PRIME MINISTER
CHECK AAN nP-TVER EMRAR( OEn UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
1991 LIONS INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
BRISBANE, 19 JUNE 1991
Bill Biggs, International President,
Distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen
At the outset I want to welcome, on behalf of the people and
the Government of Australia, the International Association
of Lions Clubs to Brisbane and to Australia, and
wholeheartedly to wish you well in your convention.
This is the first International Convention that Lions have
held in the Southern Hemisphere and we are delighted that
you have chosen Australia for what we hope is only the first
of many return journeys for you.
It's a pleasure to see such a large gathering of
international visitors, drawn from more than 100 countries
and it is a pleasure too to see the way in which Australia's~
Lions, your hosts and guides, are working to ensure your
stay here is enjoyable and memorable.
The Lions movement today on the eve of its
anniversary is truly one of the great international and
multicultural movements, spanning the continents and uniting
people of diverse cultures and backgrounds in a common
commitment to community service.
You are dedicated to creating and fostering a spirit of
understanding among the peoples of the world, and to uniting
your clubs around the world in bonds of friendship, good
fellowship and mutual understanding. In other words, Lions
is both a catalyst and a model, in these challenging times,
for the emergence of more harmonious relations among the
people and the nations of the world.
It must certainly be obvious to everyone assembled here that
this Convention does take place against an international
backdrop of -the most dramatic, and in some respects the most
uplifting, changes seen in more than four decades.
The last few years have seen the end of the Cold War, the
fall of the Berlin Wall, and particularly over the last
year the re-invigoration of the United Nations to the
point where we can hope it will become in fact the
instrument of global order envisaged by its founders.
The end of the Cold War has borne double fruit. Not only
has the threat of global nuclear war been lifted, but the
ideal of international co-operation to keep the peace an
ideal which lay dormant through the long years of the Cold
War has now sprung to life once more.
The success of the United Nations, and of the multinational
coalition led by the United States, in confronting and
reversing the invasion of Kuwait has far reaching and
positive consequences for us all.
But despite all this we cannot, of course, afford naive
optimism about the future of international relations.
Economic under-development in the Third World is still a
tragically unresolved problem. The spectres of hunger and
desertification in Africa continue to loom. Population
pressures still increase. The plight of refugees continues
to challenge us. Global environmental degradation threatens
humankind in ways which could ultimately be as significant
as, albeit more gradual and insidious than, the nuclear
threat. We see the continuing struggle within the Soviet Union to
contain and repair the damage inflicted on its political and
economic structures by the illogicalities of those decades
of centralised planning and in observing that continuing
struggle we can at best conclude that the outcome is
uncertain. And underlining all these difficulties is the continuing
crisis in world trade. In the face of the still unresolved
Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, it would be
irresponsible to be optimistic about the world economic
structure. So my friends, as members of an organisation with a truly
international spirit and a truly global perspective, you
will conclude with me, even on the basis of this very
cursory assessment, that for all our justified euphoria in
seeing the end of the Cold War, the current international
climate contains many profound challenges for us all.
The beneficial changes we have experienced do provide a firm
basis for us to mould a more enlightened international
order. But there needs to be a realisation that the
challenges in this new, fluid, multipolar world are no
lesser challenges than those of the static certainties of
the old bipolar world they replace.
How are thesis challenges to be solved? And how is this
international order to be created?
In essence, -the challenge we face in the iggos, at the end
of the Cold War, is analogous to the challenge of 1945, at
the end of the Second World War. Each country and-region of
course will have its own particular suggestions and
perspectives. But the guidelines which should provide our direction in
managing this transition in international relations are
clear. They are in essence the same principles that give life to
the great multilateral organisations born in the 1940s the
principles ofE fair and open international trade enshrined in
the GATT; the principles of economic development and sound,
market-orienited economic management, which govern the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund; the commitment to
a better qua: lity of life, which provides the fundamental
rationale for-the United Nations specialised agencies; and
not least, the principles of respect for national
sovereignty and international cooperation enshrined in the
charter of the United Nations Organisation.
The challenge is to ensure peace through international
cooperation; to apply enlightened self interest in an
interconnected world in short, to live up to the high
ideals and the realistic expectations of those far sighted
men and women who in that great burst of statesmanship in
the 1940s lai~ d the basis for multilateral activity today.
And we must make certain that the principles of the United
Nations concerning respect for sovereignty and peaceful
dispute settl~ ement are enshrined not just in the Charter but
in the real world, by giving them concrete backing.
This is a responsibility which many powers must share. We
hope the US will keep alive the internationalist spirit
which has sustained it in fulfilling its responsibilities
which flow from great power. And because of the relative
shift of economic power, there is clear scope for others to
bear more of the responsibilities and of the burden,
clearly, including Western Europe and Japan.
In the United; Nations and other international institutions,
in the Western community of nations and in the Asia-Pacific
region, Australia is well placed to play a role. We have a
myriad of specific interests to pursue and protect our
independence of action will always be vital in our foreign,
defence, trade and international economic policies. But we
recognise that a real contribution to the larger reshaping
of international relations can only be effectively made by
working with others.
Our commitment to multilateralism will help guide our
foreign policy in the decade ahead.
Our rapid and firm support for the United Nations' stand
against Iraq testifies to our commitment to multilateralism.
Our initiative in establishing the Cairns Group of likeminded
agricultural-exporting countries, which has been
critical in having agriculture recognised as the lynchpin to
the Uruguay Round, likewise testifies to our commitment to
multilateralism. And one of the objectives of APEC the
Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation of which Australia is a
founding member, is the encouragement of free and open
international trade, as a key to global prosperity.
In our own region, we have sought with others to find a
formula for peace in Cambodia, to bring peace and stability
to that country, and an end to its people's suffering.
Australia recognises that the role we are able to play in
global security is necessarily somewhat limited. But we are
one of the most active nations in the measured pursuit of
disarmament including, through the United Nations and
other negotiating forums, the abolition of chemical weapons.
My friends,
The creation of a saner and a safer world is within the
grasp of the international community. Australia will play
its part.
But I want to close by saying to you, the thousands of
assembled delegates of Lions International, that the
attainment of this goal is not a task for governments alone.
Indeed, without the active and intelligent support of
individual people, and of international networks of people
such as the Lions movement, the work of governments will
falter and fail.
Ultimately, if we are to succeed in creating a saner and a
safer world, it will be because ppla throughout the
nations of the world have determined to achieve that goal.
Let me say in particular that the Lions project to eradicate
preventable blindness around the world, and its continued
involvement in drug prevention programs, are precisely the
kinds of actions that I am talking about.
In the same way, voluntary relief organisations have played
an indispensable role in alleviating hardship throughout the
world nowhere more starkly in recent weeks than in the
Horn of Africa and in Bangladesh.
We are all in their debt because of the dedication and not
infrequently the courage with which they do their work.
And the significance of their work is emphasised because it
so often is conducted in areas beyond the proper reach of
Governments, and mobilises resources additional to those
that are allocated by Governments.
So to this gathering I say in closing: you are very welcome
among us in Australia. Your mission of service, and your
achievements, stand as an example to governments around the
world of what can be achieved, with determination and
dedication, to attain the goal of a better world.