§ Q2. Mr. Norman Lamontasked the Prime Minister if he will seek to arrange an official meeting with Mr. Whitlam, the Prime Minister of Australia.
§ Q4. Mr. Ashtonasked the Prime Minister whether he will seek to arrange an official meeting in the New Year with the Prime Minister of Australia.
§ Q7. Mr. Carterasked the Prime Minister if he will seek to arrange an early official meeting with the new Prime Minister of Australia.
Q8. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Prime Minister if he will invite the new Prime Minister of Australia to pay an official visit to Great Britain.
§ The Prime MinisterThere are no plans for a meeting at present. I would refer my hon. Friend and the hon. Gentlemen to the answer I gave in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Arthur Lewis) on 7th December.—[Vol. 847, c. 502.]
§ Mr. LamontWill my right hon. Friend say what communications, if any, there have been with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand about the future of the five-Power defence agreement? Can he confirm newspaper reports that the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia have both said that they have no plans at present for withdrawing from that agreement?
§ The Prime MinisterThere have been a number of communications between myself and the new Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand since they took office, but it is customary to keep them confidential. On the specific point raised by my hon. Friend, since the election the Prime Minister of Australia has indicated that the Australian battalion will stay in Singapore until 1st January 1974, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand has said that he will not take any initiative in removing the New Zealand battalion. My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Defence is to 1116 visit Australia and New Zealand, amongst other countries, in January and he will then have the opportunity of carrying on talks with the Ministers there.
§ Mr. AshtonIs the Prime Minister aware that the Prime Minister of Australia is to take France to the International Court to try to prevent the explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific? Will he say categorically that he supports Australia in this move, or is he still playing the role of Pompidou's poodle?
§ The Prime MinisterIf the Australian Government decide to take a matter to the International Court it is for the jurists in the International Court to decide and not for other Governments to interfere.
§ Mr. CarterIf the Prime Minister eventually meets the new Prime Minister of Australia, will he seek to raise with him the question of United Kingdom emigration to Australia? Is the Prime Minister aware that, because of the restrictive practices of the Australian Government over the past few years, emigration to Australia from the United Kingdom has reduced by about one-half? In view of the enormous population problems this country faces, will the right hon. Gentleman seek not only to increase the number of people emigrating but in addition state that the Government and the country are prepared to subsidise people who wish to leave the United Kingdom to go to Australia?
§ The Prime MinisterThe immigration rules for Australia are a matter for the Australian Government and are not a matter in which we can interfere. As to the last part of the supplementary question, there has been the assisted passage arrangement to which the British Government contributed. But, as I think the hon. Gentleman knows, certain problems arose about the financing of this scheme because of the Australian immigration rules, and I therefore do not think that this is a matter which could be usefully raised.
§ Mr. Harold WilsonIf the right hon. Gentleman meets the Australian Prime Minister, or in his day-to-day contacts with him, will he indicate to him the desirability of a joint statement dissociating the British Government and the Australian Government, if they so agree, from the present American policy in 1117 Vietnam, particularly the resumption of the bombing, in view of the fact that the previous Labour Government of this country immediately dissociated themselves from the policy of bombing Hanoi and Haiphong?
§ The Prime MinisterI well remember the occasion on which the right hon. Gentleman did it. It is a matter for the Australian Government to take their own decisions and for the British Government to do likewise.
Mr. MitchellDespite the Prime Minister's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Ashton), when he meets the Prime Minister of Australia will he discuss with him the best way of bringing to bear concerted pressure on the French to persuade them to stop nuclear testing in the South Pacific?
§ The Prime MinisterWe have expressed our views recently at the United Nations by requesting again that all countries should join the partial test ban treaty and not test in the air. Our views are equally well known to the French Government.