Hindsight draft record, 4 April 2003 1 HINDSIGHT: A WORKSHOP FOR PARTICIPANTS IN THE DECOLONISATION OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA University House, Australian National University, 3-4 November 2002 Topics * The Australian politics of Papua New Guinea constitutional change UN context, changes in ALP policy, parliament, evolution of Liberal-Country coalition policy * The transfer of administrative power the 'gearing up' program, 1970, and the way in which powers were transferred * National Unity Napidakoe Navitu, Mataungan Association, Papua Besena; and how these movements were treated in Canberra, and in the House of Assembly * The Papua New Guinea politics of constitutional change the House of Assembly, its Select Committees, beginnings of Ministerial government, the Constitutional Planning Committee and its impact on parliamentary politics * Aid debates and decisions about the amount, the form and the purpose * Economic Development the development program, agriculture, mining, and the growth of towns * Land land tenure (1971 Legislation) and the problem of land disputes * Administration of Justice, Law and Order the Local Court, Village Justices. Anticipating the problems of crime and corruption; the development of a modern police force and its relations with the Defence Force * Defence Force the transfer of authority, structure of the PNGDF, relations to police and the civil power participants Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Ministers Tom Leahy (AEC), Bill Morrison (Territories), Ebia Olewale (Education) High Commissioners Tom Critchley and David Hay Commonwealth Public Servants Pat Galvin (Territories), Christine Goode (Territories), John Greenwell (Territories), Bruce Hunt (Foreign Affairs), Colin MacDonald (Foreign Affairs), Don Mentz (Territories), Jim Nockels (Defence) PNG Public Servants Tom Allen (Finance), Hal Colebatch (AdCol), Geoffrey Dabb (Foreign Affairs), Jim Hindsight draft record, 4 April 2003 Fingleton (Lands), Ross Garnaut (Finance), Mark Lynch (Cabinet Office), Nick O’Neil (Public Solicitor), Alkan Tololo (Education), Alan Ward (Lands) Political Advisers Peter Bayne (United Party), John Ley, David Stone, Ilinome Tarua and Ted Wolfers (Constitutional Planning Comnmittee) Commentators Chris Ashton (journalist), John Ballard (Political Scientist), Peta Colebatch (defence analyst), Sinclair Dinnen (police), Sean Dorney (journalist), Jim Griffin (historian), Robin Hide (anthropologist), David Hook (AusAID), David Lee (DFAT), Kieth Mattingly (journalist), Hank Nelson (historian), Annette O’Neil (student), Jonathan Ritchey (history student), June Verrier (student), Patti Warne (Morrison’s staffer). Apologies Minister Andrew Peacock Commonwealth Public Servants Tim Besley (Territories) Paul Kelloway (Territories) PNG Public Servants David Beatty (National Planning), Bill Conroy (Foreign Affairs), John Langmore and Charles Lepani (National Planning), Mekere Morauta (Finance), Rabbie Namaliu and Meg Taylor (both in Somare’s office) Political Advisers Tos Barnett (Somare’s office) Commentators Patrick Ferry, David Hegarty, Bill Standish, David Weisbrot. Sunday 3rd November The political context of constitutional change The Australian political context of Papua New Guinea and constitutional change: John Greenwell With Mr Whitlam leading the discussion and Bill Morrison on the panel, I should say something about the Coalition years -- 1970 to 1972. I have chosen to speak of the influence of John Gorton on constitutional development. I go first to his PNG visit between 6th and 11th July 1970. In his Port Moresby address, as you will recall, he announced important constitutional changes. He took as his base the belief that 'the time had come when less should be referred to Canberra for decision and more should be retained for decision by the Administrators Executive Council and by the Ministerial members who for the most part make up that Council." He spelt out the details: -- appointment of a Spokesman for the A.E.C. in the House of Assembly who could of course be questioned by members and an undertaking that the Australian Parliament would not veto ordinances on subjects falling within ministerial member responsibility. He then announced a comprehensive transfer of executive power. This was done through an ingenious mechanism provided for in the Papua New Guinea Act and introduced, I think, in 1968. It allowed the Minister to determine from time to time the functions of Ministerial Members . It was through instruments made under these powers that executive power was progressively transferred to PNG Ministers until self- government -- when the PNG Act was amended. The powers, transferred in this way - summarised by the Prime Minister in his address and detailed by Mr. Barnes - were, on any view, very substantial:"education - primary, secondary, technical but not tertiary - public health, tourism, cooperatives, business advisory services, workers compensation, industrial training, posts and telegraphs, territory Hindsight draft record, 4 April 2003 revenue including taxation .. price control, coastal shipping, civil defence, corrective institutions, registration of customary land, town planning and urban development." The transfer of these powers was accompanied by an Instruction to the Administrator that he was to accept the advice of the AEC and any individual Ministerial member on a matter of PNG responsibility. There is one aspect to which I would draw your attention. This devolution of power took place without the approval of the House of Assembly and without consideration by it. The process may perhaps be described as proto-Whitlamesque. And indeed the House of Assembly appeared to think so because on the 22nd September it resolved that any future transfers of power or constitutional changes would not be acceptable to the House unless agreed to by a majority of its members. The July visit was the culmination of increasing Prime Ministerial involvement. On 6th February he had met with the Select Committee on Constitutional Development and pressed upon them the importance of the transfer of increased powers. On 4th March Mr Barnes announced increased authority for ministerial members enabling them to become responsible for the day to day running of their departments within the framework of broader government policy. Gorton is reputed to have told his Minister that this was not enough. True or not, subsequent action suggested that that was his opinion. In May he initiated very important changes at the top with the appointment of Les Johnson as administrator and David Hay to head Territories. In this period therefore Gorton assumed a dominant role in PNG affairs. In particular, he initiated a change in policy on constitutional development evidenced by the very substantial transfer of power -- possibly the greatest before self - government -- and this was done without the approval of the House of Assembly or any initiating recommendation by the Select Committee on Constitutional Development. The reality, I believe, was that this constituted a change of policy although it was not articulated by Mr Gorton in his Port Moresby address. But it was that changed policy which continued to be the basis of Australian Government action in constitutional development until December 1972. All of this was and is the subject of debate. My own view is that the Gorton influence was highly beneficial. The situation of PNG demanded firm policy direction. Insurrection on the Gazelle, discontent in Bougainville, the people of PNG were uncertain and the Australian public restive. And the amount of power transferred was just about as much as the House of Assembly as then constituted could digest without ongoing recrimination. Mr Peacock did not initiate any change in policy. He did not need to. It had been set in 1970. The changed policy dovetailed with the Select Committee's recommendations in March 1971 to prepare for self -government during the life of the next House of Assembly. Also, importantly and fortunately, Pangu succeeded in forming a coalition government following April 1972 elections. The changed policy meant that whilst adhering to the formula of constitutional advance being determined by the wishes of the people as reflected in the House of Assembly, Australia would now actively encourage self- government. Mr Peacock articulated this in an April 1972 speech to the Bowman electorate when he said, " the government believes it should help Papua New Guinea towards self-government. We should be remiss if we sat back and just waited for it to happen .This is quite a different matter from imposing self-government regardless of the wishes of the people. We believe we should encourage self-government …" The Decolonisation of Papua New Guinea E.G. Whitlam (prepared paper) Last March Professor Donald Denoon asked whether I would consider an invitation to this workshop. His first sentence declared ‘one of the great monuments of your political career is an independent PNG’. I could scarcely resist. I wrote on PNG in The Whitlam Government 1972-75 (Viking 1985) pages 71-101. I did not have access to Ian Downs’s The Australian Trusteeship Papua New Guinea 1945-75 (Australian Government Publishing Service, 1980). Downs referred to several of my visits to PNG but did not adequately identify the people who accompanied me. I attach Hindsight draft record, 4 April 2003 a list of the visits. This list of my itineraries and comments on them would be useful for the editors of the DFAT volume on the 30th anniversary of independence. My first visit was on my