FOR PRESS: PM No. 61/ 1971
ADDITIONAL AID FOR EAST PAKISTAN REFUGEES
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. William McMahon
The Government today discussed the plight of East Pakistan
refugees in India now aggravated by the serious outbreak of cholera.
It decided to authorise additional assistance of up to
$ 500, 000 for relief to be drawn upon in the light of advice from the
authorities in India as to what is most needed.
This amount is additional to the $ 500, 000 already promised
by the Government, of which $ 240, 000 has already been committed.

FOR PRESS: PM No. 60/ 1971
PREMIERS' CONFERENCE AND
AUSTRALIAN LOAN COUNCIL
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. William McMahon
Arrangements have now been completed
with the State Premiers for meetings of the Premiers'
Conference and the Australian Loan Council to be
held at Canberra on Wednesday 16 and Thursday
17 June.
CANBERRA. 8 June 1971

PRESS, RADIO AND TV CONFERENCE GIVEN'-BY
THETPIVIMI fNYTE-M W[ IEAI McNAHO
AT PARLTA METFH-OUSE, CANBERRA 27 MAY 1971
PRIME MINISTER : Before I ask you to ask questions, I would like to make three
announcements to you, and they all relate to Government policy. The first one
is that Mr. Peter Howson will be appointed the Minister in charge of the new
portfolio. Yesterday afternoon, I had an audience with His Excellency the
Governor-General and he agreed to commission Mr. Howson on Monday, probably

FOR PRESS PM No. 59/ 1971
RELIEF FOR EAST PAKISTAN REFUGEES IN INDIA
Statement-bythe Prime Minister, Mr. William McMahon
The Government has been following closely developments in
the regio-n of East Pakistan. Great distress has beer, caused by the fighting
there and by the resulting economic and social disruption. Large numbers
of people have crossed the border into India where they have claimed
refuge. This has caused a serious problem for India.
The Government has always had a deep concer-. n for the plight

FOR PRESS: PM Io. 5 '! 971
UI~ DEPENDErTF ENQUIRY INJTO REPATRIATION SYSTEM
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. William McMahon
From time to time, representations have been made to the
Government, particularly by the Returned Services League of Australia, to
have an enquiry into the rationale and principles of the Repatriation system.
In response to these requests, and following discussions with my
colleague, the Minister for Repatriation, Mr. Mac Holten, we have now
decided that an independent enquiry should be set in train.

FOR PRESS: PM No. 57/ 1971
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Statement bjy te Prime Minister, Mr. W illiam McMahon
" I am pleased to announce that. Australia has-been invited-to
accede to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development E. C. the Prime Mfinister, the Rt. Honourable William Mcl\ ahon,
said today. " The Government has decided that Australia should accept the
invitation and hence become a full member of 0. E. C. D. Mx. McMahon added that

FOR PRESS PM. No. 56/ 1971
ECONOMIC CONSULTATIONS
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr William McMahon
The Government has been giving consideration to ways
of improving the effec tieness of the periodicecorbmic consultations with
representatives of industry and commerce. After obtaining the viewgt of
participating organisations, it has been'deci-ded for the future to hold one
longer set of consultations each year instead of the present practice of
two meetings. It is intended that the annual consultations extend over

FOR PRESS PM. NO. 55/ 1971
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL GALLERY
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr William McMahon
The Government has approved the preparation ef
final design drawings based on sketch plans for the Australian
National Gallery in Canberra.
It is expected that this design work will take
eighteen months to complete.
The approval is in accordance with the earlier
Government decision of April last year, directing that the design
of the Gallery should commence.
The Government decision that design work should

FOR PRESS SPM No. 54/ 1971
DEATH OF SIR PETER HEYDON
Tribute by the Prime Minister, Mr. William McMahon
Sir Peter Heydon was one of the best-liked and respected
public servants in Canberra.
His untimely death is a tragic loss to Australia.
I have known and valued his friendship for many years. His
death came as a great shock to me.
An outstanding Australian who spent a lifetime in service
to this nation, Sir Peter Heydon had a long and very distinguished
career with the Department of External Affairs both overseas and in

ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINI3TER TO THE CITIZENS
CLUB DINNER, SYDNEY, MAY 13, 1971
Tonight I hope you will permit me to speak about where
we are going and what Initiatives we are taking in novel areas of
international affairs that up until a few years ago we had riot been
concerned with. By that I mean our diplomatic international
relationships with Japan and the emerging world powers immediately
to the North. That is with the two Communist countries Soviet
Russia and the People's Republic of China that is Mainland China?