A, PRESS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER,
THE RT. HON. R. G. MENZIES ON FRIDAY, 13TH
NOVEMBER, 1959 at 11 A. M.
QUESTE ON: Can you tell us Sir, when* you expect the new Governor-
General to reach Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, early in February. He would be here well
ahead of the beginning of the 1960 Session so that he
will be able to open it.
QUESTION: Any date fixed for this, Sir? The opening.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no. But I mean normally one assumes that it
will be some time in February, but it may be late in
February.
QUESTION: He's coming by ship, I suppose, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, he is due to arrive here about the 1st or 2nd
or 3rd of February.
QUESTION: Is it the usual customary five-year term?
PRIME MINISTERi No special arrangement.
QUESTIONX You expect it to be about 5 years do you, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. As you know, it is an appointment at will.
But that is the sort of normal practice.
QUESTION-. Sir, there has been a certain amount of criticism
of the appointment, mainly by Mr. Calwell and..
PRIME MINISTER: Has it been in your paper. How important that
would be!
QUESTION: Well, I was just wondering whether you would comment
on that, Sir, on the criticism that the Governor-
General is not an Australia, Sir,
PRIME MINISTER: My views on that are perfectly well-known. Australians
are not excluded, but they are not to have,
say, the exclusive right to be considered. My idea is
to get the best man.
QUESTION: Was there any thought given to the possibility of
getting someone from one of the other Dominions, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Well, when you say " was there any thought" I
ran the whole world over in my own mind first, but I
didn't bring into consideration any individual from
another Dominion.
QUESTION: Could you tell us, Sir, whether this was your
nomination to the Queen or her suggestion?
PRIME MINISTER: My nomination to the Queen. I think I ought to
tell you the way we go about this thing. I don't
take up the attitude that I nominate ' Jones' and that's
the finish. What Itve done twice now is to have quite
a long discussion with the Queen about the kind of
person we want, and getting her views on people, and
offering a few comments on any names that she might
' throw into the ring'. And then in this case I said:
" Well you're going off to Canada and there's not all
that hurry; I will correspond with you when you get
back from Canada". Then I wrote to Her Majesty and
suggested two or three names that might be considered
by her but I put them in my own order for preference,
but indicated, of course, that if she had any strong
feelings about any one of them that, naturally, would
influence my mind. My No. 1 was W. S. Morrison and she
emphatically approved of it. I think I should add
having regard to some talented pieces of lying that I
have read in one newspaper that from first to last,
neither directly or indirectly, have I made any proposal
that a member of the Royal Family should be appointed
to be Governor-General, nor has any such proposal been
made to me. I hope that is sufficiently specific. If
people will invent stories, I wish they would invent
something more consistent with my attitude to these
matters.
QUESTE ON:
PRIME MINISTER
QUESTION: How long have you known the Viscount, Sir?
Twentyfour years.
Did you first meet him in the legal or the political
world?
PRIME MINISTER: In the political world. In 1935 I think he had
just become Financial Secretary to the Treasury and I
went down and stayed with him a few days at his house.
He lived in what might be described as an old remnant
of some early monastery or something of that kind one
of those little old houses that you strike in the
Cotswolds with a slippery elm stairway up which I had
to go; you know, a rope on the side, and a bathroom in
the attic. But at that time, of course, his boys were
very young. But he and I have been very great friends
ever since. That, of course, I hope won't be held
against him.
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COMMENT: PRIME MINISTEF
QUESTION: He is a Scot of course?
Yes. He was born in the Hebrides in the western
islands. Do you happen to know if he is a Presbyterian, Sir?
1: Oh, I'd lay odds that he is a Presbyterian, but I
wouldn't know. He's got all the marks.
Sir, would you know if Lady Dunrossil's father was
a Doctor of Divinity?
Yes, he was a Presbyterian Minister. Like Lady
Slim's father. In fact Lady Slim and Allison Morrison
know each other.
There has been some criticism in London, Sir, that
he retired from the Speakership because of ill-health,
I think that that amounted to a slight deafness
and oddly enough he felt that even a slight deafness
wasn't very good in a Speaker, who ought to hear both
sides. It is sometimes very useful not to hear, Sir.
I think you will find that he is in very nimble
orm. The snapshot I've seen makes hi~ m look rather like
a Munroe Ferguson portrait. Would that be true, Sir?
f
PRIME MINISTER: Don't think so. There's a superb photograph in
this morning's Sydney Morning Herald. That is absolutely
" Shakes" Morrison to the life. You know that
big full-on one. He is a tall slightly built man.
QUESTION: Where does the " Shakes" come from, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, his name is William Shepherd Morrison and a
lot of people when I first knew him were firmly of the
opinion that his second name was Shakespeare. I think
a lot of people got that misapprehension. Probably in
his student days he might have got it because he took
a keen interest in poetry and he read a lot of Shakespeare
and is fond of Shakespeare. He wrote one or two
very good poems himself, I don't mind saying. But I
think he was called " Shakes" only afte-1 he came round
to live among the Sassenachs. I think he was always
called when he was at the University.
QUESTION: Did he have an opportunity of seeing much of Australia
the last time he was out here; to know what the
country would be like?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I don't know. They weren't here for more than
a few days. He didn't have much opportunity. But he
bas represented a rural electorate in the North Cotswolds
and he was Minister for Agriculture for some time
in the United Kingdom Government.
QUESTON: Sir, I think you said much earlier that Australians
were not excluded. Is t hat correct?
PRIME MINISTER: That's right.
QUESTION: You've no objection to Australians
PRIME MINISTER: No, I haven't but it is very difficult to get a
man from your own country in reality, unless you can
get somebody who is not, politically, a contentious person.
And most people who are best known in Australia
have been through some political or controversial mill.
You might very well have somebody who wasn't handicapped
in that way, but who was a man of great eminence.
I wouldn't exclude him. I think it is always useful
for the man appointed to be known to the Queen because
he is the Queen's personal representative. But I've
advocated for many years the idea, for example, of
having some Australian made Governor-General of Canada
or South Africa or vice versa. I think these crossbearings
are valuable. But there again, of course,
it is not easy.
QUESTION: Does that suggest, Sir, that the list you presented
to the Queen could have included an Australian
name?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it didn't. I did not find myself able to
select a suitable name in Australia. You understand
this was my No. 1 nomination. This notion that I've
been toting the business around, of course, is most
offensive because this is No. 1 nomination and warmly
and promptly accepted at that point of time by the
Queen. Up to that time we had, in effect, merely
talked about the type of person or the qualifications,
which is a good thing to do.
QUESTION: He announced himself in London last nig7ht, Sir,
that it wasn't until the 27th October that he was approached.
PRIME MINISTER: That's quite right. I didn't sound him or anybody
until I had the Queen's concurrence in my nomination.
Then the next step is that I say: " I now ask permission
to approach that man to find out whether he is agreeable".
You don~ t go around saying: " if you were
offered it -vuld you take it?" you know, That's no
good.
QUESTION: His retirement from the Speakership was not in any
way related to the appointment?
PRIME MINISTER: No, As a matter of fact it was when I knew some
little time back that he was giving up the Speakership
that I brought him into the area of thought myself.
QUESTION: Mr. Menzies, as I understand it then the machinery
is that the Prime Minister approaches the nominee, not
anyone from the Queen's..
PRIME MINISTER: In this case, having got the Queen's approval, I
then got Sir Eric Harrison to see Mr. Morrison with a
specific message from me. He then considered the matter
for a day or two, then Sir Eric Harrison told me
that the answer was " Yes", then I communicated with the
Queen saying that the nominee was agreeable and I
therefore now formally nominated him and would be glad
to know on what date the Queen would make the announcement
what date and time so that it could be referred
to concurrently at this end. Then, I finally got back
word that Her Majesty would announce it at 12 o'clock
noon yesterday.
QUESTION: The other possible nominees, Sir, would not even
know that they were considered?
PRIME MINISTER: No, never.
QUESTION: One small point, Sir. The paper you referred to
as not quite accurate. Could you tell us whether that
was a Melbourne paper?
PRIME MINISTER: It was a Sydney paper Sydney afternoon paper,
You would have no doubt about that would you which
one I mean?
QUESTION: Sir? W~ hat's the fate of the Divorce Bill going to be,
PRIME MINISTER: It's a non-party measure. Somebody was asking
when I was in there last night whether that stood
right. It does, Most of the argument seems to centre
about this Separation clause.
QUESTION: Are you going to speak on it, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't think so.
QUESTION: Have you made up your mind on it, Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll support the Bill.
QUESTION: You stated, Sir, that the new Governor-General
would open Parliament. That means there will be a prorogation
of the Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER: That's right.
QUESTION: Sir re the Governor-General. Have you heard any
word as Lo whether he will be bringing any personal
staff out at all or will he
PRIME MINISTE]
QUESTION: PRIME MINISTE]
QUJEST'ION: PRIME MINISTEi
QUESTION: PRIME MINISTEI
qJESTION: PRIME MINISTEI
QUESTION: Those matters are being discussed with him now.
What progress has been made with your review of
Parliamentary allowances and amenities, Sir?
; Ahat review is that?
I believe you said you were informing yourself
about it.
i: I said I was informing myself about it yes. But
somebody appears to have got into his head that I have
established a committee or something, but I haven't.
There has always been an Amenities Committee.
Have you informed yourself, Sir, to the extent
that you are going to crack any heads?
I: haven't yet informed myself I regret to tell you.
I have been too busy on other matters.
Which Ministers have the authority to direct the
activities of the Security Service without reference
to you, Sir?
1: The Attorney-General's Department has it for administration
purposes. I am responsible for policy and
the Head of the Security Service communicates directly
wfith me. Would Sir Garfield's direction to approach
Professor Stout be an exercise of his administrative
authority or a policy matter?
PRIME MINISTER: 1. ell, he didn't direct Spry; he found out that
Stout wranted to know and so apparently Sir Garfield
conveyed that to Spry, no doubt with an indication that
he thought it might be useful if Spry saw him and helped
him. I don't ro-ard that as a normal practice. As I
said in the Parliament, the normal practice on these
matters is that the Security Srvic oepor'. s to me, or from
time to time if I say I want the Attorney-General to
see this, to the Attorney-General or from time to time
to the Department of Scternal Affairs because these
things havo a bearing, but the Security Service exists
to inform us putting it in that way and does not in
fact normally convey information to other people, It
collects information. But I don't foel at all disturbed
about the fact that he saw Stout because as a matter of
fact it became quite clear that everything that he informed
Stout about, had already been published in the
Press. There was no secret cloak and dagger stuff
about it.
QUESTION: The end in effect of this project though, Sir,
seems to have been to dissuade some non-communist
people from attending this meeting and perhaps leaving
the Communists to win the Congress by default. Do you
think that was a desired end result?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you are now saying the " end re sultll of
what? The end result of statements made by Mr. Casey
and Sir Garfield Barwick and myself, not by the Security
Service, but by us, may have had the effect of dissuading
a lot of people to attend. I hopoit did. I consider
it most desirable. I don't like to see decent citizens
having their legs pulled. So there you are. I
must be careful because I saw in one report that they
ASre going to pass a vote of thanks commending me, and I
hope none of you will publish anything that will prevent
that from coming about.
QUESTION: QUESTION: PRIME MINISTEI
QUESTION: i It might be just to test the feeling of the meetng.
On the Security Service, Sir, you told Mr. Whtitlam
in the House, 10 days or so ago, that you expected to
reach some conclusions on the telephone matter before
the end of the year. Has that been developed yet, Sir?
well, no. W4e've been so heavily engaged in Cabinet
on other matters. I've had some discussions with the
Attorney-General but I haven't got it to the point of
discussing it with the Cabinet yet.
When do you expect the Defence Statement to be
ready Sir?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know. We've had two or three Cabinet
Meetings on it. We're having another one next
Wednesday. I am hopeful that all this will enable a
Statement to be made in the following week, but as I
said earlier to you chaps, I want this thing to be
cleared up before I leave.
QUESTION: Has any decision been made, yet, Sir, on National
Service Trainihg?
PRIME MINISTER: No. No decisions have been made yet. We have
arrived at a series of tentative views, but further paper,
or papers, are being prepared which we are going
to examine when we next moet on this matter next week
and we will then, I hope, be in a position to arrive
at a final conclusion.
QUESTION: You mean, Sir, that you are hopeful of being in a
position to make a statement to Parliament the following
week.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, yes. I don't know whether I will make the
statement or whether the Minister for Defence will. I
haven't worked that one out but I'm hoping a statement
will be makeable if that's the right word by the
following week.
QUESTION: Sir, there soems to be a su:; gestion from the United
Nations that there has beon a change in the Australian
Policy towards South Africa's racial laws. Formerly,
when the matter was brought up, we voted on it
against the resolution. This year we are abstaining.
PRIME MINISTER: Well the reason for that was explained yesterday
in the House at Question Time by the Acting Ministur.
WJe have consistently opposed the United Nations intervention
on the ground that this is a matter of domestic
jurisdi ction.
QUESTION: Has that been a policy hitherto or
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no. That's boen our policy for ten years,
that it is a matter of domestic jurisdiction just as we
would resist United Nations intervention in some discussion
that we were having with Papua, or with people in
it. I say that's domestic jurisdiction. We've never
felt called upon to sit in judgment on actual policies
pursued by the South African Government because we've
said that matter doesn't arise with us, 1TT say the
matter is a matter of domestic jurisdiction under the
7.
Charter and therefore it ought not to be dealt with.
This year our people felt that this point of view of
the Australian Government, though it is completely
logical and prudent from our point of view, was becoming
a little misunderstood and was being interpreted in
some countries as an approval by Australia of the actual
policies being pursued by the Government of
South Africa, and in order that that should not any
longer be an inference from our voting against it, it
was decided that Australia would abstain, having explained
first, once morc, its belief that this is a
matter of domestic jurisdiction and not cognizable by
the United NL. tions. That is the whole of the story.
QUESTION: A cable from London yesterday, Mr. Menzies, stated
that Dame Pattie would launch the liner " Canberra" on
March 1st and I was wondering whether this had any
bearings on your plans for that time next year?
PRIME MINISTER! No. I'll be here on March 1st. She is going over
by herself, quite privately.
QUESTION: Could you tell us, Sir, what Sir Gilos Chippindall t
salary will be as the new Chairman of T. A. A?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know. I suppose the same as the last one.
Better ask Shane Paltridge. I don't know. W4hat does
the Chairman get?
QUESTION: PRIME MINISTEF
QUESTION:. PRIME MINISTEI I think he probably got œ C2,000.
' doll, whatever it is.
That doesn't compromise his Public Service Pension
I presume, Sir?
You don't suppose I've beon thinking about that do
you? lle only made the appointment yesterday afternoon.
O0 MWri. t h Hutgheh DCaosmhp, liments of
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister.