address these issues. Nor does it mean
that possible amendment or changes in attitude would apply
only to Japan. If there is one thing that's true and
obvious in this world in which we live it is that it's not
static and the assumptions and the positions and dimensions
of 1945 are not the assumptions and the attitudes and the
dimensions of 1990 and the final decade of this
Century. Good common sense I think will mean that the
nations of the world must analyse these facts, look at these
situations and attempt to come up with answers which reflect
the realities. Now I repeat, I'm not seeking to impose some
prescription. I am simply nominating obvious facts and
reflecting also I think that it is inevitable that the world
through the United Nations will come to consider these
matters.
JOURNALIST: I believe this morning you had some
conversations or some questions on the Multifunction Polis.
Can you tell us how much interest you've had from the
Japanese on the Polis and do you think it's going to be a
success?
PM: Yes I am very pleased to see that the Japanese through
their Minister, Mr Mutoh, with whom I was talking today
seemed to retain a very real interest. And indeed they have
agreed that they will nominate a joint co-chairman for the
International Advisory Board. I won't go to the name of
that gentlemen at the moment but let me say it's a name of
very, very considerable significance. That is evidence of
their preparedness to go through now into the next stages.
I believe that they may be prepared to look at the
possibility of an investment mission early next year, so
that that could be fitted in with the next stage of
feasibility studies that are being undertaken in Australia.
So there seems to be no doubt of a continuation of their
real interest.
ends
J I 3
it's inevitable that there will be some adjustments. I
haven't attempted in any way to prescribe what those
adjustments should be. But I know that just as sure as
we are of any fact in life is that will happen and it's
appropriate that it be done in a way which the members of
the United Nations are happy with and in a way which
involves a considerable amount of discussion. But it
will happen, ok.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke, just on the Raiders.
PM: Last one, yes. You look as though you were there
right from when I left.
JOURNALIST: Who's going to win tomorrow in Sydney?
PM: The Raiders.
JOURNALIST: The Raiders?
PM: On Sunday. I mean they haven't changed it, have
they? JOURNALIST: By how many points?
PM: Well I've got to about 6, about 6.
JOURNALIST: Don't you think it would be nice to see the
Panther's win for the first time though?
PM: Well I understand yes, it would be nice for them.
It would bee good for the region and it's a great region
that they're representing. But you know, I'm a fairly
strong supporter of the Raiders and all my friends in
Penrith will understand that. I just hope that it's a
good, tough game and I'm sure it will be. Thanks.
ends