PRIME MINISTER
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
PARLIAMENTARY LUNCHEON IN HONOUR OF THE
PRIME MINISTER OF WESTERN SAMOA,
TOFILAU ETI ALESANA
CANBERRA 30 AUGUST 1988
Prime minister Tofilau Eti Alesana and Mrs Tofilau
Minister for Economic Affairs Tanuvasa Livi and Mrs Tanuvasa
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Last year I had the pleasure of paying a visit to
Western Samoa to attend the meeting of the South Pacific
Forum. Over the years the Forum has proven an invaluable sounding
board for Pacific leaders to discuss the many issues which
confront our region. Last year, meeting in the wake of the
tragic events in Fiji, the Forum had a particularly
important role to play and our meeting was a particularly
successful one.
It showed the constructive role which Western Samoa plays in
our region. It also gave me the opportunity to renew my
acquaintance with you, Prime Minister, and with other
distinguished Western ' Samo-an leaders.
It is a particular pleasure to welcome yoU and Mrs Tofilau
and your party to Canberra today. This is your third
official visit to Australia in five years, Prime Minister.
We recall with pleasure your earlier visits to attend the
Forum meeting in Canberra in 1983 and your working visit in
1985.
Australia and Western Samoa enjoy a close and cooperative
relationship, both bilaterally and on regional issues. Our
two countries have maintained diplomatic relations since
Western Samoa achieved formal independence in 1962. we
maintain a friendly and productive dialogue on a wide
variety of issues ranging from trade to aid, and from
cultural cooperation to defence cooperation. And I night
say, Prime Minister, that Australians have developed a great
respect for rugby players from your country and we are
looking forward to the tour which the Western Samoan team
will make here next year. I 1583
As well as in the Forum, we have worked closely together in
the South Pacific Commission. Together with our regional
neighbours we achieved' an important regional objective with
the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established the South Pacific
Nuclear Free Zone. We have also worked to achieve the
Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and
the Environment of the South Pacific region, and our work on
the Law of the Sea and regional fisheries issues further
shows how constructively we can work together.
Prime Minister,
Australia is this year celebrating the 200th anniversary of
European settlement on this continent. We are celebrating
the creation of a nation which is free, prosperous,
independent and democratic -but we have also come to a
clearer recognition of just how short those two centuries
are in terms of the history of our own continent as well as
in regional terms.
The culture of Atistralian Aboriginal and Islander people
extends back over more than 40,000 years, and I believe
non-Aboriginal Australians are increarsingly coming to
recognise and to appreciate the richness of that culture.
In regional terms, sophisticated and prosperous Pacific
island societies were in existence long before they were
discovered by the Europeans.
A thriving Samoan society, a proud sense of Samoan identity
and a rich and unique Samoan cultural tradition, have
existed for many centuries.
The struggle to preserve or regain independence from foreign
domination has been a recurring theme in Samoan history. It
is therefore no surprise that-when in 1962 western Samoa
achieved independence it was the first Pacific Island
country in this century to do so.
So today, Prime Minister,' Ilpay tribute to the long history
of the Samoan people and to their considerable achievements
in building an independent and free nation.
In our Bicentennial year, we are grateful for the genero Ius
involvement of our friends from overseas in many
Bicentennial events, in particular at the World Expo 88 in
Brisbane which you will be visiting shortly.
One of the very memorable features of Expo is the combined
South Pacific village, lagoon and entertainment area to
which western Samoa has contributed.
At the 5th Festival of Pacific Arts in Townsville wh~ ere
Western Samoan men and women performed traditional songs and
dances we were given another insight into your rich culture.
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Through its involvement in these events, Western Samoa has,
with justifiable pride, given many thousands of Australiansthe
rare and important chance to experience and to
understand the culture of the South Pacific. We are
grateful to you for that..
Prime Minister,
Our two Governments share a common vision of a Pacific
region that is peaceful, politically stable and firmly on
the road of economic and social development for the benefit
of all its peoples.
our region is currently in the process of far-reaching
change perhaps of a magnitude which will exceed the impact
of European culture and technology in the last century.
We cannot foresee the full impact on our region of current
economic, social, cultural and technological developmentsnor
can we predict the political consequences of such
change. But Western Samoa demonstrates how successfully traditional
Pacific societies can achieve economic development, while
preserving the central values and elements of their culture.
That is a very significant lesson to us all.
Prime Minister,
I again welcome you to Austral ia. Your presence reminds us
of the diversity of our Pacific region, and of the
substantial history and achievements of our Pacific.
neighbours. I am confident the cooperative, Pacific
partnership that has evolved between Western Samoa and
Australia will prosper to the mutual advantage of our
peoples. I d
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