I should at the outset express my appreciation for the arrangements which permit me to make this add ress to you here- and through you, I hope to a wider audience throughout the Philippines. There are many reasons why I value this opporru- niry. Among others, it gives me the chance (C' repay to your national university the compliment paid to the Australian Na- tional University last September by me otd friend, Australian's old and trusted friend General Romulo, the foreign Secretary.
With his customary forthrightness and verve, he chose that forum to explain to Australians last September the nature and purpose of the New Society. I hope that my giving an address here underlines the respect in which the people of both the.
Philippines and Australia hoJd universities as institutes of higher learning. I have been pleased to learn that arrangements are being made for an Australian professor of economics to spend a full year at the University of the Philippines on seconclment.
I hope this exchange may prove only the beginning of a Ye- gular rwo.way exchange of staff between our universities. Ana of course many hundreds of Filipino students have been
to Australian universities under the Colombo Plan. But it es-
pecially pleases me to demonstrate b)' my presence among you today my conviction about the key role the youth of this nation and this region have to play in nation- building. It is an aid cliche that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.
But such is the pace of events today, such is the speed of change, that the youth of today arc increasingly called upon to provide leadership, not tomorrow but today, And nowhere is this more true than in our own region. M}' own Government came to power a little more than a year ago largely because a ma- jority of the youth of Australia, for the first nme in a genera- tion, voted for change-s-for change on issues on which they themselves had shown leadership. My Government can only survive as long as we hold the confidence of men and women under 25.
Both at home and on my travels I have been made constantly aware of the deep concern which students feel for the processes of democracy. As President Marcos said last night, the Philip- pines is in a process of change and transition. 'From this pro- cess, I look" forward to the recreation of Filipino democracy
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UP. GAZETTE VOL. V, No.2 embodying the aspirations of the people and leadership of thePhilippines.
It is with all these thoughts in mind that I express my pleasure in being able to give this address here-the last of many in the six countries in the region I have visited in the past two weeks.
The first thing I have to say is simply this: That the labor Government, which was elected to office in Australia in December 1972, has a new and distinctive approach to a great many of the matters of current international importance in which your country and mine have a common interest. I have met here, and in all the other countries I have visited, a genuine understanding of our approach and the reasons behind it.
As far as the Philippines are concerned, General Romulo told me as long ago as last September in Canberra that he was very well aware of the change and welcomed it.
But it is not only a matter of undemanding changes which are made by Governments, by my Government or any GOY- ernment. In trying better to understand each other as nations, we should acknowledge that people change as well as Gov- ernments.
It is unfortunate, but true, that countries often manage to develop distorted views about each other, sometimes be- cause people think that policies of 25 years ago still prevail.
There is one serious distortion that still affects the relationship between our two counrrics-c-and that is a widespread belief in this country that Australia is a white racist society whose policies approximate to the apartheid policy practiced in South Africa, Officers of the Australian Embassy here, from the Ambassador down, tell me that whenever they give a public talk about Australia, the first questions asked by the audience invariably relate to racial issues-and in particular to the laws on the admission of non-European immigrants to Australia.
Now the fact is that the attitudes of 25 years ago have changed profoundly, radically. I know that the case of Sergeant Gamboa. the rejection of whose application to migrate to Australia in 1947 caused great bitterness, well justified bitter- ness and contempt here, is still remembered, It's perhaps not so often recalled that Me. Gamboa has lived in Australia for o....er 2U years and is, like myself, an Australian grandfather.
More importantly it should be remembered that the Gamboa case also caused a grcar outcry in Australia, by Australians who were able to sec and were appalled to see the inhuman implications of a policy which had been for so long the orthodoxy of all our major political parties. It is possibly because my own party, the Australian Labor Party, was in power at the time when the Gamboa and other similar incidents occurred, and because my Party had been traditionally, for rea- sons deep in Australia's social and economic history, the Front- line defender of the contemptible White Australia Policy 50-
called that the fighr for change was longest within the Labor Party and yet in the end the victory was most complete within the Labor Party. But the Australian people as a whole began to re-think their attitude, and governments and all parties respond- ed. For instance, the Government of Mr. Harold Holt, who visited Manila in the year of his tragic death, markedly liberaliscd Australia's immigration policy in 1966.
I said earlier that O1y Government depended on the support of Australian youth, The two issues which have attracted the attention of Australian youth longer than any others are Australia's immigration policies and the condition of the Aus- tralian aborigines, And these both came down to a single issue- racism. The most recent political issue involving mass demonstra- tions by Australian young men and women was a race issue-the
presence in Australia of racially-selected sporting teams from South Africa. Among young Australians today there is one unifying spirit-uncompromising opposition to racism in all its forms, So there is no doubting the direction in which the deci- sive political influence of young Australians-c-wbo are of course, a large and increasing majority of the Australian electorate- has forced Australian policy. There will be no turning back- irrespective of which party is elected by the free choice of the Australian people to provide their Government.
One of my own Government's first acts upon Lcing elected to office was to change Australia's vote from No to Yes on two United Nations resolutions on Southern Rhodesia under con- sideration at that time, At the same time, we announced our intention to ratify the International Convention Against Racial Discrimination. \Vle refused to allow racially selected sporting teams to visit or pass through Australia.
The timing and nature of these actions were deliberate. They were intended to signal to the world the priority which the newly-elected Government would give from then on to questions of race in formulating its policies and were designed to initiate the visible process of ridding Australia of any racist image. By giving the aborigines for the first time the same sratus before the law and the same political, economic and social opportunities as other Australians, by revising immigration laws and procedures to eliminate the racial criterion, and by demonstrating our sympathy with an understanding of the aspirations of the black Africans, we are trying tomake-and we believe we are making- a positive contribution to the lessening of interracial suspicion, fear and hostility throughout the world.
On immigration, we have removed the last remaining pieces of legislation which could bedescribed as discnminatory on racial grounds, The Australian Minister for Immigration, Mr. Al Grassby, visited the Philippines last year to explain the changes in our policies, and I cannot improve on his reply to a question during his final press conference. When asked about the so-called
"White Australia Policy," he replied: "It is dead-give me a shovel and I will bury it." And I here acknowledge the response of the Government of the Philippines to OUI policy, Until last year Australians were not permitted to settle in the Philippines.
Now that the Philippine Government has removed this discrimi- nation Australians may apply for residence in the Philippines on the Same basis as nations of other countries.
I have dealt with this matter first and at some length not JUSt because I know the interest it arouses in the Philippines.
It is also a good example of the real nature of the process of change in Australian policy-making. Change there has been, but not unpredictable, abrupt, or erratic; because, on so many issues, the process of change had begun under previous governments in response (0 the wishes of the Australian people and the realities of our times. And this means that the important changes which the Australian Government has made are quite irreversrble-c-irre- spective of the fate of my own adminisrranon. For the great changes rest upon things which cannot be changed again, cannot be pur into reverse,
The same is true of the changed attitudes and policies on matters concerning our relations with our friends, neighbors and allies.
The changes arc based on realities, they are based on a con- tinuing and developing recognition of genuine national interests and they arc based on the wishes of the people. I can best illus- trate this by reference to our relations with the Philippines and with the United States and the relations of both cur countries with the other countries of our region,
Less than thirty years ago, the Philippines and Australia were, with New Zealand, the three original signatories of the United
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FErrRUARY 28, .1974 D.P. GAZETTE
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Nations Charter from this region. Since then our foreign policies have followed a 'very similar development. In the immediate postwar period we both ler ourselves depend far too much on outside powers, especially the United States. We Joined defensive alliances against what we accepted, quire uncritically, as the communist monolithic menace which acording to the prevailing doctrine divided the world between the forces of good and evil.
We did nor think very much of OUf own particular national interests or work out independent viewpoints of our own. Our anitudes of mind were too heavily influenced by1'0 exaggerated assumption of our own weakness.
Recently, we have both begun to make what rs surely a more mature approach and a more realistic approach. We have begun to think more for ourselves and more highly of ourselves. In particular, we have come to look at our own region differently;
we see it more through our own eyes. We first consider how the world looks from Manila or from Canberra not from Washington or London. We question things we have taken for granted for a generation and we seek our solutions to our own problems. In the Philippines, President Marcos has referred to this new spirit as "national self-reliance." It has been called in Australia the "new nationalism", though it is not a term I use.
Essentially, what we are both saying is that we must stand more on our own feet. We do in fact pay the President of the United States the compliment of accepting that the Guam Doctrine means what it says-s-and we are both adjusting our policies accordingly.
Yet neither of us see these changes being made at the expense of old friends, particularly the United States. Although we are both less dependent on the United States than we are, we both attach great importance to our alliance with the United States.
We both wish to maintain dose and friendly relations with that country,
I do not pretend that the Philippines and Australia will always view international development in the same war, but I believe that our approach to the world events is closer in spirit and objective now than it has ever been.
Similarity of view in international affairs can be seen not only in our approach to the world at large, but also to the particular problems of the South-East Asian region. Since coming to office fourteen months ago I have raise the general question of the need for a wider regional association than any now existing.
President Marcos perceives the same need - the same gap in our existing opportunities for consultation and co-operation. He has spoken of the need for what he describes as an Asian Forum.
In our region there is nothing comparable to the Organisation for African Unity or the Organisation of American States. The Australian long-term hope is for regional arrangements which, although they would be less institutionalised and more informal than the OAU or the GAS, would give all the countries of the area, irrespective of their ideological differences, a forum in which to talk informally together and promote greater under- standing and co-operation. The parallel I most frequently use of the sort of arrangement I envision is the Commonwealth of Nations - formerly catted the British Comrnonwealtl-.
Certainly neither President Marcos nor I pretend that there arc no major obstacles to be overcome in brin",:ing this kind of idea co fruition.
There arc two outstanding ones: the continuing conflict in Indo-China and the lack of formal relations between China and many of the countries in our region. \X'e fuliy recognise that, for a variety of historical. cultural. political and economic reasons, many countries with substantial Chinese communnies ate finding it more difficult than we have done to normalise their relations
. with China. We recognise that the Philippines has a particular problem in this regard. But we also note that you have begun to move in the direction of recognition of the People's Republic of China, and that this objective has been prodarmed publicly by President Marcos. Australia was able to move veryquickly towards normalisation but our problems were obviously much simpler.
I should also like to say something about :\SEAN. It has sometimes been suggested that the Australian Go\'er~ment's in- terest in a new regional organisation could be met at least partially, by joining the existing ASEAN, or that in putting forward our thoughts about new arrangements we are. trying either to undermine or override ASEAN. \XTe arc trying to do nothing of the sort. On the contrary, we believe that ASEAL~
is a model, a natural regionaljgrouping. All thar we seek is to develop ways of working with ASEAN as a reg:unai entity. Only last month an Australian official delegation consulted with the Secretaries-General of all ASEAN members at {heir meeting in Bangkok. As a result, there are to be studies at the official level on areas of Australian co-operation and support which could be beneficial to ASEAN, and the Secretaries-General of ASEAN have been invited to confer in Australia in the near future.
We also wholeheartedly support the ASEAN proposals for a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality in South-EastAsia. We favour co-operation on a regional, as ·weH as a national, basis in facing common security problems. Thiskindof approach - seeking indigenous solutions to security problems - accords with the attitudes and aims underlying our own foreign policy.
It follows that -like the Philippines - we in Australia see the old style approach to regional security probems as exempli.
fied in SEATO asbeing out of datein many important respects.
General Romulo was among the first to publicly voice strong criticism of SEATO as it then existed in 1972 at the Council Meeting in Canberra. There was of course the usual tut-tutting, but not for the first time General Romulo has survived to see yesterday's heresy become today's orthodoxy. i might even say I have shared the same experience both at home and abroad.
It is a source of deep satisfaction to me that many of the criticisms then made by General Romulo have now been acted upon, and that the SF.ATO Secretariat has been reorganized and its predom- inantly military orientation revised. SEATO couic no longer be accepted as a military pact for the containment or China.
The policies of both our countries are now directed towards encouraging the militarily and economically dominant powers to cease disruptive intervention in the region, so as to let social and political conflicts work themselves out in truly national solutions. \Y/e in Australia believe that the dramatically improved relations between the major powers. with the notable exception of relations between China and the Sevier Union, represent a fundamental change which will allow a much greater flexibility in the conduct of foreign affairs. We believe that. in an armos- phere of detente between great powers, countries such as Australia and the Philippines will have new opportunities not only to work our their own independent place in the world, but also to develop their relations with each other.
And. of course, relations between our two countries arc widen ing and will continue to deepen, irrespective d the success or otherwise of the detente. \Yfe arc getting to know each other better. Australians in particular by force of (heir history and their geographical isolation in old days of slow and costly travel, unfamiliar, even uneasy. with their own neighbourhood - arc getting to know better the region in which they live. The more they get to know it, the more they feel at horne in this region;
their region; and this region is their home, for all time.
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V.P. GAZETTE VOL. V, NO.2 I might here appropriately inform you that _President Marcoeand I have been discussing the possibility of concluding a Cultural Agreement between our two countries. We are agreed in principle it would be a good thing and hope to be able to reach agreement on an actual (ext in the very near future. The process of nations getting to know each other is advanced- but only partially advanced - when political leaders such as . myself make official visits.
Private travel helps considerably ---'" and I am very interested to bear that the number of Australian tourists" corning here has increased substantially - on the way to doubling - in the last twelve months or so. Trade and commerce are other areas where important contacts arc made, "and here again are encouraging developments between our two countries. But I fed strongly that if, at the governmental level, we can set up a framework for developing the kind of contacts that would bf" promoted by a Cultural Agrcement, we shall be going a great deal' further to- wards promoting the kind of closer understanding that should exist between neighbouring countries such as ours.
There is another agreement being negotiated between o:ur two . countries and to which I wish to refer now. That is an agreement whereby Australia will enrer into a joint aid project with the Philippine Government for the construction 'of roads and related irrigation and agricultural development work in the province of Zamboanga del Sur. Under the terms of the agreement,a team of Australian engineers will set up its headquarters ncar the city of Pagadian and over a five year perind form the nucleus
of a major road construction and rehabilitancn project. The : cost to the Australian Government will be approximately 20 million pesos a year ($A2 million) for each of the five years.
This is a large scale project by any reckoning and, for that reason, of considerable importance; but it has an even greater significance than may first appear, because it will bethe first aid project on such a scale to be concluded between Australia and the Philippines. \X'e see it as a response to a demonstrated na- tiona! need in this country, and we hope it will yield substantial benefits to people in one of the lesser-developed areas of Mindanao.
\'<'e also see it as reflecting our own current approach to fostering the relationship between our two countries.
My visits to the Philippines always seem to have had some special personal significance for me. I first caine here at the end of the \\lar as a member of the Royal Australien Air Force.
Several visits and many years later, it was here in Manila that J first heard the stunning news about the Tet offensive in Viet- nam - which, whatever its military significance, had enormous consequences, nor least in Australia. I came bcre again on my way back home after my first visit to Peking in July 1971 while the region was. still reverberating with - one might almost say recovering from - the news of President Nixon's decision to go himself to Peking. Visiting for the first time as my coun- . try's Prime Minister, this must of course De to me the most significant in the long and continuing story of IriendshipL.
more than friendship, partnership - between the Filipino and Australian peoples.