Ministers for Foreign Affairs 1972-83 Edited by Melissa Conley Tyler and John Robbins © The Australian Institute of International Affairs 2018 ISBN: 978-0-909992-04-0 This publication may be distributed on the condition that it is attributed to the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Any views or opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily shared by the Australian Institute of International Affairs or any of its members or affiliates. Cover Image: © Tony Feder/Fairfax Syndication Australian Institute of International Affairs 32 Thesiger Court, Deakin ACT 2600, Australia Phone: 02 6282 2133 Facsimile: 02 6285 2334 Website:www.internationalaffairs.org.au Email:[email protected] Table of Contents Foreword Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA ......................................................... 1 Editors’ Note Melissa Conley Tyler and John Robbins CSC ........................ 3 Opening Remarks Zara Kimpton OAM ................................................................ 5 Australian Foreign Policy 1972-83: An Overview The Whitlam Government 1972-75: Gough Whitlam and Don Willesee ................................................................................ 11 Professor Peter Edwards AM FAIIA The Fraser Government 1975-1983: Andrew Peacock and Tony Street ............................................................................ 25 Dr David Lee Discussion ............................................................................. 49 Moderated by Emeritus Professor Peter Boyce AO Australia’s Relations with China and Japan Australia-China Relations 1972-1983 ................................... 65 Professor Jocelyn Chey AM FAIIA Relations with Japan 1972–83 .............................................. 81 Trevor Wilson Discussion ........................................................................... 103 Moderated by Professor Richard Rigby Australia’s Relations with the United States and Indonesia Relations with the Indonesia in the Whitlam Era: the Centrality of the East Timor issue....................................... 115 Emeritus Professor James Cotton FAIIA Discussion ........................................................................... 145 Moderated by Miles Kupa Australia and the Third World Australia and the Third World, 1972-83: Assessing the Role of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs ..................................... 155 Professor Derek McDougall Australia’s Africa Policies 1973-82: Personal Recollections ............................................................................................ 175 Di Johnstone AM Discussion ........................................................................... 183 Moderated by Melissa Conley Tyler Diplomacy in the Whitlam/Fraser Era Reflections by the Hon Tony Street Panel Discussion Moderated by Geoffrey Miller AO FAIIA ........................... 187 Forum Program ................................................................ 217 List of Ministers 1972-1983 .............................................. 223 Index ................................................................................... 224 Foreword Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA For more than 80 years, the Australian Institute of International Affairs has been helping to collect and record the history of Australian foreign policy in its various publications, including the Australia in World Affairs series. This book is the third in a series that looks at the role and influence of individual Australian foreign ministers. It covers the contribution to Australian diplomacy of Gough Whitlam, Don Willesee, Andrew Peacock and Anthony Austin (Tony) Street in the years between 1972 and 1983. This period included important achievements as Australia developed a new relationship with the People’s Republic of China; consolidated its foreign and trading relationship with Japan; maintained a close but more pragmatic relationship with the United States; and supported the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty after ratifying it in 1973. The Whitlam and Fraser Governments were also at one in promoting a closer relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Successive foreign ministers helped drive Australia’s heavy involvement in the Third United Nations Conference of the Law of the Sea, culminating in the production of a draft Convention in 1980. In the latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s, Australian foreign ministers also collaborated closely with the Minister for Trade, J. D. Anthony, in negotiating the landmark Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement with New Zealand. The book draws on the outcomes of a day-long forum hosted at the AIIA’s National Headquarters in Canberra on 19 May 2016. The participants included academics, officials and many distinguished diplomatic practitioners. We are grateful to all 1 Foreword of them and I congratulate all those involved in the book’s production. I want to acknowledge and express the AIIA’s thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its support for this publication. Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA National President Australian Institute of International Affairs 2 Editors’ Note Melissa Conley Tyler and John Robbins CSC We are pleased to present the third book in the Australian Institute of International Affairs’ Ministers for Foreign Affairs series. Following on from the two previous publications in the series, the AIIA hosted a forum at Stephen House in May 2016 examining Australian foreign policy from 1972-1983. This publication brings together the papers and discussions from this event. The AIIA is deeply committed to preserving a record of Australia’s foreign policy history and we hope this publication will provide an insight into this intriguing era. As well as seven of the papers presented at the event – by Professor Peter Edwards AM FAIIA, Dr David Lee, Professor Jocelyn Chey AM FAIIA, Trevor Wilson, Emeritus Professor James Cotton FAIIA, Professor Derek McDougall and Di Johnstone AM – this volume includes transcripts of the discussions following each paper by forum participants. An additional panel discussion on diplomacy in the Whitlam/Fraser era is also included in this volume. The insights and personal reminsicences revealed in these discussions are valuable and well worth reproducing. In these discussions minor edits were made for clarity, consistency, ease of reading and relevance. As such, it should be noted that the discussions reproduced in this book do not in all instances constitute a word-for-word transcription of proceedings. They do, however, aim to reflect and preserve the intent of the speaker. As editors, we take responsibility for any infelicities that remain. 3 Editors’ Note This publication could not have been completed without the generous support of many individuals and organisations. We thank the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Historical Publications and Information Section, in particular Dr David Lee, for supporting the production of this historical record. We thank the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Gina Dow for locating the archival photographs used. Thanks are due to the following who assisted with organising the forum in Canberra and with the subsequent editing of this volume: Rory MacNeil, Carolina Dolan, Roman Madaus, Jaidan Stevens, Tarisa Yasin, Leyang Wang, Edward Boettcher, Bobby Wen, Susan Kim, Zoe Glasson, Claire Wong, Trevor Alexander, Breanna Gabbert, Douglas Barnicoat, Tom Bettinson, Joshua Ravenhill and Matt Longworth. Finally, we would like to thank all speakers and moderators for sharing their expertise. The Forum on Ministers for Foreign Affairs 1972-83 drew together an extraordinary group. A copy of the program for the event is included at the end of this volume. We hope you enjoy this publication. Melissa Conley Tyler National Executive Director John Robbins Project Officer 4 Opening Remarks Zara Kimpton OAM As National Vice President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) I would like to welcome you all here to the Forum on Ministers for Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1983. Unfortunately, our National President, The Hon Kim Beazley AC FAIIA, is unable to be present today but he sends his best wishes for a successful forum. He became a member of federal parliament in 1980 so he is particularly interested in the period which we will review today, and is looking forward to the publication which will result from this dialogue. The subject of our first forum was just one man: R.G. Casey. The second focused on the work of seven foreign ministers but they were all from the Liberal Party. Today will be different. This nine year period is divided into that of the Whitlam Government from 1972 to 1975, Ministers for Foreign Affairs Gough Whitlam and Don Willesee, and the Fraser Government from 1975 to 1983 with Ministers for Foreign Affairs Andrew Peacock and Tony Street. Although we think of foreign affairs as being an area where there is a high degree of bi-partisanship there will of course be differences which may become more evident during today's discussions. Gough Whitlam was his own foreign minister from December 1972 to November 1973 (as Menzies had been in his own government in 1960). It is well known that Whitlam was very interested in international affairs and had visited China in 1971 as head of a Labor Party delegation, at a time when the McMahon Government was still refusing to open diplomatic ties with the country. This visit took place just before the historic visit to Beijing by President Nixon when the tide