23rd Parliament · 2nd Session
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator the Hon. A. D. Reid) took the chair at 3 p.m., and read prayers.
page 969
– Has the Minister for Civil Aviation been informed that the occupier of a service station at Eagle Farm1 airport, Brisbane, fails to observe the trading hours lawfully prescribed for service stations in the prescribed factories and shops district of Brisbane? Will the Minister investigate the allegation to ascertain whether the information is correct and, should he find that it is, will he take whatever action is necessary to have the practice stopped forthwith?
– 1 am aware that extended trading hours now apply to the service station at the airport at Brisbane. I am not aware of the particular hours of trading; I think that they extend beyond the ordinary hours which operate within the State to half an hour after the arrival of the last aircraft for the day. This practice was introduced as a result of a survey which had been taken over a lengthy period, in which it became obvious that many air travellers arriving in Brisbane - some returning home, and some for the purpose of undertaking tours throughout Queensland - wanted petrol before leaving the airport. It was decided that the airport garage would be allowed to trade during these extended hours for a trial period of one year. The Queensland Government was notified of the intention. Action has been taken under legislation that was passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealth last year in connexion with airport concessions.
page 969
– My question is directed to the Minister for National Development. Is he aware that a meeting will be held at the University of Western Australia to-morrow, at which some 200 prominent businessmen, scientists and government officials have been invited to discuss the water position in Australia? The organization sponsoring this meeting is the Water Research Foundation of Australia, of which General K. W. Eather is the executive director. Can the Minister indicate the source from which this body draws its funds? Does the Commonwealth Government help the organization financially?. If it does not do so, will he consider recommending that the Commonwealth afford some support to the foundation?
– I know something of the Water Research Foundation ofl Australia. In New South Wales it is an activity which is associated with the University of New South Wales. The foundation maintains a laboratory at Brookvale, a Sydney suburb. I have had a look at this laboratory, which does very useful work. I do not think I am equipped to indicate the direction from which the foundation gets its funds, but my recollection is that it is supported very largely by public donations. The foundation has made an application to the Commonwealth for financial assistance, and the Commonwealth has declined that application. As I have said, the foundation is associated with the University of New South Wales and I gather from Senator Branson’s question that it contemplates associating itself with the University of Western Australia.
page 969
– My question, which is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Labour and National Service, is prompted by Sydney newspaper and radio reports this morning that the iron and steel industry at Port Kembla requires immediately 800 men and expects that it will require an additional 1,000 men a year. Does the Minister’s department direct the attention of the States to employment opportunities throughout the Commonwealth? If so, will the attention of the Queensland Government be directed to the vacancies existing in the steel industry at Port Kembla in view of the statements made by many Queensland senators that there is some unemployment in Queensland?
– The Commonwealth Employment Service, which operates under the control of the Minister for Labour and National Service, is the body to which persons seeking employment may apply. The organization informs those persons where work is available and on what terms it is available and gives information an other related matters. 1 should imagine, therefore, that the Commonwealth Employment Service would inform any applicant seeking work of all the opportunities for work which existed in various parts of Australia. I will make detailed inquiries and communicate the results to the honorable senator by letter.
– 1 wish to ask a supplementary question. If the vacancies in New South Wales can be filled by workers from other States, is housing available in New South Wales for those workers and their families?
– The provision of housing in New South Wales is very largely the concern of the New South Wales Government. All particulars would be given to an applicant when he applied for a vacancy.
– 1, too, wish to ask the Minister a supplementary question. If the Commonwealth Employment Service finds Work in New South Wales for Queensland workers, will the Minister arrange for those workers to be reimbursed the cost of fares from Queensland to their place of employment?
– The sole function of the Commonwealth employment agency is to inform applicants where employment opportunities exist.
page 970
– I direct a question to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. Does the Minister recall that on 9th April, 1957, the Government announced that the Lockheed F104 Starfighter aircraft was to be the replacement for the Sabre jet in the Royal Australian Air Force, and also that the new aircraft was to be built in Australia? Has the Minister seen the statement in to-day’s Melbourne “ Sun-Pictorial “, attributed to Air Vice-Marshal V. E. Hancock, that only two jet aircraft are being considered by the Commonwealth in discussing a replacement for the Sabre as an all-purpose fighter, namely, the Lockheed FI 04 and the French Mirage? Can the Minister inform me when the Government repudiated its previous decision to use the Lockheed FI 04 Starfighter? When can it be expected that the Government will come to an irrevocable decision, so that the building of a new fighter can proceed in Australia?
– My recollection is not as clear as that of Senator O’Flaherty. 1 remember very well the discussion about the Lockheed FI 04, but I do not remember any firm decision having been made by the Government to equip the R.A.A.F. with that aircraft. I do not know whether the field for the choice of aircraft has been narrowed down, but I have noted a good deal of newspaper speculation about it. 1 can only say that the matter has not as yet been before the Government and that no Government decision has been made. The decision is not an easy one to make. Not only is a large amount of finance involved but also there are difficult technical questions concerning the type of aircraft which is best suited for our Air Force. I have read the newspaper reports with a good deal of interest. As a Cabinet Minister, I suppose I shall know in the near future whether they are correct, but I prefer to wait till the matter comes before Cabinet before commenting on it.
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– Has the Minister representing the Minister for Supply seen the report of a statement made in the Tasmanian Parliament by the Labour Premier of Tasmania, Mr. Reece, in which he emphatically denied that there had been any underhand dealing in the sale of the Bell Bay aluminium industry? Did Mr. Reece say that allegations by the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party of sharp practice or underhand business were quite unfounded? Has the Minister noted that the Premier said that the offer of the British Aluminium Company Limited was not acceptable to the Tasmanian and Commonwealth Governments and also that he expressed confidence in the way in which the negotiations were conducted by the Minister for National Development?
– I read with a great deal of interest the press report of the speech made by the. Premier of Tasmania, particularly the report of the comments to which Senator Marriott has directed my attention. They were similar to comments made from this side of the chamber when the matter was before the Senate. I quite understand why Mr. Reece has full confidence in the Minister for National Development. He was kept fully informed and he approved of all that went on. I noticed also that Mr. Reece said that the offer of the British Aluminium Company Limited was not acceptable to the Tasmanian and the Commonwealth Governments, and I was particularly interested in his last comment, which was -
I am satisfied that wo followed exhaustively every possible avenue of investigation before finally making the best decision.
That is what we tried to tell the members of the Labour Opposition when the matter was before us. Perhaps the words of a Labour Premier will satisfy them that the best was done for Australia.
page 971
– I ask the Acting Minister for External Affairs the following questions: - Does the Government receive the full text of speeches that are made at the General Assembly of the United Nations? If it does, is any part of them available to any senator or member of the House of Representatives for purposes of study?
– The Government does receive the text of speeches made at the United Nations General Assembly but not necessarily within a short time after their delivery. That is because of the great demand on cable facilities and things of that kind. We did receive the text of the notes from which the Prime Minister was to speak, but we have not received the verbatim report of the speech he delivered. Any member of the House of Representatives or any honorable senator who wishes to have the text of such speeches for study is entitled to have them, and I should be quite happy to be approached to secure them for him.
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Distribution in Schools.
– I address to the Acting Minister for External Affairs a question following upon one that I asked him last Thursday relating to the supply of literature by the Soviet Embassy to Victorian schools. Last week the Minister was not fully seised of all the facts, and I now ask him whether he is more fully informed. -I preface the second part of the question by pointing out that the press reported a rather remarkable statement to the effect that the schools concerned had asked for this literature from the Soviet Embassy. I now ask the Minister: Is that true? If so, is it the general practice for State departmental schools to have direct access to foreign embassies?
– In answer to the last part of the question, I should think it would be reasonably normal for the headmaster of a particular school to ask a particular embassy for facts and figures. In the case referred to by Senator Vincent, the security service was approached by some headmasters who had been inundated by a flood of material from the Soviet Embassy for which they had not asked. The security service, at the invitation of the headmasters, went to see what sort of literature was being distributed but did not believe that it could be described in any way as being subversive. Consequently, the security service took no action and did not take possession of any of the literature that was distributed.
page 971
– Has the Acting Minister for External Affairs seen a report in to-day’s “ Sydney Morning Herald “ to the effect that Sir Lloyd Dumas, who is chairman of Australian Associated Press Proprietary Limited, managing director of the Adelaide “ Advertiser “, and a director of the Melbourne “ Herald “, has stated that a committee of the United Nations has already changed the preamble of the convention on freedom of information from dealing with “ the free interchange of information and opinion “ to “ the free interchange of accurate, objective and comprehensive information “? I point out that Sir Lloyd Dumas is further reported as having said -
I hope the press and the people of all truly democratic countries will be aroused to its dangers in time to block it going through the Assembly.
I further ask the Minister: Has the Government given any instructions on this matter to its delegate to the United Nations? If it has, what instructions have been given?
– I do not know the precise answer to the question. I have not seen the newspaper article to which the honorable senator refers. However, I understand that for some time past there has been a discussion on the necessity for a world-wide exchange of information and that representatives of the Communist countries have sought the use of words which could be described as placing a limitation on that free exchange.
page 972
– My question is directed to the Acting Minister for External Affairs. Has he read a press report published last Friday of a statement by thirteen Australian trade union officials that the unions represented by the three-man delegation from China which is now in Australia are organized along lines similar to the organization of unions in Australia in that the officials are elected by rank and file unionists and are answerable only to them? ls that a factual statement, or are these officials just as much subject to the dictates of the Peking regime as are other subjects of that regime?
– I have seen the statement referred to. In my opinion, and in the opinion of a number of trade unionists, trade unions in countries which are ruled in a totalitarian way are what the late Mr. Chifley used to describe as tame cat unions. In fact, in a country so ruled it is impossible for any other type of union to function.
page 972
– My question is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry. Has he seen a report that the Australian Wheat Board is offering a discount of Id. per bushel, as a special starving stock concession, on sales of wheat now held in silos in Queensland? Does the Minister know whether this is the full extent of the assistance expected to be given by the Australian Wheat Board in the present critical situation? Is the Minister aware that lucerne chaff is being sold at the extortionate price of £70 a ton in the drought-stricken areas of Queensland, with the prospect of the price going higher as the situation worsens? In view of the worsening of the drought in Queensland and northern New South Wales, and having regard to the great economic loss being faced by primary producers in both those areas, has the Commonwealth Government made any decision to apply itself seriously to the problem, or does it intend to pass the buck for long enough to make any assistance on a national level useless?
– I think I should bring this question to the notice of the Minister for Primary Industry, who is responsible for these matters, and ask him whether the Australian Wheat Board - which under legislation passed by this Parliament has the right to make its own autonomous decisions - intends to go any further than the honorable senator has mentioned.
page 972
– My question is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Trade. Discussions are now taking place between Australia and Japan on the Japanese Trade Agreement. Having regard to the very valuable market which barley-growers in two States of the Commonwealth have in Japan, will the Minister endeavour to see that their interests are protected?
– I shall convey Senator Pearson’s suggestion to Mr. McEwen, although I am quite certain that the importance of preserving our barley market in Japan is already well in his mind.
page 972
– My question is directed to the Minister representing theMinister for Shipping and Transport. Has the Minister for Shipping and Transport seen the reference in the last annual report of the Tariff Board to the present difficult state of the shipbuilding industry in Australia? The board has suggested that a committee should be set up to examine the shipbuilding industry so that the industry could be maintained on an economic basis. Will the Government take steps to set up this committee before too much damage is done to this most important national industry?
– I have no doubt that the Minister for Shipping and Transport has seen the reference in the annual report of the Tariff Board. During the year under review in that report, the Tariff’
Board submitted to the Government a lengthy report on the matter. The question asked by the honorable senator contains a number of matters, some of which impinge on policy.
– It only suggested that a committee be set up. No policy matters are involved.
– There is a policy implication there. The honorable senator, who was a Minister, should be the first to acknowledge that. I will bring the question to the notice of the Minister for Shipping and Transport and ask him to supply an answer.
page 973
– My question is addressed to the Minister for National Development. Is it a fact that expert staff, carefully selected over a period of many years and now attached to the research laboratories of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, are already expressing concern about their prospects of future employment owing to the rapid progress towards completion of many of the projects of the scheme? Will the Minister indicate whether he intends to keep together the highly trained technical staff of the laboratories for research into future developmental schemes? Is it a fact that scientific investigation into such schemes, takes place approximately five years in advance? If so, can the Minister say whether the skill and experience of those people are already being directed to initial investigation into such things as the Ord River scheme, Weipa and Northern Territory development?
– I hardly think that any reservations on the part of such employees of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Auhority are justified. Given the fastest progress that we can make, it will be another seven to ten years before the Snowy Mountains scheme is completed. There is ample work for those who are now employed there and I see no prospect of any diminution of the activities of the authority in the near future. There is work to be done, and while that work is waiting to be done it is difficult to speak in terms of the staff members being employed for other purposes.
page 973
– Has the Minister representing the Minister for Air seen the report in the “ Sydney Morning Herald “ this morning stating that the Air Board has accepted the recommendation of the Scherger mission that the French Mirage III. jet fighter be adopted as the new Royal Australian Air Force fighter? Is this report a disclosure of an official secret, or is it pressure propaganda in order to influence the Cabinet to make a decision in favour of the French Mirage III. fighter plane? If the report has been prematurely disclosed, can the Minister inform me what action is being taken to punish those responsible for the disclosure of this official secret? Will he banish them to Siberia or SOO the security service on to them for further reports?
– All I can say about the report in the “ Sydney Morning Herald “ is that it is a newspaper report. I have no idea what motivated the report, or whether it was motivated by the things referred to by Senator O’Flaherty. I will certainly direct the attention of the Minister for Air, who sits in another place, to this report. It had not occurred to me that in a democracy such as ours an offence - if this is an offence - would warrant banishment to Siberia or searching by the security service; but possibly the report indicates an irresponsible attitude which is not altogether desirable.
page 973
– I direct a question to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Does the Minister know that a picture of the South Australian Premier, Sir Thomas Playford, who is shown wearing a safety cap, and which incorporates the South Australian coat of arms and Sir Thomas Playford’s name, will be one of the main features of a publication to be distributed in the United Kingdom and Europe under the direction of the Commonwealth News and Information Bureau, to direct attention to Australia’s industrial progress? Can the Minister tell me the title of the publication, which I understand is being sponsored by the Department of Trade? Is the fact that Sir Thomas Playford’s picture is being used in this way an acknowledgment of the outstanding progress and development that has been brought about in South Australia during the last decade by a Liberal Government led by him?
– I am sorry to say that I have not heard of this proposal.
page 974
– I ask the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration: Of the money that has been made available by the Commonwealth Government for the provision and furnishing of accommodation for migrant children since the post-war immigration scheme commenced, how much has been allotted to voluntary organizations such as those that conduct the Swanleigh and Fairbridge homes, and others in Western Australia?
– 1 know that the Department of Immigration makes money available in recognition of the important work done by such homes. I read recently that the sum of £28,000, I think it was, had been made available to certain Anglican homes ~;. I believe, both the State and Federal Governments. In view of the importance of the question, I ask the honorable senator to place it on the noticepaper and I shall obtain accurate details for him.
page 974
asked the Minister for Customs and Excise, upon notice -
– I furnish the following answers to the honorable senator’s questions, for the second time: -
page 974
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Labour and National Service, upon notice -
– The Minister for Labour and National Service has supplied the following information: -
page 975
asked the Minister representing the Postmaster-General, upon notice -
– The PostmasterGeneral has supplied the following answer: -
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and South Australian books, resulted in a saving of about 14 per cent, in production costs.
page 975
asked the Minister representing the Postmaster-General, upon notice -
Until such time as country television stations are established, will the Postmaster-General consider exempting from holding television licences people living in country areas, outside the normal range of television stations in the capital cities, where reception can at best be indifferent and unreliable?
– The PostmasterGeneral has furnished the following reply: -
It would be extremely difficult, if not impracticable, to prescribe and police reception standards for the purpose of determining whether some viewers should be exempted from television licence fees. The distance from a transmitting station and other conditions, such as the nature of the intervening terrain, affect reception standards and, as a result, a viewer residing 150 miles from a transmitter may, in certain circumstances, enjoy better reception than one living only a relatively short distance from it. In some cases, too, viewers located comparatively long distances from the transmitter are able considerably to improve their standard of reception by installing special antennae. It would also be difficult to support a case for exemption from licence fees on the grounds of poor reception when the persons concerned have been prepared to venture (he outlay of a considerable sum of money, no doubt after having satisfied themselves regarding the standard of reception to be expected.
page 975
asked the Minister representing the Postmaster-General, upon notice -
– The PostmasterGeneral has furnished the following reply: -
page 976
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice -
– The Minister for Primary Industry has furnished the following information: -
page 976
Report of the Public Accounts Committee.
– On behalf of the committee I bring up the following report of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts: -
Forty-Ninth Report - Form of the Estimates: Miscellaneous Services - and move -
That the report be printed.
In speaking to the motion I should like to say for the information of the Senate that this 49th report continues a review initiated by the first Joint Committee of Public Accounts between 1952 and 1954 of the financial documents presented to the Parliament. However, that committee was unable to complete its task and the second committee continued the review with the intention of submitting its conclusions to the Parliament in four reports. Those reports were to be on the Budget speech, the Estimates and Appropriation Bills; the Budget Papers; Departmental Estimates; and the Finance Statement and the AuditorGeneral’s Report. However, pressure of other work, the scope of the subjects and also the comparatively short life of the committee prevented it from completing its task and only one of the four projected reports was concluded - the 18th report dealing with the Budget speech, the Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure and the Appropriation Bills. That report was presented to the Parliament in 1954.
On its appointment in February, 1959, the present committee decided that it should take up again the review of the form and content of the financial documents presented to the Parliament. However, appreciating fully the task that such a review presented, and conscious of the need to maintain regular inquiries based on the reports of the Auditor-General and expenditure from the Treasurer’s Advance, the committee concluded that it would be best if it adopted a progressive approach to the review involving, in the first instance, the separate examination of a number of topics coming within the general subject of the form of the Estimates. This report is the first in this series and deals with the Miscellaneous Services section of the Estimates and the Appropriation Act - section 22. It traces the history of the section, examines its inconsistencies and sets down the views of a number of departments on the present method of treating this miscellaneous expenditure.
The committee has reached the conclusion that there will be some advantage both to the Parliament and to the departments if the expenditures now shown in the Estimates and the appropriation acts under the general heading of Miscellaneous Services are presented with the administrative expenditure of the departments concerned. The committee has recommended accordingly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
page 977
– by leave - I should like to inform the Senate that the Royal Australian Navy’s armaments stores carrier H.M.A.S. “ Woomera “ sank this morning after an explosion 23 miles south-east of Sydney heads. The first intimation of the mishap was an S.O.S. picked up from H.M.A.S. “ Woomera “ shortly before 10 o’clock this morning. H.M.A.S. “ Quickmatch “ and H.M.S. “ Cavendish “, which were exercising in the area, sped to “ Woomera’s “ assistance. H.M.S. “ Cavendish “ came alongside “ Woomera “ but shortly afterwards the latter sank. The rescuing ships picked up 25 survivors. All but two of the survivors, who had suffered minor injuries, were in a satisfactory condition. The ships are continuing the search for the two ratings who are missing. The normal complement of H.M.A.S. “Woomera” is 23 officers and men, but a small additional work party was on board on this occasion.
H.M.A.S. “ Woomera “ was a vessel of 586 tons burden and of wooden construction. She was eighteen years old and was taken over by the Navy from the Army at the end of the war in order to be used to dump out-of-time ammunition no longer required by the three services.
The names of the missing ratings, the next of kin of whom have been informed, are Able Seaman Barry Bryant Baker of New South Wales and Ordinary Seaman Robert Bruce Herd of Western Australia.
I regret that this news was available before it was possible for me to make a statement to the Senate, which is the course I would normally prefer to follow, but the S.O.S. from H.M.A.S. “ Woomera “ was on a commercial wavelength and the news was bound to become public before I could make a statement. In that case I thought that the news should be accurate.
page 977
Senator SPOONER (New South Wales - Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Labour and National
Service). - by leave - I am glad to be able to announce for the information of honorable senators that the council of the National Library of Australia has now been constituted on an interim basis as follows: -
Dr. A. Grenfell Price, C.M.G., chairman.
The Honorable Mr. Justice M. P. Crisp, of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and chairman of the Tasmanian Library Board.
Associate Professor Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Associate Professor of History in the University of Melbourne.
Mr. E. J. B. Foxcroft, of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Professor L. G. H. Huxley, ViceChancellor of the Australian National University.
Senator the Honorable Sir Alister McMullin, K.C.M.G., President of the Senate and chairman of the Parliamentary Library Committee.
Mr. K. B. Myer, D.S.C., deputy chairman and joint managing director of the Myer Emporium, Melbourne, who is very prominently associated with cultural activities in Victoria.
Dr. H. S. Wyndham, Director General of Education in New South Wales and chairman of the Library Board of New South Wales.
The interim council will hold its first meeting very shortly. Legislation to establish the National Library on a statutory basis is now being prepared with a view to its introduction in the present session of Parliament. The legislation proposes to place upon the council direct responsibility for the conduct of the library and the development of its services. It is proposed that the positions of National and Parliamentary Librarian will be filled by the present Librarian, Mr. H. L. White, at least until the separation of the National Library collections and services from those of Parliament have been achieved. He will be the executive officer of the National Library Council.
I am sure that honorable senators will agree that under the guidance and control of the council the National Library will increasingly become an institution serving truly national purposes. The members are distinguished in many walks of life and we are all greatly indebted to them for accepting appointment.
page 978
Debate resumed from 6ih October (vide page 945), on motion by Senator Sir Walter Cooper -
That the bill be now read a second time.
– I take it that in this debate we will follow the pattern of the debate in the other place, when the Minister for Territories (Mr. Hasluck) said -
On a point of procedure, Mr. Speaker, I should like to suggest that it might be convenient to the House if you would permit honorable members, when speaking to the second reading of the Papua and New Guinea Bill, to deal also with the matters covered in Order of the Day No. 14. When I was moving the second reading of this bill, I asked honorable members whether they would consider the contents of the bill against the background of the policy statement which I have made. Although T did not myself canvass again matters in the policy statement, I suggest to you that perhaps you might allow honorable members to do so if they wish.
In the same way, may we discuss together the bill and the policy statement?
– I am agreeable to that procedure being followed.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT.- That will be in order.
– We were all disappointed recently when, believing that the Prime Minister (Mr. Menzies) had gone overseas to defend Australia’s actions in relation to the development and government of New Guinea, we found that actually he had acted as a lackey for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 1 thought that the era had long passed when the Prime Minister of Australia was a lackey for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. We had the bitter experience of the Suez crisis. Now we have had a similar experience and the prestige of Australia has again suffered. I am not saying whether the Prime Minister’s statement was wise or unwise, correct or incorrect, but certainly the timing was unfortunate. We are seeking the friendship of the Asiatic nations which are so close to us. It is not my comment alone - it has been made all over the world - that the Prime Minister has alienated the leaders of the very people whose friendship we have sought.
In relation to the development of New Guinea, I want to pay a tribute to the Minister for Territories. I believe that he is sincere and capable, but perhaps eve» he would concede that he is not forceful enough to get his way in the Cabinet. He is interested in the aborigines of the Territory - the indigenes, as they are termed up there - but he cannot get his way in relation to their rights and the rights of the Territory generally. Government supporters who are interjecting will have an opportunity later of making their own statements, correct or otherwise. The Government is again claiming credit for a policy which merely follows a pattern laid down by the Chifley Government. Labour’s programme for the Territory provided for elected representatives on the Legislative Council, an advisory council on native affairs, native village local councils, and reconstruction of the Public Service and the judicial system. Those are the very points in relation to which the Government is now claiming credit. This Government did not initiate any of those reforms; it merely followed the pattern evolved by a former Prime Minister of Australia, the late Ben Chifley, and the persons associated with him.
In considering the history of the Territory, we recall that Sir Thomas Mcllwraith had to force the United Kingdom Government of the day to annex the territory now known as Papua, because of the activities of Germany in what is now the mandated territory entrusted to us by the League of Nations and subsequently by the United Nations organization, and of the Netherlands in what is now known as Dutch New Guinea. We realize that we face a particularly difficult position and we appreciate the problems confronting the Government and its supporters. No one will be more tolerant in relation to their deficiencies than I and my associates on this side of the chamber. But I have yet to learn that avoiding the truth is a virtue. In the other place it was suggested that, for the sake of the prestige of Australia, we should speak with one voice. No one desires more than do we on this side to build up the prestige of this country but, as I have said, I have yet to learn that avoiding the truth is a virtue or that it makes a contribution to the common good. I propose to pay tribute where tribute is due and to condemn where condemnation is justified.
First and foremost, we must realize that although we have a measure of responsibility to the indigenes of the Territory, we also have a responsibility to the Australians who have gone there and made a really substantial contribution. Our brown brothers have rights but I have yet to learn that our white brothers are without rights. The white people who have made such a great contribution to the development of the Territory, and have given a lifetime of service to it, are frankly concerned about what is happening. The feeling of insecurity is widespread.
Recently, for the first time since the war,I travelled extensively through the Territory. AsI moved round, I found that all Australians in the Territory, whether they worked as planters, in shops, or in the government service in the fields of native affairs, education or health, had a feeling of insecurity. I do not ask honorable senators merely to take my word. Let me quote the statements of some men in the Territory whose names are well known - men who have made a substantial contribution to the country and given years of service to it. Many of them I have known for a considerable time. Jim Jacobsen, in the Markham Valley, said -
The future is a fifty-fifty gamble.
He was the most optimistic. I take it that he goes to the races occasionally. Ian Downs is an outstanding figure. No one could say that he lacked a sense of proportion or that he was not level-headed. A report states -
The Australian Government should nationalize all industry in the Territory to prove its sincerity to the people, according to the president of the Highland Farmers and Settlers Association, Mr. Ian Downs. Mr. Downs accused the Government of trying to force primary producers out of the Territory through deliberate intrigues.
For the information of the Senate, I say that Ian Downs was a patrol officer and subsequently a district commissioner, with an extraordinary record. He was elected to the Legislative Council, but because he did not see eye to eye with the Govern ment’s policy on elected representatives he resigned. Any one who knows him acknowledges that he has a brilliant mind and has at heart the real interests of the Territory to which he has devoted so much of his life.
The Leahy brothers, Mick, Jim and Dan, are a famous group. They came from the Darling Downs, in Queensland. Mick Leahy said -
Europeans will be kicked out in five years.
In 1934, when it was generally believed in New Guinea that there were no new areas to be discovered, Mick Leahy surmised the existence behind the mountains of what is now known as the Wahgi Valley. He was the first white man to go into the valley. The following year, he and Jim Taylor, a departmental officer, were the first two white men to go through the area. These are people who have been in the Territory, not for one, two, five or ten years, but for over 30 years. They believe that the Government has no intention of looking after them, much as it says that it will treat them fairly and properly. One of the reasons for this belief was the statement - it was not irresponsible but at least the choice of words was ill-advised - made by the Prime Minister on his return to Australia some months ago. Not knowing what the exact position was, he was questioned about self-determination, selfgovernment or independence for New Guinea, and he said, “ Better sooner than later “. The people in the Territory interpreted those words, asI believe they were entitled to do, to mean that, if the question of getting out arose, the Australian Government would get out and leave Australians there to undergo whatever might happen to them, irrespective of what they had earned by faithful, loyal and efficient service.
– Do you think that was a bad statement, in the circumstances?
– If the honorable senator will allow me to deal with the matter in my own way, I shall deal with that facet of it. I ask the honorable senator to be patient, even though we all realize that he usually is not patient.
Let us deal with the bill that is now before us. It merely seeks to amend the original act, and we find that certain basic principles are involved. The bill seeks to increase the number of representatives who form the Legislative Council from 29 to 37. lt does not seek to alter the authority of the Administrator, or the right of veto. But it does seek to alter the numerical relationship that was determined in the legislation introduced by Labour. The number of official representatives is to come down to fifteen - I include the Administrator - from seventeen, there are to be ten appointed representatives of whom not fewer than five are to be natives, and there are to be twelve elected representatives. What was known as the Executive Council is to be abolished, and the Administrator’s Council is to be established. That council is to consist of seven members of whom three shall be official representatives. It will include the Administrator, and the remaining three members will include not less than two elected representatives. So, with this Government in office, it is quite easy to visualize that there will be a nonvarying majority of five to two against the elected representatives. I do not think I am being unfair in saying that, because that would be the basis upon which the determination would be made by this Government.
– The worst it could be would be four to three.
– No. Knowing the Government we have had in office for the last eleven years, do you think, in the case of the appointed representative, that the Government would appoint some one who was likely to vote against it7
– Yes.
– I should not think so. I know just how trusting Senator Kendall is, but somewhere along the road he will learn that the Government is not to be trusted. What we quarrel with - we shall express our disagreement in the form of an amendment - is the basis upon which the elected representatives are to be determined. I do not ask honorable senators to take my word for what I am about to say, because it is the people who have lived there, those who are indigenous to the Territory, those who have seen it grow and develop who should be listened to. We should not necessarily listen to those who sit here in Canberra or to those who have seen the Territory for only a short time. I propose to quote the words of those who have been prepared to make statements about this legislation and the basis of suggested electoral reform. Much credit is being claimed by the Government, even though, peculiarly enough, the United Nations has more or less insisted that target dates be set. I realize the difficulty that is associated with determining the day, the month or the year when self-determination should be granted; but at least we should aim for some particular time, even though subsequently we are found to be behind that time.
– What period would you recommend?
– I am very tolerant with the honorable senator, so perhaps he will be patient with me. I have an important case to develop, and I am trying to develop it in my own inimitable way.
– Have you been up to the Territory?
– If the honorable senator had been courteous enough to listen to me, she would have heard me say that. I do not intend to be sidetracked; I am quite determined about this issue. I have a measure of real knowledge of it. I have, in support of my statements, opinions that have been expressed by people who have lived up there - men and women of real intelligence. They support my views, so perhaps honorable senators opposite will be interested in being educated on this matter,
We on this side of the chamber contend that the measure now before us is notable for a lack of approach to real electoral reform and for a lack of definiteness of time. . On Friday, 22hd July, Mr. C. J. Lynch, who is the Assistant Secretary for Law, said that illiteracy or political naivety was no reason for refusing the franchise to the native people of the Territory and that it should be immediately extended. He said that, at the absolute minimum, it should ba extended to all members of the Public Service, including the auxiliary division. One of the features of this legislation to which we object is the discriminatory approach of the Government towards the extension of the franchise. Moreover, the Government has not made provision for the holding of direct elections. It is making ari indirect approach by adopting the electoral college method of election, in which some are elected to elect some one else.. Actually, those who one would think would be best qualified to cast an intelligent vote, measured by our Australian standards, are disfranchized. Any one who is employed by the Government, teachers, Native Affairs officials, medical assistants, and so on, are disfranchized. Mr. Lynch said that members of the Public Service, natives holding junior certificates, graduate apprentices, all natives on a native local council roll, natives who have been resident in towns for five years and such other classes of natives as the Governor-General or the Administrator determines from time to time should have a vote. He added that the aim should be to extend the voting machinery as quickly as possible to all areas except the restricted areas. That seems to me to be a not unauthoritative opinion.
No one would claim that the “ South Pacific Post “ is biased in favour of Labour. Like most Australian newspapers, it is quite divorced from political responsibility and does not tell the story as it should be told. It does not put Labour’s view, which should be put to most people. The leading article in the “South Pacific Post” of 26th July reads -
Perhaps there are reasons for not extending the franchise but the natives eventually must be given the right to vote, and the evidence is accumulating that it appears wiser for this right to be given before it is demanded and while there is an atmosphere of political calm.
Let me quote also a statement made by Dr. Reuben Taureka, a native doctor who trained at Suva. As most honorable senators probably know, at Suva there is a native medical college where natives may train for six years or more. After that training they are qualified to give a measure of medical service. Many of these qualified natives are doing excellent work. Reuben Taureka is an outstanding personality and an intelligent man. Medical practitioners in the Territory have told me that they are looking forward to the day when he will be entrusted with a senior administrative post. So this man enjoys the appreciation of not only his own countrymen but also associates of mine in the medical profession. He has said that the union of the two parts of the island must eventuate because geographically it is one land mass. He says there should be a common roll on which there would be the names of .the indigenes and Europeans. So there we have three not dissimilar viewpoints expressed by three different but responsible people.
In spite of those opinions, the Government still persists in trying to convey to the people of that - area, to the people of Australia and to the people of the world that it is now doing something substantial for the welfare of the Territory. But the Government is playing with the matter. It is not game to take a risk when it should take a risk in the light of adverse world opinion and when it could afford to do so, because it will still have the right of veto. The economy of the Territory depends upon the actions of this Government, yet it will not take a risk. The Government will not even acknowledge the basic right of human beings by giving them the nominal right to vote and to have their names on a common roll. It will not even name the time when it is likely to accord them that right. Is it any wonder that the bill is being subjected to a measure of criticism? Is it any wonder that the Minister for Territories has not got his heart in the bill? At least he is interested in these people and knows what should be done, but it so happens that the Government at present in office will not let him do what should be done. The Opposition realizes that the position is a difficult one and, as I said earlier, it is prepared to face up to its responsibility. It is useless to think in terms of the past. Australia has controlled Papua for almost 60 years. We have controlled the mandated territory, under trust from the League of Nations and later from the United Nations for nearly 40 years. I will admit that during that time we have done quite a bit, and I shall pay tribute where it is due. Perhaps the Netherlands Government has not done as much as we have, but we must remember that the area it controls is not as potentially valuable as that which Australia controls. We have to face up to these matters.
I intend to be frank and to discuss what the Dutch have done in Netherlands New Guinea as compared with what has been done in Papua and New Guinea by the Australian Government. The annual exports from the territories controlled by Australia are worth £16,000,000, compared with £3,500,000 in the case of the area controlled by the Netherlands. There are 170,600 native students in the Australian territory, of whom 16,000 are in Government schools and the remainder in mission schools. In Dutch New Guinea there are 35,400 native students. The airfields in New Guinea and Papua number 154 while there are 25 airfields in Dutch New Guinea. The road miles in Papua and New Guinea are 5,500 and 250 in Dutch New Guinea. There are 27 native local government councils in Papua and New Guinea and only one in Dutch New _ Guinea. Native cooperatives in Papua and New Guinea number 221 and there are 52 in Dutch New Guinea. Up to the present we have a more favorable record than the Netherlands Government, but it is not the events of the past that should concern us. The important considerations are what is being done at present and what is proposed to be done in the fuutre. What do the Dutch propose to do? They propose to establish what they term an elite class. By 1970 they hope to have in view self-government for the territory.
– Have they fixed an actual date?
– They hope that 1970 will see the determination of selfgovernment.
– They hope it will.
– Just be a bit patient and let me develop my theme. Let me explain what the Dutch propose to do next year. They will have a legislative council on which the natives will have a majority of the elected representatives. There will be 28 natives in the 29 elected members. There will be one Netherlands Government representative, but he will not have a vote. That is the target the Dutch have set. Furthermore, the leader of a political party in Dutch New Guinea is in Holland as a student at present. He is the leader of the National Party, which grew out of the People’s Democratic Party and the United Party. They merged to form what is known as the National Party. This student will have his doctorate in another three years. He has passed his second year at the Leyden University. It is visualized that by 1965 the Dutch authorities will send at least 35 students each year to Dutch universities, with at least 25 graduating, and they hope to increase the number each year.
What are we doing in the field of education? The Australian Government is engaged in primary education - or the missionaries are engaged in primary education and the Government is supplying them with what might be regarded as chicken feed to carry on this work.
– That is nonsense.
– Let me develop my speech and I will show honorable senators opposite how much nonsense the Government has practised over the last eleven years in this area. Not one native from the Territory has matriculated. Only three natives have obtained their leaving certificates. One is a nurse; one is at present in Melbourne training as a kindergarten teacher; and one is now a priest. Fortyeight natives have passed the Queensland junior certificate examination. That is Australia’s record in the field of higher education.
– They are facts; the others are only hopes.
– They are not. A pass in the second year of a university course is not a hope. It is a fact.
– He has still three years to go.
– No, he has not. You can get a degree in three years.
– What degrees?
– A B.A. degree and a B.Sc. degree. If you want to do medicine, it will take six years, and engineering takes four years. Honorable senators opposite should not argue with me on these things because I know a little about them. Irrespective of the motive force that is driving the Dutch - it may be only a desire to frustrate Soekarno in his aspirations, which are not valid because ethnologicall’y he has no right to West Irian, as he terms it - we have to face up to what they are doing.
Do not let us forget that there are other respects in which the Dutch have been much more liberal in their approach to the rights of the natives than we have. I refer to matters affecting social life, such as drinking and so on. We have been very conservative. We have to accept our responsibility for the racial discrimination in Papua and New Guinea. A man such as Khrushchev is prepared to use these things against the western world. Even though Australia may not be important to him, the affairs of New Guinea are, so to speak, a toy with which he can play and which he can make use of. As most honorable senators know, he is a man of mixed personality. He can be a “ wow “ at a party, or he can be a thug, but no one can deny his shrewdness in capitalizing on our errors. That is what he has done.
Do not let us forget that there are people other than Khrushchev to be considered. There are the leaders of the Afro-Asian bloc, who, because of the exploitation that has been practised by white people over the years, are somewhat distrustful of our attitude. That is why we have to face up to what the Dutch are doing and attempt at least to parallel it. It is not of much use to say that we are educating so many natives to the standard of the sixth or even of the eighth grade when the Dutch are turning out graduates. The natives are aware of the position. Most of the educated native leaders have been successful in business, and their attitude is that being a Pacific nation, they must look to Australia. They do not propose to look to South-East Asia or to any other part of Asia; they have said that they will look to Australia. We have a responsibility at least to equal what the Dutch are doing, but there is no evidence that this Government intends to try to do so.
Let us look at what has been done. I want to deal with this matter quite fairly. There is little doubt that there has been a lot of exploitation in the Territory. I ask honorable senators opposite not to interrupt me, because I am going to pay a tribute to those white people who have not been exploiters - and they comprise the vast majority. However, there is little doubt that commercial firms have exploited not only the land but the natives themselves. The names I am about to mention were not invented by the natives, but by white people. There was one firm known as Would-Rob Claude, another known as Bloody Pirates and another known as Chiseling Willy. Those were the terms that were applied to three big firms, not by the natives, but by the whites. There are merchants to-day who have a discriminatory price approach in that they charge the natives more than they charge the white people. Recently, information was laid against twelve firms in Port Moresby 4oi charging natives a higher price than they charged whites for a similar article. Three of them were proceeded against. If that is not exploitation, your definition of the word is different from mine.
The vast majority of the Australians who have’ gone to the Territory have done a wonderful job. Some of them went originally for private reasons and have remained as departmental officials. I knew many of them before they went there and I have known many of them since they went there as patrol officers, district officers, district commissioners, and officers in the Department of Native Affairs, the teaching service and other departments. They have regarded their job as a crusade. I think of men like George Greathead, Jim Taylor, Tom Ellis, Ian Downs, Foley and others who are district officers or officers of the Department of Native Affairs. I also think of Keith McCarthy, who was a district officer and is now in the Department of Native Affairs. I think of Dr. John Gunther, Harry White and others in the medical service. When you realize what those men have given of their lives to this area, you cannot do other than pay a great tribute to them. Some of them - such as Downs, Greathead and Taylor - have now settled on the land, and far be it for me to deny them the competence they have earned. I do not think any one on this side of the chamber would attempt to deny them that.
That is why we are seeking for them, as we are seeking for the natives, a measure of security. They are entitled to it. If the Government was reasonable, it would set up a system not dissimilar to the war damage insurance scheme that was established in the last war, to allay their suspicion of insecurity which has been engendered by the Prime Minister and the representatives of the Government. But the Government has done nothing about the matter. When we think of the difficulties - and we must think in those terms - let us be realistic. I realize the difficulties that are associated with this area. I am not one of those starry-eyed idealists who believes that we can give the people of this Territory everything to-morrow. I propose to point out the difficulties that face the Government. But they should not stop the Government from attempting to do something.
As honorable senators know, the people are of Melanesian origin, but over the centuries, because of the hazards of the terrain, they have become separated and live in clans spread over a number of islands including New Guinea ‘itself, Manus, New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville. They have at least 500 different languages- not different dialects. Bitterness and hatred have been engendered among the clans over the centuries. We have to attempt to overcome those feelings. If the Government continues to postpone the day of self-determination, as it is doing, in 80 years’ time it will be just as near success as it is to-day. I think that would be about the time when a government of a similar political complexion to the present one would again look at the position, if the rate of progress during the last eleven years is any guide.
It is suggested that the ultimate aim is a Melanesian federation of all the islands, incorporating Dutch New Guinea. The position as I saw it and as it has been explained to me, is this: You may get some of the more educated and some of the more highly intelligent natives to grasp the idea of integration of the clans in a particular area, but they have not got a clue about integration of the various islands. We are doing very little to try to develop that idea. That is why I suggest that if we gave them a measure of electoral responsibility with a common roll and a common purpose, they would progress much more rapidly. I am not making a plea for an educated elite, which the Dutch are creating or proposing to create because of world opinion and in an endeavour to frustrate Dr. Soekarno. I am not very happy about an elite being in control. In recent world history we have seen elites in control. We saw one in Germany under Hitler and we have seen one in Russia over the last 40 years. It has not been a happy arrangement for the people living in the country from the point of’ view of individual liberty. Education at the higher levels must be encouraged so that the more highly educated natives can take control of the various fields of governmental activity and governmental responsibility.
We must realize that the natives are in clans and there are 500 languages. The Sepiks are willing to go to war at any time, and the Cooka-Cookas hate the Chimbus. One of the Kukukukus said to me, “ Doctor, we seek independence so that we can destroy the Chimbus “. I realize the difficulties. It is only coincidental that they are known as “ Cooka-Cookas “ because they did not mention a boiling pot to me, although I am certain that they want some of the Chimbus to finish up in the boiling pot.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Australians who are in the Territory and I think the Government should recognize that it has a responsibility to convey to them the consolation of security. If the supporters of the Government heard the Australians up there - great men, greater than many of us living in this country could ever hope to be - say what they think of the present Australian Government, the criticism would appall them. It might at least reform some Government supporters, because they are not beyond reform. I believe that the Government owes to those people the responsibility of ensuring their security. The Territory is our first line of defence. Many of our boys died there while utilizing the land and the natives to defend Australian shores. The Government has a responsibility to those natives and to the Australians who have developed the country and settled there. The Government has a responsibility to those who are engaged in the Public Service of the Territory. No suggestion has been put forward at any time that Australians should be brought back into the Commonwealth service without loss of remuneration or benefit. There is no provision for the rehabilitation of teachers. No attempt has been made to approach the States in order that the teachers might be taken back into the State teaching services if, in the process of time, they are not wanted by the natives when selfgovernment or independence is given. There is no suggestion of protection for those who have settled on the land. As I have mentioned, they have done a great job not only before they went on the land but also in showing the natives how to cultivate the soil and produce cash crops such as cocoa, rubber, copra and coffee. I believe it is up to the Government, now that the future of the Territory is a world question, to afford those people the consolation of security. If the Government does so, they will be much happier people and they will be content to remain there.
However, I feel it is extremely doubtful whether the Government is interested enough to do that for those people. They certainly do not think the Government is interested enough. I think of what they have suffered because of the difficulties of that area, the terrain and the lack - I use the term advisedly - of potentialities in the Territory. There are certain crops which would grow readily, but a national approach must be made to the question. For example, sugar would grow readily up there, as would peanuts. Then the question to ask ourselves is: Are we going to disorganize the economy of Australia and settlement in the north of Australia in order to establish settlements and a secure economy in the Territory? A large part of the area is rugged mountainous country with precipitous slopes on which a bandicoot could scarcely exist. When we think of improving the standard of living of the natives, we should realize that they must go from the slopes on which many of them now live. The Dutch are considering moving people from the highlands to more fertile areas. We must also consider the swamps and the shallow soil, leached with constant rains. The cash crops such soils produce to-day - cocoa, coffee, copra and coconuts - are in competition with crops produced in all the low-wage countries of the world. When you improve standards there, Sir, you automatically raise the prices of the products that are produced there. Unless standards move in a parallel fashion to those of other countries that produce the particular commodities concerned, you face the difficulty that you may price production there out of existence.
Those are a few of the difficulties as I see them. Now let us consider other features of the administration of the Territory, features which merely follow the pattern determined by a previous Labour government. It is true that health services have been expanded. No one denies that that is so. It was inevitable and was basically humanitarian, but it is interesting that the developments that have resulted from the activities of the present or previous Menzies governments have come about because of pressure of world opinion. At Wewak, Madang, Moresby and Rabaul there are hospitals that meet all modern demands. Such hospitals already exist at Moresby and Rabaul, while those at Wewak and Madang are in process of completion. But if we go to other places, we find that the position is quite different. At Wabag, for instance, there are 300 patients, with one doctor, Dr. Wallace, an excellent young man from Melbourne, who is doing a fine job under extraordinarily difficult conditions. He is looking after 300 patients - something that no one here would ever dream of doing - in a hospital with a pit-pit roof and a dirt floor. There is allegedly a theatre, but no one would dare to operate in it. Conditions there are a disgrace. That is not an isolated instance. The people there are asking for reasonable facilities for 300 patients, but refuses to meet the cost, which is estimated at £70,000. There are other hospitals in the Territory where conditions are not dissimilar. When we appreciate the difficulties under which the doctors labour in the Territory, we must pay a tribute to them, and also to the nurses and the laboratory assistants.
– Have you read the report?
– Yes, I have read it and I have also read the other report on Papua and New Guinea. Have you read both?
– Yes.
– Then you should have learned something of the deficiencies of your Government.
It would be indecorous if I did not pay a tribute to the new Australian doctors in the Territory. When there was a shortage of doctors, it was the idea of the present Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives (Mr. Calwell), who was then Minister for Immigration, to see to the registration, of new Australian doctors, many of whom are doing an extraordinarily good job in the Territory, both from an administrative and a medical point of view. They are doing a remarkable job, but what are we doing? No doubt the supporters of the Government will say that we cannot get sufficient doctors. I point out that natives are going to the native medical college at Suva, but we have done nothing to establish a medical college for natives in Moresby, Rabaul or anywhere else. Many natives would go to such a college if one existed. After training, they could render really worthwhile assistance. Nevertheless, the Government is not prepared to do anything in this direction, although it now speaks of the possibility of establishing a medical college at Moresby. Why did it not do so years ago, when it realized that a shortage existed?
– Why do not we do something in Australia? There is no doctor at Cloncurry. The people there cannot get a doctor.
– But you could establish a medical college at Moresby, could you not? That does not require doctors; it requires money. The doctors already there could lecture to the students.
– They are doing that at the various hospitals and medical aid posts.
– Does the honorable senator say they are training medical practitioners? If so, I inform her that her information is not correct.
– They are training medical aids.
– I am speaking of native medical practitioners.
– You cannot get a medical practitioner until he has passed the leaving certificate examination, can you?
– Yes, you can. They go to Suva without the leaving certificate. I shall have a private talk to the honorable senator about the matter; I cannot afford to waste my time now. There are so many matters that I want to deal with.
A good job has been done in relation to malaria in certain areas, but control measures are being improved instead of eradication being concentrated on. There is a distinct difference between eradication and control. In the case of control you are merely suppressing the disease tem porarily, so that it may flare up again, but if you eradicate it you remove it completely. Nothing is being done to eradicate malaria. Steps are being taken to eradicate tuberculosis, but not enough is being done in this respect. There are mass X-ray examinations in certain places, but in general, the measures have not been followed through.
In regard to education, the pattern is much the same as with health. As I have said, the missionaries have shown a sense of responsibility and are training almost 95 par cent, of the children of primary school age. There is a teachers’ training college, and some students are doing secondary school courses. But the effort has been scattered. It shows the measure of irresponsibility in this Government’s approach to a big question. It almost appals one to travel throughout the Territory and to realize what we should be doing, not only on a humanitarian basis but for the prestige of Australia. When we think in those terms we realize how grossly deficient the Government has been. As I have said, the only things for which it can claim credit are those which were begun by the Labour Government.
It is important to refer to the matters that I am discussing. In respect of one of them - racial discrimination - supporters of the Government say they do not believe it exists. I know that it is not the responsibility of each person to mix with everyone. We are not obliged to mix with all whites, and neither is a native expected to mix with all other natives. But provided that people observe a certain code of behaviour, such as in relation to hygiene, I cannot see any reason why there should be colour discrimination - and there is in New Guinea. Many of the senior officers admit it. Many of the white settlers deny it. But let us have a look at the position. We find that racial discrimination does exist. The Brisbane “ Telegraph “ newspaper sent to New Guinea a special correspondent, a lad whom I know, who has reported in the following terms: -
Natives plan to form their own basketball association following the refusal of the Port Moresby Basketball Association to allow a native team’s entry. The Basketball Association constitution bars natives but no one knows, or will admit, why this was passed in 1957. At Rugby League, natives congregate around three sides of the field. They say that even if they pay the higher admission to the other section patronized by whites, native police move them out. Whites try to avoid using buses occupied by natives. Half-castes who are allowed to drink liquor are members of few clubs. If they have sought membership is not known. Native children and white children generally use different buses going to school. . . . Natives are not allowed to drink. . . .
There is evidence of a definite colour bar. I am not saying that natives should mix with every one else; nor am I saying that white people should mix with every one else; but if both races conform to certain standards in a particular environment they should associate. 1 can see nothing objectionable in that, nor can senior departmental officers in the Territory. Because of the intolerance that this discrimination has caused, we as a Parliament have a responsibility, and the Government has a particular responsibility, in the light of the difficult situation throughout the world to-day, to handle the position in the proper way. Yet, the Government is doing nothing about it.
There is a demand in the Territory for the natives to have the right to drink liquor. I am not going to argue whether or not it is justifiable to drink liquor. That is a question that goes on through the ages, depending on the personal point of view. But this particular form of discrimination operates against the natives and they object to it. Reuben Taureka, who is a Christian, an extraordinary type of man and an intelligent man, with a sense of responsibility, has said that natives should be given the right to drink liquor. That is all I can say on that question. Others have spoken of the objectionable discriminatory approach in regard to picture shows. Natives have to go to a particular picture show at which the films that are shown have been censored, but the Dutch do not censor pictures shown in Dutch New Guinea. They say it has not had an adverse effect. I would not be an authority on the matter. I am quoting these views for the information of the Senate. I think that the Government has a responsibility to have a look at all these things. If the Government does not do anything about the matters I have mentioned the world will have a look at them and, in the light of the changing outlook as evidenced by the votes at the United Nations, the world may take the trust territory from us. The Indonesians may take Dutch New Guinea from the Netherlands and if they db. where do we stand? Actually, the whole of Papua is one of the poorest tropical areas in. the world. If we we do not accept our responsibility in this matter-
– Where would the Indonesians stand with the United Nations if they took such a course?
– That would be a matter for the United Nations. They would probably do a lot better than the Prime Minister did just recently with the General Assembly, when there were only five votes for his proposal and 44 against it.
– What was that again?
– The Prime Minister put up a great case, with his usual eloquence, but the vote went against him. He got five votes, but as there were 44 votes on the other side he lost.
– The whole thing was dropped finally.
– The point I am making concerns his inept timing of the whole question, with which I dealt earlier. I do not propose to go back to that now. The honorable senator might as well ask me to deal with the muddle that the Prime Minister got into at Suez, when he acted as Anthony Eden’s bell boy and lackey. You would not expect Nasser to vote for him, would you? Apparently the honorable senator has not read what Mr. Nehru said about Mr. Menzies. Mr. Nehru, who had been somewhat partial to Mr. Menzies earlier, said he could not understand a man who was so brilliant being so stupid. We can, because we have always recognized his stupidity.
But let us get back to the natives themselves. We realize they are going to be difficult people to deal with, because they are procrastinators. That is the way they live. That is their life. They are not always as amiable as most people would have us believe. I had an argument with certain people in Madang over this matter. They tried to convey to me that there was no viciousness in some of the natives who were not far removed from cannibalism. To me, cannibalism does smack of viciousness. I quoted the case of a native policeman enlisted by the Japanese who was to be charged with 93 murders. One planter said to me, “ After all, there are plenty of men in this room who have committed more than 93 murders “. Looking at the men, I could hardly believe that statement, because I thought that the vast majority of them were decent people - and I still think so. I said, “ In my country murder is a capital offence and any one convicted of murder is likely to spend the rest of his life in gaol. Yet you do not regard 93 murders as being reprehensible! “ The natives are procrastinators. They are used to a subsistence level. Our job is to educate them, to decrease infantile mortality, and to assist them to attain longevity. Whether, in bringing them the benefits, so-called, of civilization we can do anything worth while for them is a matter of basic philosophy.
I do not know whether the natives would not be happier if given a little more education. They are living on sweet potato - called the taro - sugar cane and a garnishing of pig occasionally. We have a responsibility to bring to them western civilization and a so-called higher standard of living. We realize that they are going to be difficult. On the other hand, too, they suffer from certain disabilities. There is a lack of pre-school education and the children do not get books and pictures to look at and toys to play with so as to cultivate their minds before they go to school. In a measure, there is a lack of competition between the natives. There may be competition as between various clans, when one clan may admire or envy another clan’s crop. But there is a lack of individual competition which will be in some measure a handicap. That is why I think we have to realize all the difficulties of terrain, and the difficulties of the native people and those of our neighbours - the Dutch - and understand what they propose to do and what they are actually doing. This makes it a difficult position.
On the question of what we should do, I frankly think that while we have the authority to control the economy of that particular area and, while we can control the Legislative Council by way of administrative act or veto by Cabinet, we should do so. We should take the risk, not only because of a basic responsibility to these people, but also because of growing world opinion which is adverse to us. There is increasing antagonism amongst the nations of the Afro-Asian bloc, who have had no reason through the centuries to be grateful to the white man, because of exploitation and brutality. But this Government is not prepared to take the risk. Why does it not face the issue? Why not do as the Dutch people do and give the natives majority representation? They are not asking for that. All the natives are asking for is to be accepted as citizens and given the right to vote. Voting by native people is not without precedent. The natives get a vote in India and in Ghana.
– There are plenty of them here who vote for the Labour Party.
– In recent times, unfortunately, a majority of them voted for the Liberals; otherwise this would have been a greater country, because there would have been Labour governments continuously in control. We would have laid down another pattern for you when you became the Government. We have to lay down patterns. We have to take over when our political opponents meet an emergency, such as when they mulled the administration of the country at the beginning of the war. Likewise, when peace comes Labour has to lay down a pattern for them to follow.
We must establish a common roll. If the Government is not prepared to alter the position at the forthcoming election in the Territory, at least it should amend the law so that at the following election there will be a common roll. It should be left to the people in the Territory to decide whether indigenes or Europeans are elected. If the Government feels that it cannot afford to do more because of lack of money, ask the United Nations for money. The last thought I leave with the Senate is that the Government should consider having a representative of the Territory in this National Parliament.
– After listening for some 55 minutes to a tirade from Senator Dittmer, during which he hardly touched upon the matter under consideration at all, I hardly know where to begin. He commenced with a tirade about the United Nations and directed his attention to the speech of the Prime
Minister (Mr. Menzies) before the General Assembly. It is very difficult to find anything to answer in his speech.
There are one or two things that I would like to say before I address my remarks to the bill and to New Guinea. It seemed to me that Senator Dittmer had two bob each way, as the saying goes. On the one hand, he spoke about Europeans whom he met in New Guinea and who had complained bitterly; and on the other hand he talked about natives whom he had met who had also complained bitterly. I do not know what he wants us to believe. During the course of his speech, the honorable senator said that the natives had asked him why they were not allowed to run their own country, and they requested him to speed up things a bit. I am using my own words to describe what the honorable senator actually said. The position is that natives who understand their own people have been appointed to many village councils and area councils that have been established by this Government. They are not asking us to get out, but want us to stay and help them until they are ready to run their country. Senator Dittmer has told us a different story, based on a few weeks that he recently spent in New Guinea.
I lived in New Guinea for five years before the war, and I was very happy there. Those years were probably the happiest years of my life. I agree that conditions in New Guinea to-day are different from what they were then. The country is progressing. It is still pretty good for the Europeans.
– If the honorable senator were to talk to Europeans in New Guinea such as Ian Downes and George Greathead he would find that they are not too happy to-day.
– I am trying to pick out one or two things from the honorable senator’s speech, rather than to follow his remarks right through, of course.
– You should talk to Mick Leahy.
– I know Mick Leahy. I know many people who have lived in the Territory for a long time and I know their outlook, which differs from that of the young people who have gone there since ;the last war. My first trip to the Territory after ‘the war was in
January and February, 1950. I spent six weeks there renewing friendships. There were not many of my former friends still living there. That is one of the tragedies about New Guinea - the people who should be there have gone. Many of them were killed during the war. Very few of the old-timers are left.
I wish to rebut Senator Dittmer’s allegation that this Government is acting in a discriminatory fashion towards the natives. Senator Dittmer based his allegation, in part at least, on the fact that on one occasion natives were not permitted to join a basket-ball club. I remind the honorable senator that even in his own State of Queensland some people are occasionally refused admission to some clubs. There is nothing to stop the natives from forming their own basket-ball clubs. Most of Senator Dittmer’s speech was devoted to a tirade against the Government.
This bill seeks to amend the Papua and New Guinea Act by altering the membership of the Legislative Council of the Territory. The number of official members of the council is to be reduced and the number of non-official and elected members is to be increased. The bill also provides that the native peoples will be able to vote for their own nominees.
The Territory has been fortunate in having for so long as its Minister the Honorable Paul Hasluck. The fact that he has been Minister for Territories for so long is a clear indication that the Government holds him in the highest esteem. I congratulate the Government, the Minister and his department and the Papua and New Guinea Administration on the work that has been done in the Territory in the last ten years.
As I have said, my first visit to the Territory after the war was early in 1950. The present Government had just been elected to office and a sigh of relief could be heard throughout the Territory at the change of government, because a shocking muddle had persisted in the immediate post-war years under the Labour Government. I am not exaggerating. A sigh of relief went up from the very people to whom Senator Dittmer referred.
– Was there not some scandal in the Territory about timber?
– 1 will probably refer to timber later. After spending so many happy years in the Territory I feel that I should say something about the place and what the Government has been trying to do there, lt is many centuries since the Portuguese and Spanish navigators discovered Papua and New Guinea. In the 16th century De Meneses arrived there and named the area as Os Papuas which, in Portuguese, means, I understand, frizzy hair. It is interesting to recall that during the Second World War the Australian troops referred to the natives of the Territory as fuzzy-wuzzies
In the latter part of last century Australia took over the administration of the southern part of the main island of New Guinea whilst the Norddeutscher Lloyd company, on behalf of the German nation, was responsible for the Bismarck Archipelago - the north-east portion of the main part of New Guinea, together with New Britain, New Hanover, Bougainville, Buka and one or two other small islands. As honorable senators know, Australian troops took over by force in 1914 that part of New Guinea held by the Germans. Shortly after the League of Nations was formed that part of the Territory was placed under Australian mandate. Now, of course, New Guinea is administered by Australia under United Nations trusteeship.
It is true that under Australian control the Territory has moved slowly - too slowly, no doubt, for Senator Dittmer - but good solid foundations have been laid. The population of the Territory is not large. The Territory covers an area of about 400,000 square miles and has a population of between 1,750,000 and 2,000,000. One of the difficulties associated with management of the Territory is the number of native languages. As Senator Dittmer said, it is not just a matter of different dialects; there are something like 600 completely different languages. The reason for this large number of different languages is, I understand, to be found in the fact that in the old days of cannibalism the natives did not visit other villages because such visits usually led to warfare and somebody getting hurt. I .understand that about 30,000 non-indigenous people live in the Territory at present. The language difficulty is overcome in Papua partly by the motu or police motu dialect, which is in fairly common use. In New Guinea the Melanesian pidgin is used. Pidgin is a conglomeration of the English, Chinese, German and Malay languages, although it is basically English. lt is a very real language. Some people have the idea that they can go to New Guinea and speak pidgin English simply by speaking English ungrammatically. That is not so. Pidgin English has its own syntax and idioms. A newcomer to the Territory takes three or four months to understand the language.
The flora and fauna of the Territory are similar in many respects to those of the northern part of Australia, particularly northern Queensland. This is so because both areas have big rain forests. More than 100 different kinds of small animals are to be found in the Territory. The biggest of these is probably the treeclimbing kangaroo. The animals of the Territory are very similar to those found in Australia, but generally speaking they are much smaller. Birds abound in countless thousands. There are hundreds of different species. The beautifully-plumed bird of paradise is present in large numbers. It is protected, but honorable senators will have seen specimens of these gaily coloured birds in museums. There are many hundreds of beautiful butterflies. I have seen perhaps 20 or 30 varieties. It is an entomologist’s paradise. There are not many reptiles, but there are two species of poisonous snake, some fairly large boa constrictors, and small lizards and crocodiles. Plant life is prolific. There is a very high rainfall. The southern part of New Britain had a record rainfall of 375 inches in one year, and other parts are equally wet. As a result, the growth of the rain forests and the vegetation generally is prolific. We could do with some of those good rains in Queensland at present, as we are having a very bad time there. The lifeblood of New Guinea has always been copra. That is the meat of the coconut which has been cooked or dried out. From it soap, margarine and other things are made. The indigenous plants include also sago palm, ginger, nutmeg and tobacco.
– Why can natives be trained so easily to become domestics?
– The average native can be trained very easily to become almost anything. So far, the main trouble has been that if you train a native to be, for instance, a mechanic, he may remain with you for two or three years, at the end of which time he may be a very good mechanic; but if he goes back to his village for six months and returns to you he will not have the faintest idea of what a mechanic’s job is. That was the position in my days in the Territory. I understand that conditions are changing rapidly now, as a result of better schooling from childhood, as a result of education at primary, secondary and technical schools. Apparently Senator Dittmer did not see the technical schools. With better schooling from childhood, the natives are apparently able to continue at their work without forgetting what they have learnt.
In my view, no review of Papua would be complete without some reference to Sir Hubert Murray, who spent 41 years of his life there. 1 have always tried to impress on people the tremendous contribution he made to the running of Papua, which was very much more advanced than the old political division of New Guinea. The Papuans have always been ahead of the people of New Guinea, who include Manus boys, Buka boys and New Ireland boys. There has always been a difference. The Papuan has shown himself to be far more intelligent. His advancement has been primarily due to the work of Sir Hubert Murray.
– Was the Papuan in advance of the people of Rabaul?
– Yes. Sir Hubert Murray must not be confused with Colonel Murray, who was the Administrator immediately after the Second World War. The names are the same but the people were completely different.
One of the last things that Senator Dittmer did was to ask what had been done in the Territory, but he slid off that subject and did not follow up the train of thought. I should like to follow it and to say something of what has been done In the past ten years. First, let me give the general administrative picture. The whole of the two Territories is now divided into fifteen districts, each with a district commissioner, a district officer, usually two assistant district officers, and a number of patrol officers. Before the last war the
Administration used to attract a remarkably fine type of young man. I remember “ Pompey “ Elliott’s son going there as a patrol officer. He was afterwards killed on the Sepik. We used to lose, on an average, one patrol officer a year in my time. We have not lost any in the past few years, but there have been some pretty close shaves. We always seemed to get a good type of patrol officer, and that is a very pleasing feature. I knew quite a lot of them, but other than young “ Pompey “ Elliott, I do not recall their names.
During the Second World War the natives played a most faithful part. There were some who ran away and joined the Japanese but in general the native population stayed with us, and the fact that over 60 decorations were awarded to them, including the George Medal, which is not easily come by, shows that the native people themselves wanted to remain with those who were trying to run their country for them.
The police force, which is known as the Royal Papuan and New Guinea Constabulary, is composed of about 2,000 natives with European officers. The natives can attain non-commissioned and warrant officer rank. These men do tremendous work. They go out on patrol with patrol officers who, with assistant district officers, hold honorary commissions in the constabulary. On patrol, patrol officers deal with welfare and hygiene, and they settle any disputes in villages. They are on a more or less continuous round, seeing that all goes well in the district.
Great care has been taken by the Government to ensure that no land shall pass from native ownership without full investigation. A person wanting a piece of land in New Guinea first has a look at it. He then applies to the Administration in Port Moresby. A surveyor is sent out and returns with a survey of the land. The Director of Native Affairs then sends a patrol officer to ascertain whether the native owners are willing to sell. If they are, you get your piece of land; if they are not, you do not get it. As a matter of fact there was a rather strange incident recently as a result of the Government’s care with the allocation of land. About eight or nine months ago, the Administration decided that the air strip at Rabaul should be lengthened because it was somewhat dangerous for the larger aircraft now being used. The native owners of the adjacent land heard about the proposal and planted crops right alongside the existing boundaries of the aerodrome. They then sat back and refused to sell. How the Administration will get out of it, I do not know, but the incident shows how we are looking after the natives’ rights in every way.
Since the Government took over in 1950, more than 200 co-operatives, with a membership of over 65,000, have been formed. This remarkable growth is further evidence of the fatherly and beneficial manner in which the Government, through the Minister and the Administration, has handled native affairs. The fact that development has been slow does not worry me at all. These things must necessarily be slow. The position is the same in regard to marketing. It is of no use to rush. The last time I was in the Territory, the council of the Tolais said that they did not want us to go at present. They said, “ Please stay until we are ready “, or words to that effect.
The waters of New Guinea are absolutely alive with fish, but the fish are caught in the primitive manner by holding a piece of burning bush above the sea at night and spearing the fish from a reef. That used to be the main way of catching them from the reef. But to-day we have a 60-ft. research vessel up there for the purpose of teaching the natives how to fish. They are being provided with nets, and are being instructed how to make them and how to use hooks. Moreover, good research work is being done.
On the hydrographic side, within the last six months the Royal Australian Navy has taken over the task of charting the waters of New Guinea. That has been sadly needed ever since we assumed control of this area. There are a few stretches of coastline of not more than 100 miles which were surveyed by the old German survey ship “ Planet “ before the First World War. But in our time almost no survey work has been done. During the five years I was up there I made small plans of about 75 little harbours, and I am happy to be able to say that they were very useful to the Americans during the war. But, in general, the coastline has been sketched in roughly. One may be in one spot or in another spot, because there is nothing definite on which to base a bearing.
Village councils have come into their own since this Government assumed office in 1949. A number of villages, some big and some small, are represented at these councils. For example, some 30,000 Tolais in the district around Rabaul are represented by natives who are of a very good type. Those representatives come along in nice clean lap-laps or nice clean shirts and ties. They stand up in the council and say what they think. I went to one of these council meetings with the Minister for Territories about five years ago. He very kindly asked me to go along with him, and I was allowed to sit in at all the conferences he attended. Afterwards he asked me to give him my opinion about any changes that had taken place. Perhaps it helped him to have that information. I was certainly helped.
Great strides have been made both before and since the last war in the establishment of schools. The situation has been helped quite a lot by the establishment of mission schools. There are some 40 missions in the Rabaul area. The majority of them are run by the Roman Catholic Church. Then very closely would follow those run by the Seventh Day Adventists, the Baptists, the Methodists, and four or five run by the Lutherans. The Methodists have a really beautiful place on the east coast of New Ireland. Of course, the main mission is situated at Vunapope, about 14 miles from Rabaul. I am not quite sure in which newspaper Bishop Scharmach’s article was syndicated, but I think most week-end newspapers had quite a lot to say about this mission. Bishop Scharmach was in charge of it before the war and did magnificent work during the war. In fact, he had many tunnels dug so that when the Americans and our own Air Force commenced bombing he was able to save all the natives there as well as himself.
An interesting story is told by Bishop Scharmach. When the investment took place and the Japanese came ashore at Rabaul and eventually went to Vunapope the Japanese major-general who was in charge of the party - he spoke English - came up to the bishop and spoke to him. While he was speaking to Bishop Scharmach the bishop was fingering his cross, as we have seen clerics do. The Japanese majorgeneral looked at it and said to the bishop, “That is a beautiful cross. Will you give it to me? “ The bishop, instead of arguing the point, said, “ Yes, I would be delighted to give it to you. But first you must do something for me.” The officer was all smiles and said he would do anything to get that beautiful piece of work. He asked, “What have I to do?” Bishop Scharmach replied, “ You must write to Rome and ask to be appointed bishop of this diocese. Then I will hand you this cross.” Apparently the officer had a sense of humour and was impressed, but the bishop still had his cross at the end of the war. That is quite a true story.
The missions have done a tremendous amount of work in the schooling of the people. I have already said that Vunapope was one of the outstanding missions. Wherever I have travelled throughout the Territory and on the islands in this area I have seen the fresh faces of these little ones coming along to school. Some of the children are beautiful. These little kids of seven, eight, nine and ten years of age will, in fifteen or twenty years’ time, take over the running of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea or whatever they choose to call it.
Many sealed roads have been built in the last ten years, not only at Port Moresby and Rabaul but also running well out to the jungle. Shipping facilities are now very good, but when I went up there in 1950 they were not at all good. There Were 26 or 27 filthy little steamers or motor boats owned by the Commonwealth Government which were constantly breaking down and which were more or less useless. We had the wretched situation of copra being stacked on the beaches all over the Territory. The copra sheds were overflowing and the plantation owners just could not get their product away. Those 27 vessels could not do what we used to do with seven small ships before the war. At one stage on the east coast of Bougainville there was £30,000 worth of copra on the beach waiting to be shipped while the poor owners had to carry an overdraft of £15,000. A similar state of affairs existed throughout the Territory.
I came back to Australia with a view to getting a private enterprise ship to go up there. I went to Burns Philp and Company Limited, W. R. Carpenter and Company Limited and Collier Watson, but nobody would take the slightest notice of me because they thought it would be too much for them to start to clean up. Finally I persuaded an English company to do something about it. That company sent one of its assistant directors. I took him up to New Guinea and showed him the prospects. He flew back to England, and the next thing I knew was that the company said it was sending out a 400-ton ship. The company asked me to take her over in Sydney, to take her up to New Guinea, and to engage a native crew. I said I would, and so I had the honour and the pleasure of being the first person to introduce a privately owned ship into New Guinea after the war. The same company has sent three or four other small vessels up there, and they are doing very well. Within two years of that happening, the whole of the government fleet was put up for sale and was sold to private enterprise. Because of the activities of the company which owned the ship I took up there, Burns Philp, Carpenters and the other operators have had to come in. So we are back to the trading set-up that we had before the war.
A great amount of work has been done on aerodromes, and more will be done. A recent press release by the Minister for Shipping and Transport (Mr. Opperman) in relation to lighthouses interests me greatly. It states that the Minister has approved the establishment of eleven new unattended lighthouses and that an expenditure of £60,000, and completion of the various projects, will be spread over a period of three years. Of particular interest to me is the fact that a light is to be provided on Madehas Island. The press release says that it will provide a valuable guide. It certainly will. Madehas Island is a little island at the western end of the Buka Strait. Those are the waters flowing between Little Buka and Bougainville. I think I can claim the honour of being the only person to work the Buka Strait at the time I was there. It is a strait that is full of reefs. The lighthouse that has been installed will make it much easier for ships to go through. The voyage through the strait is about 300 miles shorter than the voyage around the tip of Buka. I am very pleased that this light has been installed. It has nothing to do with the memorial that has been erected to the coastwatchers up in the Madang area. That is something entirely different. That memorial was provided from subscriptions and Commonwealth Government aid. It is a very fine memorial to the wonderful bunch of men who lived for sometimes up to a year or eighteen months behind the Japanese lines. They had to move from day to day, but they kept the allied forces supplied with information about where the Japanese were going to strike. A very fine book has been written by Eric Feldt, the man in charge of the coastwatchers. Probably many honorable senators have read it.
I now turn to agriculture. There was always a large experimental station at Keravat, about 25 miles from Rabaul, but since the war this Government has established another four stations which are carrying out experimental work on crops such as coffee, cocoa and rubber. These stations have gone ahead in leaps and bounds over the last ten years. Valuable experiments have been carried out with kenaf, a universal jute substitute. I think Collier Watsons planted about 10,000 acres of it. After it is retted, the residue can be used with the residue from sugarcane to make very good paper. I was hopeful for some time, but so far I have not been able to induce anybody to amalgamate the kenaf from New Guinea with megass from the sugar-cane in Queensland. Some day I may be able to get somebody to do that.
If Senator Dittmer had seen the hospitals that I can remember, he would admit that at least a moderate improvement has taken place. In the old days the condition of the hospitals was simply terrible. As I said by interjection, money has already been allocated for the construction of new hospitals. Dr. Gunther tried for a long time to have money supplied for this purpose. I notice from a press release issued by the Minister for Territories that Dr. Reuben Taureka has been appointed as one of the official members of the Legislative Council for Papua and New Guinea. He is the first native official member of the council, which was established in 1951. The Minister said that Dr. Taureka, who was a permanent officer of the public service, attached to the
Department of Health as an assistant medical practitioner, was a young man whose professional competence, personal qualities and capacity for leadership had won him the respect of all the racial groups that make up the Territory community. We want more and more people of that type. As Senator Dittmer knows, you cannot train a doctor or any other professional man in a matter of five minutes. He must be educated first in a primary school, then in a secondary school and finally in a university, lt would be useless to take these people straight from their native environments and send them to- a university. That would be just a waste of money. They need to come up from the bottom, as I think is recognized by everybody. Without the necessary grounding, it would be useless to try to train them because they would not have the background required.
Postal facilities have been greatly improved, not only in the telegraph and telephone field but also in the field of radio and wireless telephones. I was also much impressed with the establishment of first aid posts. Every small village runs its own first aid post which is in charge of a native known as the doctor boy. He wears a hat with a red band and a white top and is the doctor of the village in the sense that he looks after all the villagers’ minor ailments.
I think I have covered all the matters with which I intended to deal. I have not dealt with all the points mentioned by Senator Dittmer because I cannot remember all the things he said. I am sorry he adopted the attitude he did. I feel that in a debate like this one should offer some constructive criticism, even if one is annoyed or he does not agree with the things contained in the bill rather than engage in a tirade of abuse which does no good to anybody. I could have spent the last half an hour in replying to what Senator Dittmer said, but I do not think it would have done me or my party any credit.
In conclusion, let me repeat the purposes of the bill. The number of official members of the Legislative Council is to be reduced from seventeen to fifteen. The number of non-official members is to be increased from nine to ten and the number of elected members from three to twelve. This will result in a general increase in membership from 29 to 37. A new principle to be introduced will allow native peoples to vote for native nominees. I sum up by saying that the general policy of the present Government since 1950 has been in keeping with the principle laid down by the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. The council has laid down the principle that everything should be done to advance the welfare of trust countries and gradually to prepare the people for self-government. I am sure that the Australian Government has done this. I am sure it is still doing it and will do it in the future. The Government has not fallen down on its job as was suggested by Senator Dittmer.
Surely the way to learn is to do things. The Government has sought to make the natives do things rather than to tell them what to do. I cannot suggest any date, but I do suggest that as a result of the wise and friendly administration of the present Government Papua and New Guinea will at some time, in the future, take its place amongst the Commonwealth countries. 1 support the bill and I trust it will have a unanimous passage. I understand that one or two amendments will be moved in the committee stage, but some of them may be good. I have not seen them.
.- I wish to thank Senator Kendall for the very interesting talk which he has given the Senate this afternoon about New Guinea. I enjoyed it. 1 believe that no member of the Senate is more fitted than is Senator Kendall to speak about New Guinea, because, as he pointed out, he lived there for five or six years. I have only one complaint to make about his speech, and that is that he did not explain the provisions of the bill. The bill aims to increase the membership of the Legislative Council and to reduce the official majority. I will not explain the term “ official majority “. The bill aims to increase the proportion of elected members and to provide for the election of native members by the native people themselves. It also aims lo abolish the Executive Council and to create in its place what will be called an Administrator’s Council. That council will be composed of both official and nonofficial members. It will have defined powers in regard to the administration of the Territory.
I can recall that two or three years ago legislation somewhat similar to this was before the Senate and 1, in the greatest of humility, pointed out that, as that legislation aimed at giving the natives greater representation for the purpose of allowing them to gain knowledge in the matter of government, that was the time to increase considerably the number of native representatives. That was my argument on thai occasion. Now a new complexion is being given to the form of government that will exist in Papua and New Guinea. Because this legislation has been introduced at this time in 1960, I believe that the Government has been urged to introduce it, and is more or less doing so under compulsion Later I will be able .to prove that point.
Let us examine this institution of government in the Territory. It differs, for certain reasons, from the form of government in the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory the white population is greater in number than the nativepopulation, whereas in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea the reverse is the position. I said that the Government is feeling the urge for a change in the form of government in Papua and New Guinea. I am satisfied that the demand for something different is coming from the native people. They want a better life, and even if it is a worse life they want to be the people who are responsible for it. Thai is the way the world is changing even day.
– Where did you gel that idea from?
– I will tell you where I got that idea in a minute or two, if you will be patient. The form of government thai the Government intends to establish in the Territory is only an administrator’s government; it is not a government at all. Where one refers to the departments which are functioning there, it is apparent that in substance this government will be nothing but an administrator’s government. I have nothing to say against the Administration in the Territory. If I had anything to say against the general situation up there, it would be against the Government’s policy. I think the Administrator is making a good fist of carrying out the policy of the Government. The Government has the right of veto and exercises it. lt also exercises its right of veto in respect of ordinances passed by the Legislative Council for the Northern Territory.
While I am speaking about the government of the Territories, let us see how progressive we really are. The Australian Capital Territory has a population of between 50,000 and 60,000 people at the present time, but the Government, with all its years of experience of public administration, is unable to devise a legislative scheme or constitutional change which will allow the elected representative of the Australian Capital Territory in this Parliament to have a full voting power. A similar position exists in respect of the Northern Territory. So we are not outstanding in granting representation to the people of the Territories.
What is the Territory of Papua and New Guinea like? I enjoyed Senator Kendall’s talk about what is up there, but I thought that he could have explained some of the problems associated with the terrain of the Territory. Some of the mountains reach to 13,000 feet and mountains of 11,000, 10,000 and 8,000 feet are common. There are also many square miles of swamp country. I remember a member of the Australian Labour Party talking about the high cost of building sites and saying in a most emphatic way that every intending home-builder must first of all have a building site. He emphasized that the first essential in building a home is the site. Some body said to him, “ You should go to New Guinea. All you need there is a sheet of water.”
The Territory is an immense tract of country and presents many problems and difficulties that are not experienced in Australia. The area of New Guinea is 93,000 square miles and the area of Papua is about 90,000 square miles, a total of 183,000 square miles. That is a fair sized country for any government to govern, especially when the population is dispersed in small groups with perhaps 200 or 300 in a village and the next small village is many miles away. So the government of that country has real problems at any time.
– Have you been there?
– I had a very interesting trip right through the Territory. I have seen the large rivers, the small water courses and the swamps. I have also been around the islands. I have lived there and perhaps I have had more conversation than most people with those who live and work in the area because if white workers are required for any special industries in Papua and New Guinea they are recruited from Queensland. White workers are recruited for the boatbuilding, saw-milling and other industries that operate in the Territory. When those workers return to Queensland they have a chat with me and tell me all about their experiences up there. I know that there have been changes in the Territory since I was last there. Senator Kendall explained the changes that are going on.
– The schools are still staffed from Queensland.
– Yes. In addition, occasionally a public servant wishes to go up there and is recruited from Queensland. When you look at the population you appreciate some of the difficulties of government. The native population of New Guinea is 1,360,000.
– You were talking about the area. You gave us the area of New Guinea but you did not give us the area of Papua, did you?
– If I did not, that was an oversight. I thought I said the area of Papua was 90,000 square miles and the total area was 183,000 square miles.
– The two areas are about the same.
– Yes. The native population of New Guinea is 1,360,000 and in Papua it is 470,000. The total coloured population is 1,831,000 people, for whom some form of government, administration, welfare, education and all the things we cherish in our society have to be provided. In New Guinea the non-indigenous population is only 15,270, and in Papua it is 8,798. In the two areas the white population is 24,068. That is the situation. The demand for something different is coming from every small native village because there is only one white person to every 75 natives. The natives may be illiterate and some of them certainly have never been taught even the very primitive rudiments of public hygiene.
Sitting suspended from 5.45 to 8 p.m.
– If we examine the manner in which the affairs of the government in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea are administered, we find that the administration has been rather liberally departmentalized. There are actually more departments than some of the State governments have. There are thirteen departments for the purposes of public administration in the Territory. We have the Minister for Territories (Mr Hasluck) here in Canberra, and there is an Administrator for the Territory. In addition, there is a Public Service Commissioner and an Assistant Administrator. I do not say that any of those officers is not required. There are the Public Service Commissioner’s Department and the Department of the Treasury. No one would say that those departments are not required.
We know that numerically the Public Service in the Territory has increased rather considerably in recent years. As a matter of fact, at the present time there is a staff of 7,364 engaged in the Public Service of Papua and New Guinea. The sad feature of that staff is that it includes only 334 native employees. When we are thinking about improving the government
Of the Territory in such a way that the natives may learn that it is necessary for them to know to perform administrative functions, it might be thought that we Would start with the Public Service and increase the proportion of natives to nonindigenous members. I should like to see more natives employed in the Public Service of the Territory so that they could learn to do the work that is most essential ir. every country.
There is a Department of Public Health in the Territory, and this afternoon we learned something of the work that it does. I know that it has done good work ever since it was established. There is also a Department of Civil Affairs. One has1 only to exercise his imagination to appreciate the nature of the work that that department would have to do in such a Territory. Then, there is the Department of Education. It has been explained already that the teachers employed in that department are recruited from the Queensland teaching staff. That, of course, is to the advantage of the pupils.
– I think they come from all States now.
– I was not aware of that. I know that, in regard to the Northern Territory, the teaching staff is recruited from the South Australian teaching staff, and I also understand that in respect of the Australian Capital Territory the teaching staff is obtained from the New South Wales Education Department. I was under the impression that the staff required for the Education Department in Papua and New Guinea was recruited from Queensland.
– Originally, yes, but there are people from other States now.
– There is also a Public Works Department in the Territory. I have witnessed some of the work that that department has done in the construction of roads, work that was quite unknown in. the Territory some years ago.
I have also seen the bridge over the Markham River, which has improved transport facilities in the Territory. There is a Department of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries. I have seen officers of that department instructing the natives and working with them, but it appears to me that what is actually required is the establishment of a system of cadetships so that the natives can be educated in the primary schools and sent on to secondary schools. It is unfortunate that, at the present time, no secondary education is provided in the Territory. Cadetships would enable the natives to be taught about agriculture and stock. Again, with the Department of Forests, there is room for the training of natives. There are also Departments of Law, Customs and Marine, Posts and Telegraphs, Lands Surveys and Mines.
One comes to the point, Mr. Deputy President, when he must ask himself about the funds for carrying out the affairs of government in the Territory. Where do they come from? It is axiomatic that every country governs through the channels of finance. When we ask ourselves how the Government or the Administrator finds the funds necessary to carry out the functions of government we have to come back to our own Estimates to discover that a sum of £14,674,000 will be made available this year to finance the Administrator’s requirements in Papua and New Guinea. Last year, expenditure amounted to £12,900,000. Those honorable senators who have been here for a number of years have watched the sum voted increase annually. Am I one to stand here and say, “ You should do more in respect of education and you should improve transport facilities “ - I acknowledge that those things are necessary - “ you should improve health services, including equipment; you should provide new equipment at the hospitals and also provide better hospitals? “ I remember very well when some of the hospitals in New Guinea had no fly-proof doors. Looking at all those things, I might say that they could all stand a good deal of improvement, but while I am saying that, am I not also advocating that taxation be increased in the Commonwealth in order that we may annually increase the vote for the Territory of Papua and New Guinea?
When we come to the time of asking, “ What is the best form of government? “ and ask ourselves whether the natives of the Territory should have self-government, we have to look around us and note the other countries of the world that have won selfgovernment for themselves this year. If I were to ask honorable senators the number of countries that had won self-government this year, I know that every one could supply the answer and tell me the precise number. Therefore, perhaps, it is unnecessary for me to point out to honorable senators that in this year no fewer than seventeen countries have either won or been granted self-government. Because this is an important matter, perhaps I should refer to the countries and populations concerned. They are as follows: -
Since the end of the war, no fewer than 37 countries have been granted independence; they have their own governments. This year alone, no fewer than seventeen countries have won independence. Some honorable senators have spoken about a threatened uprising in the Territory of New Guinea and Papua. I wonder whether the natives there have engaged in some form of communication with overseas countries. Whether or not they have been able to learn that many countries have been granted independent government this year I am unable to say. As I have stated, there has been an increase in the number of nations who are members of the United Nations. The total membership is now 99 countries. Whether this is good, and whether it would be to the advantage of Papua and New Guinea to be granted independent government, I am not prepared to say positively. I do believe that Papua and New Guinea will require all the assistance that the Australian Government can give them for the next 10, 20, 30 or 50 years. We must have a contented people. For the people to be contented, we must first of all give them a voice in the governmental affairs of their own country.
This afternoon, Senator Kendall referred to the division and sale of land in New Guinea. The position may be that adequate protection is afforded in this regard by the law of custom rather than by statute. Nevertheless, it would be natural for the natives, when they see valuable timber being felled in the Wau valley and at Bululo and taken away, to wonder whether their interests are being protected. No benefit accrues to the natives from this activity, and I would not be surprised to hear that they are wondering what will happen in the future. We must protect their interests. It is to our advantage to have the natives of Papua and New Guinea on side with us. We must do our utmost to maintain that state of affairs because of the strategic value of Papua and New Guinea to the Commonwealth. Perhaps in doing so we shall have to free ourselves of some of our colonial thinking.
What would be wrong with amending the company law of Papua and New Guinea to make it compulsory, when a company is formed in the Territory, for a substantial proportion of its capital to be subscribed by the natives? This would ensure that the native shareholders would gain a proportion of the company’s trading profits. As we know, there is a company operating in the Territory, in which the Commonwealth Government has a major share holding. I think we can all recall the contract that was made between the Commonwealth Government and the New Guinea Gold Mining Company Limited, whereby the the company may fell timber at Bululo and process it and sell it overseas. There would be nothing wrong with compelling existing companies and companies to be formed in the future to accept a certain proportion of money from the natives as subscribed capital. If we are to retain the natives on our side all the time, it is essential that we give them an interest in their own country. As far as possible, we should cultivate New Guinea and Papuan sentiment in that Territory. That is most important. As it is, the natives have no country; they see the land slipping away from them every day. As it is likely that New Guinea and Papua will be developed more in the future, a means should be found to enable the natives to retain an interest in their country.
– There are now 400 co-operatives operating in the Territory.
– Thank you for mentioning that matter, Senator Kendall. But I point out that the co-operatives are not in a flourishing condition. The industries in which they are engaged are very close to the soil. On the one hand, they are producing foodstuffs. On the other hand, about £5,000,000 worth of foodstuffs is being imported into New Guinea and Papua every year. There is a shortage of fresh meat in the Territory.
– The co-operatives are doing well. One made a profit of £12,000 last year.
– If New Guinea and Papua are to comprise a worthwhile Territory - this is what must be envisaged in dealing with this legislation - we must have a self-reliant race there, a race which if necessary can become independent of trade with Australia. To accomplish that, many things have to be done. For instance, many of the natives have not finished picking human flesh out of their teeth. They could go back to a form of savagery overnight and become cannibalistic. Senator Kendall can tell you how they enjoy eating a dog or a pig half-cooked, and things like that.
– Do not you like a rare steak, senator?
– It all depends from what part of the beast it comes. Some of the natives are living in wretchedness and squalor, despite the form of administration that exists and despite all that the Government honestly believes is being done for their welfare. Clearly, this is not training the natives to become capable administrators. If the time ever comes for the natives to attempt selfgovernment, there will be no holding them because there are 75 coloured people to each white man in the Territory. The failure of other countries to undertake selfgovernment successfully has been due to a lack of administrators. Even at the present time, under the Colombo Plan, students from Malaya and other countries are attending Australian universities to learn how to undertake a form of public administration, and they are being engaged in government departments in various States. The Government, I think, favours the present general advantages which obtain and will not disturb them any more than it is compelled to do.
Our record as a people who should be caring for the coloured people is not a good one. If some honorable senators came with me to Thursday Island, 1 could show them social evils which would appal them - evils that go on year in and year out. I should like an authority to be appointed to go to Thursday Island to ascertain what proportion of the natives there is gainfully employed and the proportion of natives who are just loafing their time away - wasting their lives away.
Let me traverse some of the points that I have made. The Territory of Papua and New Guinea is very difficult to govern because of its terrain and its vast waste regions. Government is difficult because the population is widely dispersed and because of the low productivity of the Territory. In order to maintain even the present rate of development the Commonwealth must draw on funds from Consolidated Revenue.
– What do you think of development in New Guinea as a whole? You were in the Territory recently.
– If it were possible to do so I would love to put the Goroka area on an island outside Brisbane, because Goroka is a farmers’ paradise if ever there was one. If Senator Scott ever has the opportunity I recommend that he go to New Guinea and visit the Goroka area.
I am not convinced that this bill will provide a form of government satisfactory to the native population of the Territory.
– The measure under discussion should encourage honorable senators to approach the proposed reform in the legislative structure of Papua and New Guinea in a constructive manner. When Senator Dittmer reads the “ Hansard “ report of the speech that he made this afternoon I am sure that he will wish to dissociate himself from many of the statements that he made. A man who has been trained as a medical practitioner usually analyses and dissects his problem and, by sound reasoning, makes a fair summary of it. In my opinion the honorable senator threw his better judgment to the winds, and when he realizes how inaccurate many of his statements were I am sure that he will feel, as all of us felt, that he did himself less than justice. His speech was peculiar, particularly that part of it in which he essayed to give dates and discussed the character of the white settlers. He misquoted dates and maligned the honesty of men who have rendered humane and honest service to Papua and New Guinea. In contrast to that speech, Senator Kendall’s speech was well-reasoned and constructive. I congratulate Senator Kendall for a speech that was a needed tonic after listening to the diatribe delivered by Senator Dittmer. Senator Dittmer is a learned man and I am at a loss to understand the lack of reasoning that characterized his speech. He did not do himself justice nor did he reflect any credit on Australia.
Under the New Guinea Act of 1920, which came into force in May, 1921, New Guinea was administered by Australia under a mandate. In 1941 the Japanese invaded New Guinea. In 1945 they surrendered, and between October 1945 and 1946 the civil administration was restored. The Papua and New Guinea Act of 1949 approved the placing of New Guinea under international trusteeship and provided for the government of New Guinea in an administrative union with the Territory of Papua, having the title of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. A Legislative Council for Papua and New Guinea was set up at Port Moresby on 26th November, 1951. The Native Local Government Councils Ordinance, 1949-58, provides for the establishment of councils with powers to make rules for the peace, order and welfare of the indigenous people within the areas of their jurisdiction. Those councils foster an understanding among the indigenous people of the machinery of government until such time as they can manage their own affairs and are able to decide their own political future.
New Guinea is one of the largest noncontinental islands in the world. It spreads across the north-eastern approaches to Australia. It lies completely within the tropics. It has a rainfall varying between 60 inches and 300 inches per annum.
– 400 inches.
– 1 am sorry that Senator Dittmer was ‘ not present in the chamber a few minutes ago. However, he may read in “ Hansard “ what I said about his speech and I hope that he will feel that at least I did him justice.
The native inhabitants in their tribal state are primitive and warfare with their tribal neighbours was common. Fear, sorcery and acts of violence were widespread. The natives had no hereditary chief, no civic or political organization and no national unity.
– How do you know? They seem to have survived a long time without it.
– Perhaps I have some little record. The terrain of much of the island is forbidding, with its mountains, jungles, rivers and swamps. The numerous tribes have no universal language. This factor has prevented any unity of national character from being achieved. This is the country and these are the people that Australia has endeavoured to assist. The improvement of the welfare of the indigenous people was and is a great responsibility. Australia has discharged that duty with great credit to herself. The manner in which the administration works has always been open to inspection and investigation by the public. Nobody has ever accused Australia of exploiting the natives of the Territory or the resources of the country. That is an answer to what Senator Benn said about timber. I hope that other senators will deal with Senator Benn’s speech, because his allegations were completely wrong. Amongst members of the administrative service, from the Administrator down, a great sense of obligation exists to discharge their duties zealously, fearlessly and justly, and to improve the living conditions of the indigenous people. I defy any one to say that that statement is not correct.
I defy any one who has been there, even Senator O’Byrne, to deny that these people, although they possess remarkable mental and physical capacities, are not far from the primitive stage. In my opinion, it will take generations to raise their educational and cultural standards to levels comparable with those of Europeans. This will be achieved if Australia continues to guide the destinies of these people in the future as she has done in the past. With European settlers and business men and women setting an example of citizenship, and with the Administration’s continued training of an indigenous civil service staff, we can look forward with pride to the day when New Guinea will be able to legislate for and govern itself.
The improvement of native health, education and agriculture presents enormous problems and will be costly in both money and personnel. Because New Guinea in a few years will be one of the very few United Nations trusteeship territories left, it is to be expected that that organization will pay greater attention and give greater assistance to Pacific territories, not only in money but also, perhaps, in trained personnel such as doctors, teachers and nurses. No country other than Australia has the experience or knowledge to apply to the best advantage any aid afforded by the United Nations. The United Nations is the source from which aid should come; it should not flow from individual nations.
Few people have any idea of the difficult terrain of the country or of the living conditions and cultural and national out- look of the people. The area is approximately 350,000 square miles. The country cannot be called inviting. The population comprises about 500 tribes or groups with 300 or more different languages. Over thousands of years it has been impossible for these people to achieve a common tongue or any national ideas. These are some of the barriers to be overcome. Progress in the initial stages of Australia’s administration has been slow but sound. Language is the great barrier to progress. I am pleased to learn of the advance that is being made in the teaching of English. I know that a great deal of pidgin is spoken, but if the Territory is to be great, as we think it will be, the sooner we can make English the universal language the better.
Lack of communications and the difficulty of the terrain make intermingling difficult and have produced a provincial or tribal outlook amongst the people. Aeroplanes have greatly assisted in development. I should like to pay a tribute to the pilots and the air companies for their efforts in opening up and exploring a large part of New Guinea. Single-engined aircraft such as the Norseman and the Cessna do a remarkably good job and the pilots are interepid. In this field alone we can find a great deal of comfort in what we have done to bring aid to these people. Roads are few, except in Port Moresby, Lae, Bulolo, Wewak, Maprik, Goroka, the Markham Valley and Rabaul, to mention only a few of the more populous centres. Railways are non-existent.
The Administration has encouraged local people to build roads and has instilled into their minds the idea that a road should be a haven of safety and that any person on a road or traversing it should be assured of reasonable personal safety. This has helped to prevent outbursts of tribal violence on or near roads and this in turn has induced the tribes to build as many roads as possible. The idea of a road being a haven has done much to assist the development of the Territory. The roads are constructed with few modern appliances. In fact, they are made chiefly my manual effort, aided by the pick, shovel and axe, which are the main tools of construction. Local workmen are rather skilled in building wooden bridges and in rough carpentry. The people possess a sturdy independence within their own tribes. The traversing of tribal areas by roads has been a prime factor in cultivating among the tribes a better understanding of the problems of their neighbours and a realization that travellers on roads are not trespassers, nor are they desirous of disturbing tribal laws, which are very sacred and exert powerful influences over the people.
Agriculture is the main occupation. By comparison with modern European methods, it is practised in a primitive way. The Administration has been careful to preserve the ownership of land for the native individuals, or, more particularly, for the tribes. This is only one of the many wise decisions made by the Administration. Deciding the ownership of land and giving a title is a delicate matter which entails laborious searching of tribal lore and the careful sifting of marital relationships and the manner in which the land has been handed down within the tribe. Mapping and surveys have been carried on with vigour by the Administration. Only three per cent, of all the land has been alienated and the greater part of this alienation occurred before Australia assumed responsibility for the Territory. Surely that gives the lie direct to the charge that Australia has exploited these people and taken their land away from them. There is not an unlimited quantity of good land in New Guinea. Copra is the chief crop and the production of coffee and cocoa is increasing. Rubber is also an important commodity. Increased returns and productivity are assisting native advancement by stages. Elementary knowledge of problems of health and education has achieved beneficial results.
Christian missions throughout the land have greatly assisted in establishing education, health and hospital services. I pay a tribute to the missions for their untiring and devoted efforts towards the advancement of the native peoples. Those natives who have been fortunate enough to come under the care of the missions must be the pioneers who will spread education and a knowledge of hygiene amongst the tribal people. I cannot speak too highly of the excellent work that the missions have done, are doing and will do. I am speaking now. not of the more settled areas, but of the highlands that are almost on the border of Papua and New Guinea, and of the area near the source of the Sepik River where the people are not far removed from cannibalism. I pay tribute to the men and women of the Christian missions and our own administrative officers in that region. It is to those areas that our critics should go to see whether they believe that the people are ready for selfgovernment. In my opinion, they are not ready by any means and are not likely to be ready for generations to come.
– Wait until you read the whole speech. You will be sorry.
– 1 would like Senator O’Byrne and his pal, Senator Aylett, who is laughing, to be flown to Telefomin, for the sake of argument, and be left there to their own resources without any native constabulary to protect them. Very soon they would change their opinion about whether these people were ready for selfgovernment.
– Who said they were ready for self-government. You have given that impression, but nobody here has said it.
– You are becoming very rude.
– That is quite so. I would not expect anything else. The chief part of the elementary education of the people must be carried out within the Territory. In my opinion, it is useless to bring many people to Australia, because as soon as they return to their native tribes and villages the influence of their local environment is so great that normally they revert to their primitive state. There are excellent schools in the Territory for training young men to become teachers. Such schools are to be found at Sogeri, Popondetta, Wewak and Lae. They are but a few of the many that deserve commendation. It is too much to expect people with a primitive, almost stone age, education to be changed to a European or an American standard within two or three generations. It has taken Europeans thousands of years to attain their present standard.
Education is free at all stages. Good penmanship and a proficiency in drawing and carpentry are marked. Under guidance the natives achieve a reasonable state of efficiency in the operation of machines But when it comes to the matter of animal husbandry, the native starts off behind scratch because he has not been used to the management of farm animals. The establishment of dairy herds at Port Moresby and beef herds at Bisianumu, Bayer River and Rabaul shows promise, but the difficulties are great. Sheep are being bred and improved by private land-holders in the highlands, particularly in the vicinity of Goroka.
Only direct contact with the people and the country can give anyone even a moderate knowledge of the difficulties to be encountered in raising living standards and in granting self-government to these people. Australia aims to do these two things as soon as possible. In my opinion, extreme haste is not justified and it would not confer the desired benefits on the Papuans and the people of New Guinea. Any benefits that were conferred would not last. The social life of these people must be raised by way of example and precept. The residence of Australian people and European settlers amongst the indigenous people is a must if the expected development is to occur.
As I said earlier, Australia may feel proud of what she has done and is doing. The term “ colonialism “ can never be applied to our efforts in the Territory, and any person who has travelled in either Papua or New Guinea would endorse that statement. Let those who are interested travel to Popondetta, Killerton Rouna, Lae, Bulolo, Goroka, Bayer River, Mr Hagen and Wewak, or up to the source of the mighty Sepik River, calling at Telefomin if he wishes, and thence to Green River, Ambunti, Lumi and Maprik, to mention a few places, and not only to Moresby, Lae and Rabaul. Let them go into the interior to see what the Administration is doing - to see the excellent work of our district officers, our patrol officers and our administrative officers generally. I pay tribute to the women who accompany their husbands to many of these settlements. Let us not forget the doctors, the nurses, the trained native workers, the missionaries, the settlers and the teachers, just to mention a cross-section of the people who are dedicated to the work of improving the lot of the natives and of helping them towards self-government. When I hear some of the nonsense that is uttered and hear it said that we are not doing the right thing by these people, I feel like saying to those concerned: “ Go to this area. Then if you are not convinced about what the Administration has done and is doing, you have a perverted mind.”
Provision is made in the bill for the establishment of a Legislative Council of 37 members. Amongst those 37 are to be six who will be elected by the Europeans, six to be elected by the natives under an indirect system, five to be appointed by the Minister from among the native leader… five to be appointed from the European population, and two appointees who will represent the missions. The Territory will be divided into six areas. It may be said that the proposal is one of trial and error; but it represents a major constitutional change in the Territory and is an important step towards self-government. Because of the wide difference in the development of the various groups of native people, there are many difficulties in deciding who shall be enfranchised. On the one hand, then: are those who have been in contact with white civilization and who are perhaps of the second generation under Australian administration. They speak English well and have assimilated the Australian way of life. On the other hand, there are the great masses who have had little opportunity to advance from their tribal life to our form of civilization. In between these two extremes are many people who are likeable and who cling to the old traditions of tribal life but who yet are emerging towards a realization of the fact that ways of life different from their own exist. It is our duty to assist them soundly and surely towards a changed way of life.
Their welfare is the most important factor and we pledge ourselves to give them ultimate self-government as their right, to be gained by their own efforts under our friendly guidance. We will be realistic and will treat all matters on a logical basis. The rate of progress to be achieved could be a controversial topic amongst outside people or nations that have not first-hand knowledge of all the facts involved. Progress can be made only if the facts of the situation justify it. We must not be stampeded by ill-founded and destructive criticism into the granting of privileges prematurely. The social, political and economic development and the security of the native people are the only tests to be applied. The security of the white inhabitant is also of vital importance, for it n by his example that Australia has lifted up the Territory’s economy from zero to its present level. If Australia were to withdraw its beneficial aid too soon, the economy of the Territory would rapidly decline.
It is in order to bring greater benefits to this country that this bill has been introduced. The major constitutional changes proposed are the result of long periods of study and discussion with citizens of all races within the Territory, be they indigenous, Asian or European. At present the Legislative Council consists of 29 members, including the Administrator. Of the 29 members, seventeen are official members and twelve are non-official members, only three of whom are elected. In the new council, we will have 37 members, fifteen of whom will be official members and 22 non-official. Of the 22 non-official members, twelve are to be elected and ten are to be appointed. In the new council,- all appointments, whether of official or nonofficial members, will be open to natives and non-natives. If the bare minimum of positions is filled by natives, there will be eleven native members on the council, five appointed and six elected, out of a total of 22 non-official members. Eleven is the bare minimum.
Under the present bill separate election rolls are only a temporary expedient. A common roll and a single roll are the objectives set by this Parliament. To avoid any delay to reform during the period until single elections can be held, an ordinance of the Territory will provide for one method of election by those on the normal roll and another temporary method of election of native members by the native community. The advanced native people who have had no chance of forming local governing councils will have the right to send a stipulated number of delegates to an electoral conference. Again, this is only a transitional measure. It is recognized by all responsible people in the Territory that a common roll is the goal to be achieved.
The reforms outlined in this bill have been designed to meet the peculiar circumstances and the future needs of the Territory, and also to fit the current situation. They have been formulated by people who live within the Territory and who have a practical knowledge of existing conditions. They are proposed in the belief that they are workable and will work out in practice. In the improved conditions envisaged for the future, these proposed reforms can be easily adjusted to meet each and every change which occurs as we move forward on the road to self-government for all people in the Territory.
I support the bill. I pay a tribute, not only to the Administration and every officer in it, but also to the white settlers, the missionaries and, last but not least, to the Minister, the Honorable Paul Hasluck, for his devotion to a just cause. In due time I think that Australia will recognize the part that he has played. The people of the Territory, although frightfully backward, are lovable in many ways. You need to travel the country to realize the difficulties that exist. Although many of them are lovable people, many others are not far removed from cannibalism. I hope that by precept and example and by wise administration by the Australian people the ultimate goal of self-government for a deserving people will be reached.
.- The carefully prepared speech just delivered by Senator Mattner was an orthodox speech, its purpose being to justify Government policy and to praise his colleagues. Of course, that is usually the tenor of Senator Mattner’s speeches. A debate such as this calls for much more than back-scratching and self-praise. While the bill before the Senate seeks to amend the Papua and New Guinea Act, it is, to use the Minister’s own words, a proposal for something like a new constitution for the Territory. The present debate gives the Parliament an opportunity to discuss how far our administrative instrumentalities in Papua and New Guinea - on which the searchlight of world opinion is playing - are measuring up to the standards that are expected of them.
We, as a nation, have on our hands a tremendous problem that presents us with a great challenge. It is a moral, physical and financial problem. Previous speakers from the Government side have suggested that self-government for New Guinea is like pie in the sky - something to be had in the far-distant future. The Minister in his speech said that the bill marks an early, but very important, stage in the advance of the Territory towards s.elfgovernment.
It is only during the past 90 years that the European influence has been felt by the very primitive peoples of this land. It has been said that the history of colonialism follows a general pattern. First, the missionary goes in and preaches the word of God to the natives. He establishes confidence among the native races. This applies not only to Papua and New Guinea but to the Congo, Katanga and other places in Africa. This pattern of colonialism has been followed over the centuries. The missionary establishes his contact on the highest moral level. Shortly afterwards, he is followed by the trader. The trader ostensibly agrees with the basic views of the missionary, but when he becomes established he starts to take up the land of the natives. He starts to alienate their tribal areas. He alters their tribal customs and religious beliefs. Then, to protect his own rights, he brings in a police force and an army. Then the times comes, as we have seen in other countries, when the native inhabitants realize that they are being detribalized and dispossessed, and they start to stake a claim to some rights in their own country. Then the police and the army are used to establish the rights of the settlers. That technique is being challenged all over the world and it will not be long before Australia is the last country in the world still following that traditional pattern.
I wish to make an assessment of our position in Papua and New Guinea. Before the Commonwealth Government negotiated the trusteeship agreement with the United Nations, Australia felt that its main responsibility was to have a strategic buffer to its north, and also to afford sufficient small-scale farmers and planters a measure of protection in their farming pursuits. Before the trusteeship agreement was made, the health of the natives was a very minor consideration. It is interesting to note that one of the reasons for Australia becoming interested in Papua and New Guinea was that after the Queensland cane-cutters and the Queensland pioneers had objected to the black-birding of “ Kanakas from Papua and New Guinea, the Queensland Parliament realized that there were possibilities in that area and annexed part of New Guinea. At about the same time the Germans came down the archipelago. There was great jealousy between Great Britain and Germany, and the British then came in and established their position in the Territory.
Before 1949 Papua and New Guinea were typical colonial areas. Since 1949 there has been a great change in that old order in quite a few respects. Vast areas of the Territory that were previously unexplored and uncontrolled and had not been penetrated by white men, were brought under control by officers of the Administration. I pay a sincere tribute to those officers who, with a high moral code and a noble purpose, carried out their job as part of the Administration. They put up with hardships and difficulties in order to carry out the job given to them of opening up the previously uncontrolled areas. Since 1949 there has also been a big development in health services. Great advances have been made in the establishment of medical services throughout the Territory and the establishment of hospitals in some of the more densely populated areas. That is to the credit of the Commonwealth Government, through the Territory Administration.
Relatively speaking, great strides have been made in education. Primary schools have been established. The form of education has been changed. Instead of perpetuating the stupidity of pidgin English, we are now teaching English in the schools so that eventually the people of New Guinea will be able to converse with other English-speaking people. Pidgin English is a legacy of the old colonial idea. It has been said that even in England, as soon as a man spoke you were able to tell from what stratum of society he came. If he spoke with a provincial accent, you knew that he had not gone to the right school, old boy! That immediately put him in a particular category. The same idea applies in the native people being taught, for a period of 80 or 90 years, a language which isolated them from the rest of their fellow men. Senator Mattner made great play of the fact that the various tribes of New Guinea do not have a common language. That is agreed. It is part of our responsibility, as trustees of the area, to give them a common language as quickly as possible, not merely by means of the present standard of education but by a more intense education of the people.
We need only think of the United Nations, which is now in session, and the host of interpreters employed there. Members of a tribe in New Guinea are, in relation to members of a tribe living about 200 miles away, in the same position as some one living in Yugoslavia is to some one in Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Norway, Cuba, Patagonia, Senegal, or any other country.
– Are they the only countries you know?
– I am just giving an illustration. Some one living in Australia, for that matter, is in the same position.
– Two languages are spoken in the Canadian Parliament.
– That is true. In Canada itself two languages are spoken. Nearly all the people of the eastern area - Quebec - speak French, and the people of the western provinces of Canada speak English. The language barrier exists in Papua and New Guinea and has existed all the time. When the Premier of the Soviet Union makes an impassioned speech to a television audience, he has some one sitting next to him to translate that speech. President Eisenhower, Mr. Macmillan, and the Prime Minister of Australia are in the same position. Their speeches are understood by only a small proportion of the people of the world when they speak at United Nations meetings, and their words have to be translated into a number of languages. This problem will be overcome some day. Perhaps mankind will have a common language.
I fail to see why so much play is made of the fact that the tribal peoples in Papua and New Guinea have different languages and that problem of having a common language is insuperable. At present there is a process in which various tribesmen are being brought down to the coastal areas to work on plantations and there they mix with other tribesmen. I should say that the tendency is for them to learn a common language and converse with one another, and so break down a lot of the old tribal prejudices in many ways. I wanted to expand a little on that point in Senator Manner’s speech because it is a part of our responsibility as a trustee nation to accelerate the improvement of communications between the peoples of the Territories. We must try to provide them with a common language which will give them the opportunity to converse freely. 1 have admitted that many advances have been made since the Territory of New Guinea was placed under United Nations trusteeship. Australia is the trustee nation. The Prime Minister (Mr. Menzies), in a recent notorious speech before the United Nations General Assembly, stated that Australia had put many more millions into New Guinea than it had ever taken out of it or was ever likely to take out of it.
– Is that not right?
– It is quite true. That is the nature of our trust.
– What is notorious about that?
– When 1 used the word “ notorious “ I was speaking of other aspects of the Prime Minister’s speech. Actually, it was a notable speech because, in stating that we have put more millions into New Guinea than we have taken out of it or are ever likely to take out of it, the Prime Minister posed the question of the nature of our trusteeship. I should say that its nature, according to the interpretation of the Menzies Government, is of a paternal kind. I think the Government takes the view that, in addition to New Guinea providing the traditional military buffer, a strategic buffer, money can be made out of the Territory. Under the system of alienating land, more and more settlers will be encouraged to go there. The white settlers are being assisted much more than are the natives.
– What a lot of rot!
– That is quite true. More subsidies are being paid to the white settlers in New Guinea than are being paid to the native farmers. The figures relating to the last twelve months are here for the honorable senator to see. So, I say that our policy is one of paternalism. Can honorable senators opposite tell me of a native co-operative or an individual native in New Guinea who has available £25,000 . to develop land?
– I can tell the honorable senator of one who got away with £12,000 from a co-operative.
– I am not in the habit of becoming familiar with people who do that kind of thing. I do not contend that all the New Guinea people-
– What white settler got £25,000?
– That sum is available to white settlers. While 1 am on the subject, I wish to place on record the fact that many of the settlers who are going to the highlands of New Guinea, such as to the Goroka area, were previously members of the Administration staff. They understand the natives very well and have won their confidence. The ability of settlers to go into the choicest areas will build up a legacy for future generations. If all the arable areas of the highlands of New Guinea are alienated for long periods - I understand the leases are for 99 years - that fact could be one of the main sources of future hostility and discontent. It might be the reason for the New Guinea people forgetting the good things that have been done and only remembering the adverse results of our trusteeship.
It is important to stress that the Minister for Territories (Mr. Hasluck), the Australian Government generally, and the Australian people, all are committed by the United Nations Charter to self-government for the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. The question is: When should selfgovernment be given to the people there? The bill before the Senate purports to take the first step towards self-government, but it does not attack the problems that confront us in a far-sighted way. It takes only the shortest step in giving the people of the Territory legislative rights, and by providing exceptions in respect of voting rights it will perhaps further divide the people of the Territory instead of uniting them.
It has been said that the people of New Guinea are not ready for a common electoral roll, and that there are many ignorant and illiterate people there. But we have seen the time when there were thousands of people in Australia who were not able to cast a vote because of their lack of opportunities in early life.
– There are lots of people who do not cast an intelligent vote now.
– That is why you are here. Among the powers of the electoral officer is the power to decide whether a person has the requisite capacity and ability to vote. So long as the person concerned is able to say for whom he wishes to cast his vote, the electoral officer may assist him to do so. But who are we to say, unless we are being paternal, that people are not able to- vote and are not entitled to vote, and so therefore we shall make no provision for them to do so, even though they may want to vote? We set ourselves up as judges to say whether or not they are illiterate or too primitive to exercise any discretion.
We have to try to answer the important question of what is the proper time for selfgovernment for the Territory. The Minister for Territories stated on 23rd August last -
Before self-government can be effective in a country as . . . undeveloped economically as Papua and New Guinea is at present, considerable . . economic progress will be required. . . . In close partnership with the native people, the resources of the country have to be developed and a diversity of industries established. Australian policy embraces all such activities.
In view of the situation that exists, that statement is contradictory. After 80 or 90 years of contact with European people, we still find kow-kow being grown in little native gardens. That is food of very low nutriment content. No very great advance has been made in native agriculture, despite 90 years of contact with white people. We have not taught the natives how to grow many other things than these very primitive tuber potatoes. I saw the native pigs, which are rather small animals. They have probably maintained their species because there has not been any injection of a different species in New Guinea. What has the white man done over the last 90 years to improve the strain of pigs there?
– Pigs cannot be grazed there because of the worm trouble.
– What have we done with our sheep? We have set about getting rid of those parasites. If we were doing our job properly in the Territory, we should have tackled this problem many years ago. If we support the old view that the territory of Papua and New Guinea has two purposes - first, to act as a strategic buffer and, secondly, to be a place for the planters to go and keep their eyes on things - we will not get anywhere.
– You are not suggesting that we have that outlook now?
– Not now, but we are not doing anything different. Under new management we do the same things. We are providing more for the welfare of the native people, we are extending their health services, and we are probably increasing their expectation of life. These things will result in a bigger population, but virtually no attempt is being made to increase the growing of food for consumption in the Territory.
– That is not true.
– Yes, it is.
– There are experimental stations for cattle and sheep all over the place.
– Yes, but they are not feeding the native people.
– A lot of cocoa, coffee and copra is being produced.
– Yes, £8,000,000 worth of copra is produced in the Territory each year, but the natives cannot eat it; £1,500,000 worth of cocoa and £500,000 worth of coffee are being produced, but the natives would have a busy time consuming all that.
– It provides them with exchange with which to buy the products of other countries.
– The natives do not get it.
– Yes, they do.
– The natives only get £3,000,000 out of the total production. What can they buy with their money? The natives that are doing the hard work are receiving wages of about 28s. a month. Other natives are paid 12s. 6d. a month. They have no purchasing power to enable them to buy very much.
– They are provided with their food before they get 28s. a month.
– Not the native people in the villages.
– You are saying that they cannot afford to buy food.
– The ones who are working in industrial or rural areas go back to their tribes and take their money with them, but it is not sufficient to enable them to improve the standard of living of the people in the tribes. If they were able to take back to the tribal villages seeds, superphosphate and trace elements, and the knowledge of how to use them, farming could be undertaken there. The people could be taught farming and shown how best to get the most out of the land in the high rainfall areas. It can be said that at present only subsistance agriculture is undertaken and that the main diet of the natives consists of tuber potatoes and a limited amount of pig meat. I should say that 90 per cent, of the population of New Guinea live on those commodities.
– What about fish?
– On the coast, yes. The coastal people do not have pigs because of the worm menace on the coast. It is a case of pig or fish being available to the natives. The Administration only teaches the natives to grow coco-nuts, coffee and cocoa for the purpose of making profit. Co-operatives are formed amongst the natives to produce these commodities, but the greater proportion of them is produced by white planters. Of course, as I said before, the natives cannot eat any of these products. The production of protein foods is of tremendous importance to the people in the Territory. I think that our policy has been very lax because quicker and more efficient production has not been encouraged.
Senator Kendall has mentioned the existence of experimental stations in the Territory. When I was there, I saw a couple of experimental cattle stations and a few sheep at Goroka, but I saw no evidence of organized pig or poultry raising.
– At Keravat, within 25 miles of Rabaul, for over 60 years an area of 300 hectares has been devoted io experiments in these things.
– Poultry raising could easily be undertaken, in order to provide high protein content food for the native people. As I have said before, what is the use of developing a domestic market for food if the people in the villages have to rely on money earned by natives under 40 years of age to buy it? About 20 per cent, of the natives under 40 years of age return to their tribes, because they are paid only 28s. a month, which is less than1s. a day.
– There are co-operative stores.
– Yes, but the price of goods is very high. Therefore, as has been pointed out, the natives themselves realize that they have a long way to go before they will obtain any advantages from our paternalism. Even in this Parliament I have challenged our European way of life. I believe that we are on the wrong track - that individualism breeds selfishness and selfishness then breeds-
– What do you support - communism?
– A silly question deserves a silly answer.
– Will you give an answer?
– However I say that the trend towards communism to-day seems to be the only alternative to the stupidity of capitalism that Senator Buttfield supports.
– Now you have said it. You do support it.
– The honorable senator’s interjection is like the question: “ Have you stopped beating your husband after beating your grandfather? Answer Yes ‘ or ‘ No ‘.
As I mentioned before, the native people have never been inspired to extend to us their full co-operation. One of our purposes in the Territory is to show the natives how to make money under the European scheme and, as has been said in this chamber dozens of times by Senator Cameron, to make money under the European scheme you have to overcharge the consumer or underpay the employee. That scheme may not appeal to the primitive local people who have had a tradition of co-operation for thousands of years amongst themselves in the tribes, they are most friendly people.
– What about scorched earth and tribal fights?
– And what about Germany, Italy, Hannibal, Syria, Greece,
Rome and Carthage? What about those tribal fights?
– I am not questioning that.
– Yes you are. You are saying that the natives should not have tribal fights. You are just as much an inhabitant of a tribe on a different level. We have had tribal fights in our time but we give them a more respectable name. I have seen how the native people behave. If two adult tribesmen meet at a cross-roads they will take each other’s hands and greet each other with a kind of kiss. They are big fellows - six feet tall. They are most friendly people. The fact that they have survived over the tens of thousands of years that they must have been in the Territory shows that their code of genetics and their discipline must have been rather scientific, particularly in view of their limited numbers. But we go into their country and want to impose our way of life upon them. We want to show them that ours is the right way. When we get them into our midst what have we to offer them? We have the rat race and the jungle law of business to offer them - the exploitation of man by man, which is an accepted part of our way of life. These people may not want to be exploited. They may feel that they would be happier in their tribes. I remember a song about the Congo that was popular a few years ago. In it one fellow said that he did not want to leave the Congo. He did not want telephones or door-bells. He wanted to stay in the Congo. Another man, who had been civilized, said in the words of the song -
Sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
We are trying to convince the people from the tribal areas of New Guinea that they should join the happy throng, but they may not want to come into the rat race that marks our way of life. They may not want our way of life. They must know that every acre of land - every area of 20, 50 or 100 acres - that is alienated from them is the best land. They know that they will have so much less from which to obtain their basic needs for subsistence.
– Did that not apply to Australia also?
– All the problems that I say exist in the Territory exist also in Australia. Ballots have been held in Queensland and New South Wales in which thousands of men have tried to obtain land. The unsuccessful ones are trying to obtain land in New Guinea. We behaved towards our aborigines in much the same way as we are behaving towards the indigenous people of the Territory. We detribalized our aborigines and dispossessed them. In Tasmania we did not even bother about waiting 100 or 200 years to eradicate them. There we rounded them up and shot them because they were too much of a nuisance.
– The statement that we shot them in Tasmania is slight hyperbole, surely.
– Well, we gol rid of them, we disposed of them, we obliterated them, we exterminated them. The same process, in a different way, is going on in New Guinea still, even though we arc claiming that we are highly civilized and have advanced a long way.
Let me say a little more about the process of detribalization that is taking place in New Guinea. We dispossessed the natives of their holdings on the fertile highlands and coastal areas. It is well known that many parts of New Guinea are infertile. The high rainfall leaches the soil and makes it unproductive. The planters and other people in the coastal areas induce the natives to come down from their highland tribes. That leads to a breaking up of the tribal system. There are some tremendously strong forces working to disorganize the traditional life of the native in New Guinea. As the holdings of the settlers extend into the best areas more tribesmen become available for work, but how much are they paid? According to the wage chart that I have before me rates run from 28s. a month to about £20 a month for very highly skilled workers.
– The natives do not have the protection of trade unionism.
– That is another point. The Administration in the Territory has been strongly opposed to the formation of trade unions. This has led to demoralization of the native peoples. They have lost the companionship, the friendship and the togetherness of their tribes. They come down to the coastal areas where there is unemployment, bad housing and other adverse conditions. They are not allowed to form themselves into groups. That results in their complete demoralization. I hope that the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, who is at present in the Territory, will persuade the Administration to view more generously and sympathetically this alternative to the protection of the tribe. The natives need trade unionism in order to protect their collective interests. As is so among other peoples, divided they fall: united they stand. Unity within their tribes has enabled them to survive over the years but the process of de-tribalization is bringing demoralization in its train.
The United Nations’ report complained that there are no plans for industrial development in New Guinea. We in this country must be very careful how we handle our responsibilities to Papua and New Guinea. We are saddled with the great responsibility of building up the primary and secondary industries of the Territory.
– If that is so, why make the irresponsible statements that you have made to-night?
– I am merely pointing out our shortcomings. We are saddled with the responsibility of building hospitals and schools in the Territory, but we need more schools here in Australia. We have plenty of room here for schools. We need more hospitals in this country.
– We need more houses.
– Yes, we need more houses for our coming generation and for our migrants. If we increase primary production in New Guinea we may threaten Australia’s primary economy. If we develop New Guinea’s mining and timber industries they may become a threat to Australia.
– Are you suggesting that we should not do any of these things?
– I am directing attention to the problem that faces us and explaining its complexity. Yet we are on a time limit in world opinion. An article written by Gavin Souter in the “ Sydney Morning Herald “ of 13th August last under the heading “The Two New Guineas - Dutch Native Elite Forms a New Political Party “ states -
Any one who still cherishes the illusion that New Guinea will not gain its independence for at least SO years would do well to meet Frits Kirihio. the 25-year-old Papuan who founded a political party in Netherlands New Guinea this week.
Time is catching up with us. Honorable senators opposite think that we can wait another 50 years or more before we grant independence to New Guinea. In 50 years’ time they would still have an excuse for waiting. Within ten years Australia will have the unenviable reputation of being the only remaining colonial country in the world. The control exercised over the two Territories of Papua and New Guinea differs. The administration of the two is kept more or less separate. Basically Papua is Australian territory but New Guinea is administered by Australia under United Nations trusteeship. It has been pointed out that there is no certainty that Papua would be given self-government at the same time as the trusteeship territory of New Guinea. The development of New Guinea as a whole, in relation to primary and secondary industries, is a matter that is open to criticism by the United Nations. A more vigorous approach is needed than is possible with our present economic capabilities. To do the job that is needed to bring New Guinea to a standard which will satisfy world opinion is beyond the capacity of Australia at its present stage of development. We have a limited national product and a limited national income. We are striking difficulties in maintaining a balance between imports and exports and from the inflationary conditions which have resulted directly from this Government’s policy. Great demands are made on us for schools, hospitals and roads and the time is coming when we must face the fact that we cannot afford to do the things that are necessary to bring New Guinea to the stage required by world opinion. We must admit to the United Nations that unless one of its instrumentalities, such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, can help financially, the only alternative for us is to withdraw altogether from the Territory.
Many things can be done to produce closer co-operation amongst the people of New Guinea and to give them unity of purpose. Instead of private settlers being able to skim the bulk of the product and the profit of the Territory, there should be a gradual restoration of the fertile land to the natives. I refer not only to the oldest plantations, but also to those that are newly formed. Many of the new settlers were administrative officers who in the great tradition of the Administration should be teachers and leaders of the native people. They are encouraged by various organizations to get in for their pound of flesh and take up available land. I suppose that it is quite natural for them to do so, but it is a negative approach which could cause us great difficulty in future. If white settlers are to be subsidized to the extent of £2,500 a block, similar assistance should be given to the native people in building up co-operatives for the production of food crops.
– That assistance is available to them.
– It is not sufficient. Our total expenditure on New Guinea is not sufficient to enable its problems to be tackled with any marked effect. That is the bone of contention. As a nation, we are unable to afford the great developmental work that is so necessary. We are behind with our own internal programmes. The honorable senator knows that only too well. He spoke in the Senate last week of the things that need to be done to develop the outback and to ameliorate some of the worst effects of drought by pasture improvement and water conservation. We cannot do that work because we have not the money, and we certainly have not the money to do better in our trust Territory. Therefore, the native people must be encouraged to undertake the responsibility of self-government as quickly as possible. If they do not live exactly the same pattern of life as we live, that is their own problem. If they do not have white shirts to put on every day, tiled bathrooms, carpet cleaners, or television, that is their affair. They may not want those things. If they are only to get programmes such as some that we have on television, I hope they never get it!
We should direct our attention to the encouragement of food production by the formation of co-operatives, so that the natives themselves can feel that they are participating in the achievement of a higher standard of living. Let us look at the statistics in relation to timber. I think Senator Sir Walter Cooper earlier mentioned a royal commission in relation to this subject. I thought that reference was in bad taste, because that inquiry went through the normal processes and the Minister of the day was completely exonerated. That case having been cleared up, to mention it in circumstances like this does not do the honorable senator justice.
The timber industry has been handed over partly to foreign capital which, from what I can gather about the situation, is taking a lot more out of the Territory than any other organization is taking. Although the bulk of its production, which is worth £1,230,000, is used for the construction of houses and other facilities for the Administration, the margin of profit that goes out of New Guinea is higher than that of any other organization. I believe that the Placer Development organization should be given a time limit within which to train natives in both the practical side of logging and the know-how of the factories. The Australian Government could then say to the organization, “ We will buy you out and give the undertaking to the natives to work in their own interests “.
There is no reason why the natives should not be trained to work in the timber industry. Years ago I saw some of them using bulldozers, big saws, and breakingdown saws as efficiently as any Australian timber worker. They are very agile and adaptable to the use of timber equipment. I was struck by their healthy appearance. They live on rice. They took a piece of plywood, dug it into the rice bowl, piled it high and then sat and ate the rice. That was all they had for lunch but they were thriving on it and they were contented enough in the job. The klinkii pine of the Bulolo Valley is a very valuable timber which readily lends itself to the making of plywood. The Administration is doing a good job in organizing reafforestation. The timber industry is the kind of industry that should be run by co-operatives. The Administration should have trained officials teaching the natives the whole process of producing timber so that the industry may be handed over to the co-operatives for the benefit of the natives.
We have not available the time that a lot of honorable senators seem to think we have for the granting of self-government to the people of the Territory. We must set up the basic forms to train the people within a limited number of years to assume self-government. We must extend our training beyond the primary school level and into the technical and commercial high schools. We must have special training courses in administration for these people so that the legislature may consist entirely of natives representing their own people. As long as they need the guidance of the Australian Administration it should be available to them. If we provide that guidance, we will have honoured our trusteeship.
There is a great need for the natives who are being detribalized to have a common purpose. I hope the trade union movement will expand its activities amongst these people with a view not only to providing them with industrial education but also to giving them a common gathering place where they may express their ideas, hopes and ambitions. I hope there will not be a continuation of the present process of separating them from their tribes and putting nothing in their place.
The Government should not delay the institution of a common roll of electors. Provision for a common roll should be incorporated in the measure now before the Senate. There should be a much more intensive approach to giving the native people opportunities in every field of activity in the Territory so that the best in them may be brought out. They should be given the same opportunities as are given to the people of Malaya, Burma and Ceylon under the Colombo Plan. People come from those countries to Australia for a university education. The same facilities should be made available to the natives of New Guinea. Those who are undergoing a high school education should be pushed along as hard as possible so that they may be brought down to our universities to gain wider experience, to learn our way of life and take back ideas that will be of advantage to the Territory.
I believe we should set a maximum target of ten years for the giving of responsible government to the people of the Territory, and that we should force every sinew to achieve that target. If we fail to achieve it, at least we will have shown that we were willing to try. By that time, if the people have a common roll and have their own representatives in the Legislative Council, and if they decide that they do not want self-government then, they may invite us to continue for a further period. But we should set a target date, because the eyes of the world are on New Guinea and on all the other under-privileged people who have been exploited over the centuries under the system of colonialism. The whole world is aflame because people are demanding a place in the sun.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Anderson). - Order! The honorable senator’s time has expired.
– I am pleased to be able to associate myself with the passing of this measure, because I feel that it represents another step in the right direction. I believe that since the Minister for Territories (Mr. Hasluck) undertook the management of the Territory in 1949 he has taken many steps in the right direction, and this is just another such step. I can only hope that our critics in the United Nations will never read the speech delivered by Senator O’Byrne. The honorable senator uttered the most dreadful, irresponsible nonsense when he said in one breath that we could not afford to develop the Territory and, in the next breath that we must develop it in ten years.
– Or get out.
– We have undertaken a responsibility, and I hope we will never say that we cannot afford to discharge that responsibility. Let us make every effort - I believe we are doing so - to advance the Territory in the most constructive manner.
I believe the bill represents a step in the right direction, because for the first time provision is made for natives to elect their own representatives. Provision is made also for the inclusion in the membership of the Legislative! Council of educated natives who otherwise would be excluded from the possibility of representing their people because they were attached to the Public Service. Under this legislation they will become eligible for nomination and thus will provide their own people with the benefit of their education.
I do not know quite where to begin to reply to some of the statements that have been made by members of the Opposition. I am certainly very distressed about all their utterances. I believe that honorable senators opposite would talk us into trouble. They belong to that group of people who are putting pressure on us from outside Australia. Here within the Parliament we have a group of people who are trying to put pressure on us to get ourselves into a situation which may prove to be disastrous. It is very disturbing to hear members of the Opposition talk in the way they are talking. If ever there was a policy about which we ought to be united, it is the policy for developing New Guinea. We need to show a united front to the world. We need to show that we are moving in the right direction, that we have a constructive policy, and that we all agree that we shall carry out that policy even though it means difficulty for us and in some cases a tightening of the belt to see that these people in respect of whom we have shouldered a responsibility are assisted.
– But when you are wrong you do not expect us to agree with you, do you?
– I do not think we are wrong.
– We do.
– It is most distressing to hear members of the Senate speak as some of them have spoken to-day. When reading the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition in smother place, I was most encouraged when I noted that he was full of praise for what was being done. He did not seem to me to be critical, as are members of the Opposition in this chamber.
I do not intend to say very much about the bill at this stage, because its provisions have been well canvassed. We know that membership of the Legislative Council is to be increased and that in the appointment of representatives Europeans and natives are to enjoy almost the same opportunity. I do not believe that we can yet give to the people of New Guinea, whether they be Europeans or natives, complete control of their own affairs - not while we expect the Australian taxpayer to put up the bulk of the money that is to be spent in the Territory. This Parliament must retain a measure of control. The Minister seeks the retention by the Administration of a small measure of control. 1 wish to refer particularly to the statement that was made by the Minister in August last when he explained his policy for the Territory, lt seems to me that the newspapers have gone out of their way to create a wrong impression about the Government’s policy. They seem to be saying: “ What is the policy? We are looking for a change in it”. But when you have a good policy you cannot change it. All you can do is to stress that it is good, and that is what the Minister did. The newspapers have torn the Prime Minister’s remarks from their context. They have tried to make out that he was criticizing the policy and administration of the Minister for Territories and that he would have us get out of New Guinea very rapidly. Fortunately the Minister for Territories has been to New Guinea and has explained the position to the people there. There has been no further evidence of the discontent and worry that the press would have us believe exists.
I believe that the development of New Guinea along present lines is vitally important internationally, is vitally important strategically to Australia, and is vitally important to the people in the Territory. Great attention is now being paid to New Guinea and to our trusteeship of it in the United Nations. That, I think, is clear evidence that the subject is important to the peoples of the world. It is also evident that it is very important to the leaders of the Indonesian people. They have not only tried repeatedly for some years past to bring up the subject of New Guinea in the United Nations, but they are using it within their own country as the only issue that can unite the divided people of Indonesia. They use it as a method of bringing the Indonesian people together. The 90,000,000 people who live in Indonesia are divided on almost every issue, but they agree that they would like to have west New Guinea as a part of their territory.
I think that President Soekarno keeps on whipping up this issue to hide the disruption, almost the bankruptcy, of his country.
Our administration of New Guinea is important internationally also because the Russians have come into the field and are pointing to our policy as an example of what they call colonialism. If ever a race of people were colonialists of the worst type, it is the Russians. They have built a buffer around their own nation, comprised of what we now call the satellite countries. They have no intention of granting freedom or self-government to the people of those countries, yet they have the impertinence to point to what is being done in New Guinea and call it colonialism.
We have taken on the responsibility of developing New Guinea as a trustee of the United Nations. Because of that, we have United Nations delegations going through the Territory about every four years. Those delegations make reports, and unfortunately one or two of the nations which are represented on the delegations have decided that it is time to criticize Australia. 1 ask the questions: Could any of them do better? Have any of them produced any evidence that they are doing better in the countries which they control? Fortunately, the criticism is limited to one or two countries. Most people who have visited New Guinea have sung the praises of the Minister and the officers of the Administration. In my opinion, nothing but praise can be offered to them. Unfortunately, the criticism that has come from some members of the United Nations delegations in their reports is based, not on realities, but on power politics. They take the opportunity to further their own cause by criticizing what is being done in New Guinea.
Senator O’Byrne seems to think that we ought to consider Australia as an isolated unit. He says that we cannot afford to develop New Guinea - that we need all our available funds for various national projects in Australia. Has Senator O’Byrne ever thought of Australia’s position in the world, and particularly of its position in South-East Asia, which, I think, is the area that should concern us most at present? Outside of this Parliament I have repeatedly said that I picture the South-East
Asian countries as a huge bunch of grapes. Across the top of the bunch are the countries of India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam and Japan. Coming down the bunch through the middle are Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia, and right at the bottom of the bunch are New Guinea and Australia. New Guinea is only 100 miles from the north coast of Australia. If one of the grapes in that bunch should be plucked, I venture to say that there would be danger for the rest of the grapes, because the plucker would come nearer to the grapes that were left. If New Guinea were the grape that was plucked, I feel that Australia would be in a very dangerous position.
To say that we cannot afford to help the people of New Guinea, that we cannot afford to treat the Territory as a strategic responsibility as well as a moral responsibility, or to help the people who arc closest to us, is to adopt a most irresponsible attitude. If Senator O’Byrne will only think of the bunch of grapes that I have tried to picture and realize that every one of the countries in South-East Asia is vitally important to us - none more so than New Guinea - I think he will alter his attitude.
– Do you think that New Guinea can be made self-supporting?
– Not as yet. J think that if New Guinea were selfsupporting, the United Nations would not continue to ask us to accept it as a trust territory. The United Nations would have given the Territory self-government long ago and allowed it to look after itself. A lot more work will have to be done before it is in that position.
– Although the Territory is exporting its wealth to other countries you say it is not self-supporting?
– I do not believe that the Territory is exporting its wealth. Wealth is being created as a result of what is being done by the European settlers and as a result of what is being done by the natives in the field of agriculture and so on. Obviously the people have to export some commodities. They cannot consume all of them. They will never build up their economy if they cannot export, and we certainly should encourage them to do so.
In trying to develop the theme of what we are doing within New Guinea, I can do no better than quote a sentence from a statement that the Minister for Territories made. He said -
Before self-government can be effective in a country as primitive socially and as undeveloped economically as Papua and New Guinea is at present, considerable social changes and economic progress will be required. These changes can only be brought about by major efforts by the Australian Government in establishing and maintaining a system of law and justice, in health, education, agriculture and technical training, and by bringing the indigenous people into public administration and membership of all political institutions. In close partnership with the native people the resources of the country have to be developed and a diversity of industries established. Australian policy embraces all such activities.
It is on some of those matters that I hope to enlarge now. I have been to this Territory, so I feel, like so many others, that 1 can speak from personal experience. I have not come away with a depressed feeling. 1 have come out feeling excited and pleased with what is being done there. We have heard the history or the country. It has had a turbulent history during recent times. In the 1914-18 war, it was invaded by Germany and our Australian soldiers fought to retain the Territory because of its strategic value. In the last war, it was invaded by Japan, and our gallant men and women fought to retain for Australia the power to help these people. Since the war we have been entrusted by the United Nations with the task of developing New Guinea, and I believe that we are carrying out that task extremely well. The task is a difficult one, because the people are extremely primitive. Many areas are still not completely under administrative control, although all of them have been contacted and are under the influence of our Administration. I was interested to read a statement made recently by the Minister for Territories in which he said that by 1963 all those areas would be under administrative control. That will be a tremendous step foward because I think well over 100,000 people have yet to be brought under administrative control.
However, in some areas, the natives are certainly stone-age people. One sees them still using their stone axes and stone adzes. In the highlands where they are still reasonably primitive, although they are perhaps not the most primitive, one still sees them rubbing themselves with pig fat in order to keep themselves warm. They have not yet learnt - nor perhaps do they want to, as Senator O’Byrne said - to live the way we do. They may not want to wear clothes as we do. They are still primitive. They still use shells as their form of money. Pigs are another form of wealth. In some areas the natives are still practising cannibalism and eating their dead. Maybe their admiration of their ancestors and their fighters makes them believe that when a warrior is killed or when a relative dies, if they eat the limbs they will gain their good qualities. That is part of their religious beliefs, but I dare say that there is some physiological reason for cannibalism. Our Administration is endeavouring to overcome this problem through their diet, by providing them with protein food. I think that before very long we will be able to say that cannibalism is not being practised at all in the Territory.
– They will miss their meat?
– They need protein food and that need is being met by the provision of fish - not, as Senator O’Byrne said, only from coastal waters. Suitable pools and rivers are being sown with a fish which breeds very prolifically. It has multiplied so successfully that already the natives are able to fish to their hearts’ content. In that way they are getting a great addition to their protein diet. Perhaps I am being led slightly off the track by interjections, but I do not believe that it is so essential to develop the meat industry in New Guinea in order to overcome the protein deficiency. I think it is advisable to develop the meat industry, as is being done, but not just because the people are urgently in need of protein only from meat. They are getting it from fish and also from the pigs, which admittedly they do not kill frequently. The more primitive natives kill pigs for a sing-sing. On the experimental farms a better type of plg is being bred and sold to the natives at very reasonable prices so that they can mate those pigs with their own wilder type of pig and get a better quality meat and a better pig all round. The Administration is doing these constructive things.
Tt is not easy to overcome the problem of the pests that are prevalent in New
Guinea. Officers of the animal industry section of the Administration try to teach the natives how to dip their cattle in order to rid them of ticks; but eradication is extremely difficult. I understand that the cattle have to be dipped almost weekly in order to overcome the tick problem. This is a task which has required a great deal of experimental work. I think progress is now being made, but it has taken time.
Senator Dittmer spoke of discrimination. This is one point on which I do not agree with him. First, he mentioned a newspaper article about a basketball team. I think I am right in saying that that article was published in 1957.
– No, the rule was made in 1957.
– I think you will find that since 1957 there has been no discrimination in basketball teams or any other sporting teams.
– Do not take an isolated example. I gave a number of examples.
– I am saying that there is now no colour bar at all in sporting teams. I think there was one club which said that it would not allow its sporting fields to be used by other clubs, but there is no question of colour discrimination about that. It is ridiculous to say that there is discrimination in a territory such as Papua and New Guinea where obviously there must be differentiation between the primitive people - the near-to-savagery - and the civilized people. Every one knows that in any country people do find their own level and where there is community of interest one does not find discrimination. But Senator Dittmer-
– You are being unfair to me.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT. -Order!
– I need no protecton. I will protect myself. As I was saying, one cannot expect that there will be no discrimination in a territory such as Papua and New Guinea, where there is not yet a community of interest, which is the thing which drives people together in any part of the world. Where you have a community of interest, you will find friendship and no discrimination. In Papua and New Guinea there is no colour discrimination. I think Senator Dittmer tried to imply that there was.
The half-castes and Chinese are all being accepted by the Europeans in the Territory on an equal footing. I was privileged to attend the first naturalization ceremony in New Guinea at which Chinese were being naturalized. Many Europeans were there to welcome them into the community with the greatest warmth of feeling. I think that indicates there is no colour bar or discrimination of that type in the Territory.
– We were talking about the natives of New Guinea.
– I am talking about discrimination. You said there was discrimination. I am proving that there is no discrimination because there is no community of interest. Where there is no community of interest, you cannot expect the people to come together.
– The newspaper article
I referred to-
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT. - Order! Senator Dittmer, you must not interrupt. You are out of order in doing so.
– It will take some time to bridge the gap and get the majority of the people of New Guinea sufficiently educated to bc able to meet with others and form community of interest. So, wc cannot expect to see rapid progress in that sense.
In speaking of discrimination, I should ike to point out one or two experiences of my own. I was standing in a highland area, having a picnic lunch and talking to the district officer, and as always happens, a mass of natives came around us. I had no stockings on and the natives were around my legs, pulling the hairs. I took no notice. They were evidently rather amused. They have not much hair on their legs, and I thought that perhaps they were being educated. Before very long the natives were examining my clothes. They had my skirt up, examining what I had on. I said to the district officer, “This is getting embarrassing”. He replied, “ You would be more embarrassed if you knew what they were saying”. The point I am trying to make is this: How can I sit down and talk with people who are so amused that they have to pull the hairs on my legs? I had nothing to talk to them about. Of course there is discrimination there.
Although one can criticize these people on certain grounds, as Senator O’Byrne has said they are an extremely charming race of people. They have their primitive ways which we have to tolerate and understand, but they are happy and I hope that in developing them we do not kill that happiness. I would hate to see them lose their happiness. It is delightful to go among them and see their naturalness and unaffectedness and be able to meet them.
We have heard quite a lot about the difficulty of overcoming the language problem. There is no uniform language, but I think the teaching of English is progressing very well. I should like to say a few words about pidgin. Senator O’Byrne, I think, called it stupid, but I do not think it is quite so stupid as he would have us believe. I attempted to learn it myself. I bought a dictionary - there is not a very big vocabulary. I can assure honorable senators that a lot of fun can be had in trying to learn it, and you can also get into a lot of bother. However, it is not easy to describe situations or articles in pidgin, and for that reason I think we have to teach the natives English. There are not sufficient books in pidgin to which people can go to further their studies.
Let roe give one or two examples of the picturesqueness of pidgin, and to show that it is not so stupid. I went into a classroom where I asked, as I mostly did when I went to schools, whether the students would sing for me. The teacher said: “ I am afraid this class will not sing. They do not like being asked to sing.” In order to say something to them, I said, “ Do you boys not like singing? “ With one voice they said, “ Yes “. I turned to the teacher and said, “They all like it”. He said, “Oh, that means ‘Yea, we don’t”’. I think it is not so stupid to answer a negative question with an affirmative. As 1 have said, it is picturesque. For instance, a piano is described as a “ big fella bokis teece belong im ni cri “. I suggest that that is not a bad way of describing if.
Coming nearer home, my husband, who has red hair, heard a native describing him as “ big fella master him got plenty red grass “. I should hate to see pidgin die out in the Territory. I can well understand why the Duke of Edinburgh said that he thought the Australians had made an impact on the language. That is not hard to understand when you are in the Territory. I hope that the impact continues and that we shall encourage the retention of a measure of pidgin, at the same time as we teach the people English.
Quite a lot has been said about the terrain of the Territory. The highest mountains are of nearly 16,000 feet, as I learned to my cost in flying over them. I agree with Senator Mattner that the airline pilots deserve a great deal of praise for the work they do in the Territory. Flying conditions are most difficult. Due to climatic conditions, there is very often low cloud over the mountains, and if you happen to be unfortunate enough, as we were, to have to fly along the valleys, it is quite an ordeal. The biggest aircraft that can be used in the highlands are DC3s. There are, of course, smaller aircraft. The DC3s are unpressurized and as a rule do not fly at more than 16,000 feet. They weave their way through the mountains. If, as happened to us, you run into heavy cloud, there is only one thing to do, and that is shoot straight up and hope that the cloud lifts before too long so that you may get down on to one of the airstrips. Because of low cloud, we were forced to fly at 18,000 feet for well over an hour which, in an unpressurized aircraft, is not funny. As I have said, the pilots who fly aircraft in those conditions almost every day of the year deserve great credit.
I should also like to say a few words about the airstrips, numbering about 100, which have been constructed in the Territory. The Wau strip became well known after the last war when aircraft were flying in there at the rate of one a minute. I believe that at that time it was the busiest airstrip in the world. Aircraft were flying in equipment with which to rebuild the gold dredges and other machinery which had been destroyed during the war. To land at Wau, you have to fly along the valley, make a complete right-angle turn and go up the side of a mountain and then come down on the strip which has a one-in-eight grade. Tt calls for an incredible feat of airmanship t* land an aircraft on the strip. When we think that aircraft at the rate of one a minute were going in there after the war, we cannot help but pay tribute to the airmen. There are other equally difficult airstrips. One on which I landed seemed like an aircraft carrier. The tops of two mountains had been taken off by hand, pushed into the valley between the mountains, and the strip made on top. It is to the credit of the Australian administration that it has been able to establish 100 such airstrips for the routine job of getting into the highlands to press on with development.
Five thousand miles of roads have been built, a great many of them by hand. Many of the roads are trafficable only to jeeps. They are certainly not motor car roads, as I also learned to my cost when travelling along the road from Bulolo to Lae, a distance of about 70 miles. We had to cross four flooded rivers, fording them. In company with the Indian High Commissioner, we nearly lost our lives on each crossing. It certainly caused a great stir. On returning home, my family would not believe me, so I took them back the next year to have a look for themselves; but the Administration had already had three bridges built over the rivers. The same risk has not now to be repeated by other travellers, fortunately for them. But even to build bridges across the rivers is not the end. Another bridge that we came to on the Chimbu River had been washed away in one of the sudden surges of water that come on so frequently in the Territory after a heavy rainstorm, and we had to cross the river in a hastily erected flying fox.
New Guinea is a land of adventure. Because of this, I wish to pay a tribute to the young patrol officers who go there and perform the most incredible tasks. They move into primitive areas to which, in some cases, white men have not previously been. They bring the people under control and teach them the meaning of law and justice. As I have mentioned, that is one of the first tasks we have to do. We all know of what happens in other countries where law and justice, as we know them, are not practised. People are imprisoned without trial and without hope of having a trial. They are left to rot in gaol, if it suits the administration. Fortunately, British justice does not work in that way. We are teaching the people of New Guinea that British justice is the fairest form of justice that is known, that they can expect a fair trial and that they will not be imprisoned unless they have been proved guilty. Even when wrong-doers have been proved guilty, it is interesting to see the way in which the Administration goes about its job. Convicted persons are placed in what is called a calaboose, but they are not locked up day in and day out. They are people who do not understand yet why they are being locked up. The authorities have to try to bring home to them that they have done something wrong. They are taken away from their families and tribes, to a village where there is a calaboose. They are given work to do outside. You find them on the airstrips, carrying the luggage, and so on. They may be murderers several times over, but they are not locked up. The authorities try to explain the nature of their crime. This attempt to teach them law and justice as we know them is, I think, a great step forward.
The patrol officers are dedicated people. If you move about the newer posts you see young men in charge of perhaps 30,000 or 35,000 natives. They are responsible for the administration of the law and the provision of health and education services for the people. They treat the natives in the most friendly, paternal manner. To see a young man of between 20 and 30 years of age treating the people as his own is quite an eye-opener. The patrol officers could not be more patient, more friendly or more tolerant.
– Sometimes they are out for six months or so, are they not?
– Much longer than that. They live out in the primitive areas for perhaps two or three years. Many of them are not married. They are entirely alone, so far as European company is concerned. They live amongst the natives, with perhaps a police officer to assist them. The natives invariably treat the patrol officers with great respect, relying on their word and their judgment for everything. I think that it is a great feather in the cap of the Administration that it has been able to persuade the right type of young man to go to the Territory and to teach him the way to gain the confidence of the people and bring them forward, as the patrol officers are doing.
Debate interrupted.
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The DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator the
That the Senate do now adjourn.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Senate adjourned at 10.30 p.m.
Cite as: Australia, Senate, Debates, 11 October 1960, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/senate/1960/19601011_senate_23_s18/>.