NQ DATE
21 February 1973
CEASEFIRF AGREENEIRNT IN LAOS
0 The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator
Willesee, today welcomed the achievement of a ceasefire agreement
i n Laos. The Acting Minister recalled that the 1962 Geneva
Agreement on Laos, which Australia had supported, had not
succeeded in preserving peace in that country. He said that it
was Australia's earnest hope that this present agreement would be
fully observed and would lead to a durable political settlement.
Senator Willesee noted that the agreement in Laos,

NQ DATE
M/ 39 21 February 1973
VISIT OF MAURITTAN FOREIGN MINISTER
~ The Foreign Minister of Mauritius, Mr Gaetan Duval,
will1 visit Canberra tomorrow, 22 February, as a guest of the
Government. Announcing this today, the Acting Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Senator Willesee, said that he and officials of the
Deartment of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and Recreation and
Immigration, looked forward to meeting Mr Duval and to discussing
matters of mutual interest with him.
During his visit to Canberra, Mr Duval will have

NQ DATE
M/ 37 21 February 1973
HIGH COI-'~ qlONER TO NIGERIA I
The Minister of State and AcigMinister forFoeg
ASin Foreign
Affairs, Senator Willesee, announced today the appointment of
Mr W. H. Bray as Australian High Commissioner in Nigeria to
succeed Mr P. N. Hutton. It is expected that Mr Bray will take
up his appointment in May. This will be his first appointment
as Htead of Mission.
Mr Bray was born in South Australia in 1921 and was
~ educated at Gawler High School and the University of Adelaide

w AFAIR
FA AR
NQ DATE
M/ 36 21 February 1973
AMBAZSADOR TO TURKEY
The Minister of State and Acting Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Senator Willesee, announced today the appointment of
Mr J. M. McMillan as Ambassador to Turkey to succeed Vice Admiral
Sir Alan McNicoll, who will retire in March.
Mr McMillan, who was born in 1913, was educated in
Melbourne and joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1937.
His most recent appointment has been as High Commissioner in
Ghana. He served overseas in Washington, Moscow ( twice),

NQ DATE
20 February 1973
GOVERNMENT TO REVIEW AUSTRALIAN HIGH
COMMISSION, LONDON
SThe Government is to undertake a comprehensive review
of the Australian High Commission in London.
This was announced today by the Acting Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Senator Willesee, who said that the review
would follow the recent transfer of the administration of the
High Commission to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Senator Willesee said that the review would be
conducted by Mr J. E. Collings, a Commissioner of the Public
Service Board since 1960.

THE ACTING PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 1973
ACTING PRIME MINISTER: Today the Cabinet considered a number of
submissions and the first one was on recreation leave and maternity
leave. The Cabinet gave further consideration today to papers
prepared for us which raised issues requiring clarification before
our earlier decisions on an additional week's recreation leave for
Commonwealth staff and maternity leave for them can be implemented.

DEATMN OF
NQ DATE
M/ 34 20 February 1973
EMBARGOED for release until
0001 hours Wednesday 21 February.
PRIME MINISTER TN INDONESIA
Following is the text of an address by the Prime
Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Whitlam, at a
State banquet given by the Government of Indonesia in Jakarta
tonight, Tuesday, 20 February:-
" I regard this occasion as a narticularly hapry omeifor
me and my Government. It is one that brings me a special
personal satisfaction. T1his is my eighth visit to Indonesia,

NQ DATE
M/ 33 18 February 1973
STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER
FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON DEPARTURE FOR VTSIT
TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND INDONESIA
The Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Mr Whitlan, said in Canberra today that he hoped his first visits
to Papua New guinea and Indonesia as Prime Minister would serve to
emphasise his Government's commitment to the evolution of a secure,
united and friendly Papua New Guinea and to the consolidation and
further strengthening of Australia's vital relationship with its

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON. E. G. WHITLAM,
At a Dinner attended by the Government of Papua New Guinea.
PORT MORESBY 18 February 1973
Mr Chief Minister, I suppose one would be less
than human if one did not feel some measure of gratification
at the recent changes in our personal and political situations:
all I need say, Chief Minister, is that we have both come a
long way from the lounge of the Sepik Hotel at Wewak in
January 1970, when we were both virtually under seige and

FOR I1,21EDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT NO. 54
16 February 1973
AFS7 Nfl IA, LS
AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
In my press statement of 26 January about the establishment of the
Australian Council for the Arts, I mentioned that the basis of the work
of the new Council would be seven autonomous Boards, each dealing with a
different area of the Arts. The announcement contained the name of the
Chairman of each of the Boards
Aboriginal Arts Board Mr Dick Roughsey
Crafts Board Mrs Marea Gazzard
Literature Board Professor G. Elainey