Australia

Mr. President, allow me on behalf of the Australian delegation, to congratulate you upon your election as President of this Assembly. This is a most distinguished office, but by no means an easy one. My Government and my delegation know that you will perform your manifold and often difficult duties with wisdom, fairness and despatch. Your record as a man willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of principle, your previous Presidency of the Security Council, your service generally in the United Nations as Venezuela's representative, and your country's record of active support for this Organization, all combine to ensure this result. 35. The Treaty of 5 August banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water has now been signed by over one hundred countries, Australia being one of the very first. The final processes of ratification have begun with the recent approval of the Treaty by the United States Senate and by the Soviet Presidium. I shall not presume on your time by endorsing in detail what others before me have already said about the advantages of the Treaty: its limiting effect on the nuclear arms race; its restraining effect on those who would become nuclear Powers; its wholly beneficial effect, felt by nuclear and nonnuclear Powers alike, in putting a stop to the pollution of our atmosphere; and the new possibilities in the negotiation of disarmament which it has opened up. 36. Australia is at one with all of those nations which welcome the Treaty for the advantages it brings and the opportunities which it appears to present. At the same time, we must be clearly conscious of what the Treaty does not do. It does not reduce existing capabilities for waging nuclear war. Nor does it reduce the dangers and horror of conventional war. And in that connexion, lest we have an unbalanced view, let us remind ourselves that in the space of fourteen hours during the Second World War, in one blow from conventional weapons, 135,000 people died —twice the number of people killed by the first atomic blast— and eighteen hundred acres of a great city were destroyed. Finally, the Treaty does not directly engage the central problems of war itself or of the ambitions, the tensions and the fears which have so often led to war. 37. It is true, however, that tension between the two greatest Powers has been reduced by the Treaty. As evidence we have the statements made in this very hall by President Kennedy and by Mr. Gromyko in the first week of this session; and more recently Lord Home has added his assessment. On the other hand there is still much that divides them, notably their disagreement about the proper meaning to be given to the terms "peaceful coexistence" and "peaceful co-operation". So long as peaceful coexistence is interpreted and applied by one side as essentially involving a continuation of the cold war, at least so long will the causes of tension persist. This is not a happy prospect. Yet I do hope that Lord Home's plea that the nations use the opportunity of the moment will bear the fruit which he and all men of good will desire. 38. But, and I find this most disquieting, there is the continuing, indeed the darkening, shadow cast over the whole world, East and West alike, by a country which rejects even the Soviet concept of peaceful coexistence as "erroneous" and which, as its leader Mao Tse-Tung has made ominously clear, can contemplate with apparent equanimity the destruction of half the world. 39. The appalling fact is that Communist China continues to affirm its conviction in the inevitability of war. As an earnest of this conviction we have been forced within the last year to witness open aggression against India, a country which maintained friendly relations with Communist China and which was currently engaged in discussion with it. And, as the Foreign Minister of Thailand so rightly reminded us last week, South-East Asia has continued to be racked by subversion and covert aggression, notably in Laos and South Viet-Nam. Both of these activities draw inspiration and support from Peking. To all of this Communist China has now added its open rejection of the nuclear test ban Treaty and its reaffirmation of its intention to establish a nuclear capacity of its own. 40. Let none think that Communist China's absence from this Organization was a bar to its adherence to the Treaty. That instrument was carefully so drafted as to permit, and indeed encourage, countries whose international status or acceptability was in dispute to join in the Treaty's obligations. Communist China could have done so, had it had the necessary good will towards its fellows. 41. It is of the greatest concern to Australia that this most acute and unabated threat of major war emanates from, and is most directly focused on, the region of Asia, where Australia is geographically placed and with whose future its destinies are inevitably and permanently linked. 42. A number of specific items affecting the region of Asia —and particularly that of South-East Asia, with which Australia is most directly concerned— has been placed on the agenda of this Assembly, and I shall not take up the time of this plenary meeting by anticipating the comments which the Australian delegation will offer on each of them. I should, however, take this opportunity to refer briefly to two matters of particular importance. 43. The first of these is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Although the aims of this Conference are world-wide in their scope, its particular implications for the regions of South and South-East Asia are of greatest concern to Australia. Like the countries of these regions, Australia lives predominantly as a producer of agricultural products and of raw materials and we feel, with the countries of those regions, the downturn and insecurity of world prices of these commodities. From the very outset Australia has warmly welcomed the initiative taken by this Organization and it has given, and will continue to give, Its fullest support to the aims of the Conference. We have demonstrated in a practical way our common concern with our Asian neighbours, not only by our work in the Conference but also by our recent entry into full regional membership of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. 44. There is an urgent need for a sustained co-operative effort to raise living standards throughout the region, as indeed elsewhere in the world where they lag —not only for reasons of general humanity, but also because higher living standards will lead towards stability and security. Indeed, political independence needs underpinning by economic satisfactions. Furthermore, a general rise in economic levels throughout the region will not only benefit the developing nations but also, through the general expansion of trade, will promote the prosperity of the region as a whole. There is, of course, still an important role for economic aid, a field in which Australia is playing its part. But aid is only a palliative, not a solution. Although in an emergency there is a vital need for blood transfusions, no healthy life can be sustained indefinitely by transfusions alone. True economic growth and health, permanent and self-regenerating, must in the final resort depend on a sound basis of trade and development; and this in turn, in the case of the developing countries, depends on adequate prices for commodities. Australia will continue, with its fellow Members of this Organization, to seek solutions for this difficult and so far intractable problem. 45. The second matter which I wish to mention is a recent development of great importance in the region of South-East Asia —a development which has already attracted attention in this debate. I refer to the establishment of Malaysia, which the Australian delegation is most happy to welcome to this Assembly, through its distinguished delegation, as the constitutional successor to the Federation of Malaya. 46. During the last few years, as the decolonizing process has approached its final stages in South-East Asia, Australia has had a close neighbourly interest in the problem of how the remaining colonial territories of Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak would attain their independence. Clearly, none of them was strong enough economically, politically or even in point of mere numbers, to stand on its own feet as a separate and independent nation. 47. My Government watched the painstaking efforts made over a period of many months to ascertain the views of the peoples of these territories on the concept of a wider federation launched by the Malayan Prime Minister in May 1961. I shall not take time to recite the extensive processes of ascertainment which were followed. It is sufficient for me to say that it became clear to my Government that the established criteria for self-determination were fully satisfied. It was on this basis that the Australian Government gave its public support to the concept of Malaysia. That the peoples of the two Borneo territories should have chosen to gain and exercise their independence as constituent members of federation with Malaya and Singapore was indeed natural. They had shared for many years a common legal and administrative system and tradition, had employed for both official and other purposes a common language, and had a common monetary system. Furthermore, that they should have seen advantage in joining a federation which had already proved itself to be a stable multiracial nation with a sound and developing economy was not surprising. Australia believes that the record of the original Federation of Malaya augurs well for the success of Malaysia, which can become a stabilizing influence in the South-East Asian region and make a significant contribution to its peace and security. 48. When Indonesia and the Philippines early this year expressed their misgivings about the extension of the federation, Australia encouraged a meeting of the three Governments as a means of removing misunderstandings and enabling Malaysia to be created with the goodwill of its neighbours. As a result, the three Governments expressed an agreed basis on which Indonesia and the Philippines would welcome the new nation. That basis, namely a favourable report by the Secretary-General, eventuated. But unfortunately Malaysia has not in fact been spared the hostility of Indonesia and the Philippines. 49. The clear and unambiguous report of the Secretary-General confirms that in entering Malaysia the inhabitants of the territories had exercised self-determination in conformity with the resolutions of this Assembly. I am sure that all Members of this Organization should accept this conclusion and welcome a decolonization which accords with the principles of the Charter. I deeply regret that Indonesia and the Philippines, Members of this Organization, have so far refused to accept the enlarged Federation. I hope that they will yet do so and enter, bona fide, as Australia and so many other Members of the United Nations will do, into close and friendly co-operation with Malaysia. 50. But I am bound to say that the course of the debate here, as well as the recent events in Jakarta, fills me with misgiving. In his principal address [1219th meeting] the representative of Indonesia advanced, as partial justification for his country's refusal to accept the findings of the Secretary-General and for its declared intention to confront and destroy Malaysia, the form of the Federation as an alleged British creature imposed upon unwilling participants. In his subsequent speech in reply [1221st meeting], he advanced as a fresh justification the extension of the British-Malayan Defence Agreement announced in November 1961. But the role of Britain in welcoming and encouraging —but most carefully refraining from imposing— the concept of Malaysia, as well as the terms of the extended defence agreement which provides the security of Malaysia, had both been known for more than a year and a half when, in Manila in July and August this year, Indonesia set the satisfaction of the Secretary-General as to the wishes of the people of the Borneo territories as the sole precondition of its readiness to welcome Malaysia. 51. I should add that my Government has recently made it clear that, in the event of Malaysia or any of its constituent States being subjected in the future to armed invasion or subversive activity, supported, directed or inspired from outside —an event which would be greatly to be deplored— we shall, in conformity with the Charter, to the best of our powers and by such means as shall be agreed upon with the Government of Malaysia, add our military assistance to the defence of Malaysia's territorial integrity and political independence, This support springs not only from our long association with Malaya, a fellow country of the Commonwealth, but from our firm conviction that the new nation, as the expression of self-determination and the attainment and exercise of independence through federation, should be free to develop itself in peace. 52. It is only a short time since we were faced with another decolonization problem in the same general area, a problem which generated strong emotions and led to acute and dangerous local tensions. I refer to the problem of West Irian. The report of the Secretary-General as to the present position with regard to this territory will come up for discussion in this Assembly. Here I shall only say that Australia notes the steps already taken, under the aegis of the Secretary-General, in carrying out the agreement on this territory, and it looks forward to its further performance right through to the act of self-determination in such a manner that this Assembly will be able to receive with approval the reports of Indonesia and the Secretary-General that the agreement has been fully carried out. 53. Problems of decolonization arise in an acute form today in Africa. The African questions which will occupy so prominent a place in the discussions of this Assembly are varied, but it seems to me that they possess a common link: for the concern of the United Nations is to help the peoples of Africa in their rapid evolution to achieve independent, firmly based and harmonious societies in which no group shall have exclusive privileges, but in which each shall be able to make its contribution, and in which there shall be genuine equality among all citizens, without racial barriers or racial conflict. That I believe is the broad aim of this Assembly. 54. In the Congo, the problem is now one of national stability. Australia has always fully supported the United Nations effort there, both by paying its share of the cost and in other ways. The success of the United Nations in the Congo is heartening both for the future of the Organization and for Africa. This effort must be brought to a successful conclusion; and we welcome and support the proposals, now under discussion, which are designed to find ways of meeting the costs of a temporary prolongation of the United Nations military operation. 55. In the Portuguese territories the chief immediate problem is that of securing acceptance by the administering Power of the need for genuine self-determination and of rapid progress towards it. Here I shall only say that Australia has made direct efforts at the highest level to persuade Portugal of the necessity for these things. 56. In the Portuguese territories and in Southern Rhodesia —but even more acutely in South Africa— the problem presents itself of a minority, now enjoying effective power and a traditional position of privilege, which sees in the rise of independent States, and in the emancipation of Africans elsewhere on the continent, a threat to its own position and future. 57. This creates a situation which could be dangerous if it were to get out of hand. No one, no matter what his race, should contemplate —and I am sure few do contemplate— the actuality of open racial conflict in Africa. Even as a possibility it is appalling. To speak of confrontation, of one race by another, might appear to simplify matters; the two sides are easily identified and all one would need to do would be to choose one's own and oppose the other. But to speak in this way is to abdicate our reason in the face of the admittedly difficult and complex problems of multi-racialism, problems to be solved with untiring patience, if necessary, over a considerable period of time. 58. The hateful doctrine of apartheid draws some of its motivation from such a refusal to attempt the adjustments for which multi-racialism inevitably calls. I am sure that the representatives of the new African States will refuse to abandon the hope of multi-racialism in Africa and will reject the ugly distortion of a confrontation of races. The representatives of Ghana and Uganda and Nigeria have already said as much in their speeches here. 59. I was glad to note the recent words of Mr. Kenyatta, the Prime Minister of Kenya —a country whose representatives we shall shortly welcome among us and, I might mention, one of whose senior officials is, I am pleased to say, this year attached to the Australian delegation. Mr. Kenyatta made it clear that in his view the European community in Kenya is necessary to the future of that country, that in the new Kenya there would be a place for all its citizens. These words and the spirit which underlies them are statesmanlike; and it seems to me that assurances of this kind, backed wherever possible by practical demonstrations, can do much to create and maintain a climate of mutual trust between the various communities in central and southern Africa. The creation of such a climate is indispensable if racial friction is to be avoided and if the benefits which all components of those societies can contribute to them are to be obtained. The representatives of Denmark and Sweden mentioned this aspect of the matter and I commend it, as they did, to the attention of the Assembly. As Lord Home has so justly said in his address this week [1222nd meeting], it is the essence of democracy that majorities should rule but that minorities should be fully safeguarded. 60. These considerations lead me to add that in Africa's struggle to achieve the broad aims which I earlier described —genuine equality of all citizens in independent, firmly-based, harmonious societies— there must be care and reflection in the choice of means to attain those ends. Is there not a danger that a policy of all-out pressure, whether in this Organization or outside, may fail to produce the right results, that it may lead not to yielding, but to ever more rigid entrenchment? 61. For example, I cannot believe that sanctions against the Republic of South Africa or its suspension or expulsion from this Organization or any of its agencies will cause the Government of that country to change its racial policies. Such courses are not persuasive but merely provocative of opposition. An embattled society resists, at whatever cost, until brought to the last extremity, by which time many of those whom the pressures were designed to benefit will have been irretrievably damaged in the conflict. And in Southern Rhodesia, where the situation is still in so many ways less rigid, may not such a policy put an end to the prospects of conciliation and advance through mutual endeavour, which I am convinced still exist there, and which I hope will be vigorously pursued by all concerned? 62. I fully understand the sense of urgency Which weighs on the newly independent nations of Africa in their search for solutions to the remaining problems of their continent. No one should be asked to accept a standstill, and meaningful progress must consistently be made. But is it not the main task to build out of the existing elements in each State and territory stable and harmonious societies? And is it not the hope that such societies will endure for an infinity of time? It is in that perspective, I suggest, that the pace of achievement should be measured. Might not extreme pressure not merely overtax this Organization but, by entrenching tensions —and perhaps increasing their significance— render the goal impossible? 63. This problem of orderly, planned decolonization, of working with all prudent dispatch towards self-determination and independence based on a solid political and economic foundation and on a healthy concept of racial co-operation, is not a question of merely theoretical concern to Australia. 64. In the Trust Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua there are 2 million people. In the discharge of her obligations to and for these people —in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the Trusteeship Agreement, and with full awareness of the expectations of this Assembly as expressed in its resolution 1514 (XV)— Australia in no way differentiates between Papua, the Australian territory, and New Guinea, the Trust Territory. 65. This Assembly should be in no doubt regarding Australia's intentions and policies in Papua and New Guinea. They have been repeatedly stated, and only last month were restated by the Prime Minister of Australia in the following terms: "In these territories , . . we in Australia have accepted great responsibilities, responsibilities much too great to be passed off our shoulders light-heartedly or in support of pure theory. We have immense responsibilities in these territories and we propose to discharge them. We look forward to the time when those territories will be completely politically and economically independent, where they will be a living vital country, controlling their own destiny ... ." 66. Towards these ends Australia has endeavoured to proceed in the political field by a process of constitutional change. This process, based on careful and continuing preparation at the fundamental levels of social, economic and political life, has quickened in response to the developing situation in the territories. The most recent advance has been the creation of a common roll on the basis of which —and through the exercise of the principle of "one man, one vote", regardless of race, creed or colour— the people of the territories will shortly go to the polls in elections for a House of Assembly in which more than two-thirds will be indigenous people. 67. There is in these territories co-operation and mutual respect between the indigenous and the non-indigenous people. Australia has scrupulously guarded against the alienation of land from indigenous ownership and has not only swept away inequalities before the law but by statute has unambiguously made discriminatory practices unlawful and punishable. As I mentioned earlier, political independence needs underpinning by economic satisfactions. Accordingly, there is already planned development of primary production, to which the country is now most suited and in which the indigenous people have an ever-increasing share. In addition, the Australian Government now has the assistance of experts from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development who are making a full economic survey of the territories to determine the lines which their future economic development might take. 68. Similarly, social development is being conditioned by carefully planned educational programmes, and here I should mention particularly the investigations of a commission on higher education to determine the development of a university or of university-type institutions in New Guinea —of which some potential component parts are already vigorously in being— and as a basis for further extensive educational development, 69. However, in none of the fields of its development — political, social or economic— are the people of Papua and New Guinea yet able to proceed independently of Australian help. The biggest single item in the territories' revenue remains the annual grant of aid from Australia which this year has been fixed at 25,000,000 Australian pounds which is the equivalent of 55,750,000 United States dollars and which represents an increase of about 25 per cent over last year's figure. 70. This whole policy and programme is designed to place in the hands of the people of these territories adequate and modern instruments for the expression and the realization of their own will and desires. The Australian Government recognizes this popular will as the only factor which will ultimately determine the form of New Guinea's independence. The voice of the people can be heard and will be heard with increasing vigour through their own elected Parliament which, as I have said, will itself be constituted by the voices of every individual within the Territory on the basis of a common roll and universal franchise. 71. Although the half dozen issues on which I have touched are matters of outstanding concern to Australia and to many of the nations represented here, they are in fact only a small selection from the vast programme of urgent constructive work with which this Organization is faced. There is little dissent amongst us on the broad questions of what needs to be done, however much we may differ at times as to the wisest and most effective ways of achieving our objectives. By and large, also, each of us may acknowledge the general sincerity with which our fellow Members approach the solution of these problems, however strongly we may disagree at times about forms and methods. In the face of this vast array of tasks, however, we will need more than awareness of the needs and sincerity in considering them if our Organization is to achieve effective and lasting results. 72. We regret that continuing major global tensions necessarily still divert into economically unproductive channels large resources of effort and treasure, some at least of which might otherwise be added to those available for the peaceful purposes of our world Organization; but there can unfortunately be little Immediate prospect of any significant rediversion of these resources. 73. In the meantime, however, there is much which we can and should do to improve the capacity of our Organization to carry out its tasks effectively. The massive accession of additional Members to the United Nations, particularly during the last ten years, and the resulting reflection of new major regional interests, have made it urgently necessary to revise the Charter so as to make it accord more closely with current needs and to provide in the principal organs —especially the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council— for more adequate representation of new Members, especially the nations of Africa. 74. An equally urgent task is to solve the question of the finances of our Organization. However fully the United Nations may be developed to represent interests and views on a truly world-wide basis, it must inevitably fail to achieve its objectives so long as it continues to be crippled financially by a section of its membership. In fact, as its membership continues to grow and as it assumes ever increasing and onerous tasks, the problem of virtual financial bankruptcy becomes increasingly acute. 75. I should like to conclude with a brief mention of a very valuable, and at the same time inexpensive, development in the activities of the United Nations. I refer to the increasing role of the Secretary-General, both personally and through his appointed representatives, in visiting troubled areas of the world, in making objective investigations into situations and forming objective assessments of them, and in providing his good offices to help the contending parties, and the United Nations as a whole, towards acceptable and just solutions. Several times during the last year we have all had reason to be grateful for this quiet and effective diplomacy. When, as happens only too often, this Assembly is faced by the contending parties with quite irreconcilable accounts of a situation on which the great majority of us would have no opportunity of firsthand knowledge, the objective contribution which the Secretary-General can make from his independent inquiries and assessments can prove invaluable to us all. One such instance is the case of Malaysia to which I have already referred. My delegation would like to express its warm appreciation of this development in the role of the Secretary-General and to congratulate him on the results of his efforts and those of his various representatives during the past year.