PARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER
ON HIS OVERSEAS VISIT TO EUROPE,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC FORUM
17 AUGUST 1989
Madam Speaker
I seek leave to report to Parliament on the two overseas
visits I undertook during the Parliamentary recess: to
France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Federal
Republic of Germany and Hungary between 16 June and 3 July;
and to the South Pacific Forum in Kiribati, between
9 and 12 July.
Both missions advanced Australia's interests and re-attested
Australia's high international standing.
0 The visit to the Unitee, States enabled me to renew a warm
personal association with President Bush and to consolidate
Australia's close contacts with the new Administration.
My visit to Britain and West Germany re-affirmed our strong
and significant association with both countries; and, in the
case of Britain, furthered the common endeavour to place the
historic and traditional relationship between our two
countries firmly in the context of modern realities.
My visit to France confirmed the transformation which has
occurred in French-Australian relations since the change of
Government in France last year. I should mention here,
Madam Speaker, that the Prime Minister of France, Mr Rocard,
will be our honoured guest in Canberra tomorrow.
The visit to Hungary the first by an Australian Prime
Minister took place at a time of profoundly significant
change in that country and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
Throughout this mission, the focus was placed on the
advancement of Australia's commercial and economic
interests. The reasons for this, Madam Speaker, are plain.
The United States, Britain, France and West Germany are all
among Australia's 12 largest trading partners. Together
they account for around 30 per cent of Australia's total
two-way trade and nearly 50 per cent of the total stock of
foreign investment in Australia. Most importantly, the
visit took place at a time when the whole world trade
community is coming to grips with the implications of Europe
1992 the creation of a single market in Western Europe.
It was within this framework that I addressed major business
and official gatherings in each of the countries I visited.
It was for these reasons I was joined in Paris, Bonn and
Budapest by a delegation of senior Australian business
executives. In London, more than 100 representatives of
Australian business attended the Trade and Investment
Conference which met under the auspices of the British and
Australian Governments. At all these meetings they were
able to observe at first hand the dimensions of change
taking place in Europe, with all the challenges and
opportunities it offers Australian industry. I pay tribute
to the contribution which the Australian business
representatives made to the success of my visit.
In Paris, London and Bonn I reiterated publicly and
privately Australia's concern about the Common Agricultural
Policy and protectionist practices covering other
commodities, such as coal.
In all these capitals I made it clear that, despite our
concerns on specific matters, Australia wholeheartedly
welcomed the growing unity of Europe, as a force for peace
and progress in the world. Prime minister Rocard, Prime
Minister Thatcher and Chancellor Kohl each stressed their
government's commitment to making the single market a free
and fair market place for all. Australia values these
assurances.
And, madam Speaker, I assure the House that Australia will
be following developments very carefully, and staying in
very close communication with EC member Governments and the
European Commission, as we approach 1992 and beyond.
In Washington, I re-affirmed Australia's strong desire that
the United States should continue to play a leading role in
achieving a successful outcome to the Uruguay Round,
especially in respect of agricultural trade. While
accepting that the American Export Enhancement Program was
not intended to harm non-subsidised agricultural exporters
-like Australia, I stressed that Australia had nevertheless
found itself in the crossfire of an escalating subsidy war
and that our grain exports, in particular, had been
adversely affected as a consequence. I am pleased to
report, Madam Speaker, that the United States Administration
agreed to examine my suggestion to-seek a'linkage between
the provisions of the 1990 Farm Bill and the outcome of the
Uruguay Round. Such a linkage would help achieve our
declared common objective of a more open international
trading system.
In Washington, I was also able to have useful discussions
about Australia's regional economic initiative. As
honourable members will know, the United States
Administration endorsed this initiative. Specifically,
Secretary of State Baker endorsed my proposal for greater
regional economic consultation and co-operation as ' an idea
whose time has come. The United States will be represented
at the ministerial-level conference in Australia, planned
for November.
My discussions at all levels underlined the fundamental and
far-reaching changes underway in East-West relations.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Hungary. The great
significance of the changes in Hungary is that they are
being shaped by the Hungarian leadership, in response to the
clear wishes of the Hungarian people. This difficult,
complex and, may I say, Madam Speaker, courageous course is
based upon the recognition of the inescapable link between
economic reform and political reform. President Bush, who
was in Hungary two weeks after my own visit, stated publicly
that he shared my view, as I had put it at the White House,
that " the West must do everything we can to encourage the
positive developments in Hungary".
To give practical substance to our hopes, Australia has
agreed to negotiate a Double Taxation Agreement with
Hungary, to explore the possibility of an investment
protection agreement and to seek ways of providing access
for Hungary under the Australian System of Tariff
Preferences. Madam Speaker
on peace and disarmament questions, I can report that each
of the countries I visited welcomed Australia's initiative
in holding a Government-Industry conference on chemical
weapons, to be held in Canberra next month. This conference
will provide a unique opportunity to develop strategies for
a comprehensive Chemical weapons Convention to prevent the
spread of this hideous scourge.
Madam Speaker
Over the range of issues I discussed in each capital
Southern Africa, the middle East, Afghanistan, Indo-China
and the Pacific the tragic events in China and Lebanon
loomed especially large. President Bush, Chancellor Kohl,
President Mitterrand and Prime ministers Thatcher and Rocard
all shared the Australian Government's feeling of obligation
to express, as they have all done forcefully, condemnation
of the brutal suppression of human rights which has occurred
in China. Like myself, these Western leaders will be
watching closely the fate of all those prominent in the
pro-democracy movement; and also other Chinese leaders,
particularly Secretary-General Zhao.
All the leaders with whom I spoke are concerned about the
continuing tragedy in Lebanon. This is a matter of special
concern to Australia because of its impact on our Lebanese
community. As I said in the Parliament on 15 August,
Australia firmly and unequivocally supports the Arab League
initiative aimed at bringing the main protagonists to the
negotiating table. We stand ready to support any United
Nations initiative on Lebanon and I am in continuing
communication with President Bush and President Gorbachev on
this tragedy.
we applaud current French diplomatic efforts on Lebanon and
I look forward to detailed discussions on the situation
there with Michel Rocard tomorrow.
Madam Speaker
Consistent with my Government's strong policy for the
protection of the environment, it was appropriate for me on
this journey to seek support for Australia's initiative for
a comprehensive Environmental Protection Agreement covering
the Antarctic, the world's last and greatest wilderness.
This I did. I found ready support in Paris and a
sympathetic understanding of Australia's position in both
Bonn and Budapest. I regret to state that neither Britain
nor the United States is yet ready to support the position
on which I believe honourable members of this House stand
together. But I am confident that growing community
awareness and concern world-wide, will ensure that
governments everywhere become more responsive to the need to
address this question, and ultimately come together in a
common resolve to protect this precious part of our
endangered planet.
In Paris, Prime Minister Rocard and I agreed to the
formation of a Working Group to pursue environmental matters
of common concern. The Working Group had its first meeting
in Paris last week and I fully expect that Prime Minister
Rocard and I will be able to announce further steps after
our talks tomorrow.
Madam Speaker
I should now report to the House on the twentieth meeting of
the South Pacific Forum which I attended at Tarawa, in the
Republic of Kiribati, on 10 and 11 July. The Forum
coincided with the Kiribati's celebration of its tenth
anniversary of independence and I was honoured to represent
Australia at this special anniversary.
* Two matters of fundamental importance dominated the Forum
the serious threat posed by drift net fishing in the
Southern Pacific Ocean; and the implications for these
island nations of the " greenhouse effect".
It is no exaggeration to say, Madam Speaker, that for some
of our neighbours and partners in the South Pacific these
two issues represent, almost literally, matters of life and
death. I now table the Communique adopted by the Forum and the
Tarawa Declaration on Pelagic Drift Net Fishing.
Madam Speaker
The Tarawa Declaration set out the member nations' profound
concern at the damage being done to the economy and the
environment of the South Pacific region by this
indiscriminate, irresponsible and destructive fishing
technique.
Pelagic drift nets vary in length between 30 and
kilometres I repeat 30 and 60 kilometres and reach a
depth of some 15 metres. They have aptly been described as
" walls of death". The threat they pose to Southern Pacific
fish stocks and other marine species has been compounded by
massive increases in the number of fishing vessels from
Japan and Taiwan using drift nets. The scientific evidence
available to us at the Forum indicates that the present
indiscriminate use of drift nets threatens the very
existence of the Southern Pacific tuna fishery, and
therefore, the very livelihood of the people who depend so
deeply upon its existence.
The Tarawa Declaration seeks to ban pelagic drift net
fishing from the region and calls for a meeting of regional
experts to develop a convention to achieve this objective.
This meeting will be hosted by New Zealand. The conclusion
of a convention of this nature raises complex legal and
related issues. To be effective on the high seas, it will
require the support, or at least concurrence, of the major
fishing nations. The gravity of the threat requires urgent
action; and Australia readily accepts its responsibility to
take a lead in advancing this important objective of the
Forum. It was with that responsibility in mind that I had
already raised this matter in the United States and Europe,
as part of Australia's efforts eventually to secure a
world-wide ban on this fishing technique.
At the Tarawa Forum, members also expressed concern about
the possible effects on island countries of rising sea
levels resulting from global warming the " greenhouse
effect". Forum members welcomed my re-affirmation of
Australia's decision to fund a project to establish a
network of regional monitoring stations. The information
these stations will provide on trends and fluctuations in
climate and sea levels will provide an accurate data base on
climatic change within the region. This project will
require a long-term commitment on our part, if it is to
produce worthwhile data; and I was pleased to be able to
offer such a commitment to Forum members.
Other issues addressed at the 1989 Forum included the
situation in New Caledonia, and administrative and program
issues arising in the Forum Secretariat and regional bodies
associated with the Forum. The Forum welcomed the positive
measures being pursued by the French Government in New
Caledonia to promote political, economic and social
development in the territory, and urged all parties to
continue to work towards the successful implementation of
the agreements concluded in Paris in June and August 1988.
Madam Speaker
It is particularly pleasing to note that, even with the
growth in Forum membership and the growing complexity of its
affairs over the past 20 years, we still meet in the words
of the 1971 Communique " as neighbours and partners" with
great informality and a great degree of consensus. I am
confident the South Pacific Forum will acquire further
standing and authority as the pre-eminent regional
organisation in the years ahead. And I am equally confident
the Forum will enhance its special indeed its unique
character and significance as a gathering of neighbours and
partners in the South Pacific. The new arrangement for a
post-Forum dialogue between Forum members and important
outside countries with interests in the region Canada,
France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States
which was initiated in Kiribati, will strengthen this
development. Let me conclude, Madam Speaker, by saying that far beyond
the South Pacific, andfar beyond our own great region,
Australia's reputation as a good neighbour and a world
partner in the cause of peace, progress and freedom has
never stood higher. I am convinced that this cause
despite all the tragedies, perplexities and complexities
besetting our age, can now enter a more hopeful period than
any we have experienced since the Second World War. These
visits which I have been privileged to undertake on behalf
of the Australian people have re-inforced that fundamental
conviction.