COCOS ISLANDS BILL (Hansard, 22 February 1955)

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (VISCOUNT SWINTON)
My Lords, as your Lordships are no doubt aware, the Cocos Islands lie midway between Perth, in Western Australia, and Ceylon. They were discovered by Captain Keeling in 1609 and called the Keeling Islands. They were rediscovered by Captain Clunies Ross in 1827, and might well have been called the Ross Islands, because the Ross family has done so well by them; but in fact they were called the Cocos Islands. They were uninhabited until Captain Ross made his home there after his marriage and brought some other settlers with him. The Ross family have continued to occupy, to develop and to administer these islands ever since. They have been remarkable people—what I think we might in this House certainly call model landlords. It was a great day for the present Ross, Ross the Fifth, I think he is, when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Islands on their tour.
There was one rather odd incursion into the islands, by a gentleman called Hare, in 1830 or thereabouts. He appears to have arrived with a harem and a large number of slaves. The slaves were freed, no doubt by the excellent Ross of the 258 day, though what happened to the harem I do not know.

§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (THE EARL OF MUNSTER)
Shame!

§ VISCOUNT SWINTON
The noble Lord no doubt will conduct some further investigations, as he is greatly interested in Imperial affairs. As a result of development, the islands attracted a considerable number of immigrants, mostly Malays, and by 1940 the population of the islands had grown to over 1,600. Then, after the war, the oil developments in Borneo and the attraction of living in Borneo—for in these atolls, although they produce the best copra in the world, I suppose life is somewhat uncertain—drew a large number of people from the islands, and now there are only about 300 of these Malays remaining there.
In 1857—we seem to have waited a little while; we were behind the Rosses—the islands were declared British territory. First of all, they were administered by Ceylon and then, since 1886, by Singapore. In fact, they were effectively administered by the Ross family, generation after generation. At some date, I am not quite certain when, Cable and Wireless established a cable relay station there. In the war the islands attained an entirely new significance. The Royal Navy erected—and still operate—a wireless station, but, most important of all, was the building of an airfield on one of these islands. It was used a great deal.
After the war there arose the question of what should happen to this airfield. Should it be retained and developed? It was agreed that it should be retained, because the airfield was important strategically and as a transport staging post. To-day, it forms a staging post on the regular service between Australia, Mauritius and South Africa. In the United Kingdom we had a great many commitments and it would have cost, and did cost, a great deal of money to bring this airfield up to the standard required for modern long-range aircraft. However, the Australian Government offered to undertake to spend the large sum of money required; and they have done so. At the same time, the Australian Government proposed that the administration and ownership of the islands should be transferred to them. 259 That was not only reasonable, but administratively very convenient to Singapore, who are responsible otherwise for the administration.
As noble Lords opposite will remember, in 1951 the United Kingdom Government agreed with the Australian Government that this transfer should be made and announced it to us. Your Lordships may wonder why it has taken three years before the transfer becomes effective——or will become effective under this enabling Bill. I regret to say that the lawyers are largely responsible, though no doubt quite rightly. To decide how this simple transfer should be carried out was a real "dripping roast" for the lawyers of both countries. Should it be done by the exercise of the Royal prerogative? Should it be done by Order in Council, and, if so, what Orders in Council, and what Council? Obviously it would be the Privy Council here; but what Council in Australia? Finally, all the lawyers agreed—so it must be right—that the only safe way of doing this (though I do not know who would challenge the transfer; it is not like the Antarctic) was by an Act of Parliament in this Parliament, and a series of Acts of Parliament, of which one has already been passed, in the Australian Parliament.
There were then negotiations about the interests which were affected. The Admiralty rights and the Cable and Wireless interests will be preserved, and the necessary air facilities on the islands have been agreed upon. But, of course, the most important interests in the islands are those of the population. What will be the rights of the inhabitants? The arrangement is that all existing inhabitants will retain their United Kingdom citizenship and will have the option of acquiring Australian citizenship as well. Future generations, after transfer, will, of course, be Australian citizens. The Government of Singapore have agreed that they will continue to admit any of the islanders who wish to go there, and I understand that Borneo, also, is quite ready to receive any who wish to go there.
There has been some misunderstanding as to what exactly is meant by Australian citizenship. Let me make it plain that there has been no alteration in the Australian law since the late Government made their agreement. Under Australian law, as it has existed for many years, only 260 those Australian citizens who are actually resident in the six States of the Commonwealth of Australia have a right of free entry into Australia; for instance, the inhabitants of Papua and Norfolk Islands are Australian citizens, but do not enjoy the right of entry into Australia. It is rather an academic question, because I do not suppose there will be many of these islanders who will wish to move from their coconut trees, or their employment in Cable and Wireless, or wherever they are employed, to Australia—although I have heard (I do not know on what authority it is said) that there are a couple of promising cricketers on the islands who would be most welcome in Australia if they were willing to move. But the Australian Government have given an assurance that any applications made by any islanders who wish to go to Australia will be most sympathetically considered. We certainly cannot legislate for Australia in this Parliament, but I think we can be certain that that assurance will be fully honoured.
I am sure that the late Government were right to enter into this agreement of transfer, because it is obviously desirable on all grounds. This Bill enables the necessary Order in Council to be made here for us, the United Kingdom Government of Her Majesty (who has signified her pleasure for her rights to be disposed of in this Bill) to make the necessary transfer; and all the undertakings to which I have referred will be embodied in an exchange of letters between the Australian Government and the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Australia. I thought the House would wish me to expound the whole matter clearly, although I hope not at too great length. That is what the Bill does, and why it does it, and the conditions under which the transfer is to be made. I can cordially commend the Bill, which we readily took on from our predecessors, to your Lordships for Second Reading. I beg to move.

§ THE EARL OF LUCAN
My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Viscount for the full and lucid way in which he has expounded this Bill. It is a small Bill of one clause, but, like other Bills of this nature, it sets a precedent in that it 261 transfers the population of a Colonial territory to the authority of a self-governing country of the Commonwealth. That brings in a principle, and it is on this account that the Opposition in another place spent a considerable time in seeking assurances from Her Majesty's Government that the inhabitants would in no way suffer or lose any of their rights by reason of the transfer—the right, for example, of entry to the country of which they would become citizens. Questions of citizenship are very thorny and dangerous for the lay person to enter into, but, as I understand it, citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies—which is the present status of the inhabitants of the Cocos Islands—have a right of entry certainly into the United Kingdom and possibly into other Colonial territories. It is this right that seems to be in question.
It is welcome news that the Australian Government have given an assurance that they will give the most sympathetic consideration to any application for a Cocos islander for entry into the Commonwealth of Australia, and it is welcome news that Her Majesty's Government have arranged that the exchange of letters accompanying the passing of this Act will include this assurance. I must confess that it was news to me that, by Australian law, Australian citizens resident beyond the borders of Australia itself have not an automatic right of entry. I quite see that the Australian citizenship now to be granted to the Cocos islanders will give them exactly equal rights with those enjoyed by Australian citizens in the other Oceanic islands. While, of course, we should prefer a complete assurance that these islanders have a right of entry to their new homeland, we must accept the Australian law. Subject to that, and to the assurance we have received that an exchange of letters will make the position absolutely clear, we on this side of the House welcome the Bill.

§ VISCOUNT SWINTON
My Lords, perhaps, by the leave of the House, I may say just one word in reply. I am grateful to the noble Earl for the understanding way in which he has supported this Bill. I do not think that this Bill is necessarily a precedent for anything else. If the question of the transfer of any other territory should arise, that would necessitate a 262 separate agreement; and whatever the terms of that agreement were, it would be submitted to Parliament. Although Parliament can do almost anything, the one thing we cannot do, of course, in a Bill in this House, is to legislate for what shall take place in another country. Therefore, the noble Earl, Lord Lucan, was absolutely right in the line he took. He said, quite rightly, that one is anxious that these people should not lose any rights. And they do not —as a matter of fact, they acquire new rights. Their rights to-day as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies give them a right of entry here so long as Parliament in its wisdom, preserves that right. They have not, it is true, a right of entry into all the Colonies, because most of them impose restrictions on entry. But they acquire something new which they have not got at all to-day, and that is, I might almost say, a right to go to Australia; because, the Australian Government have undertaken that if anybody desires to go there, they will consider that request most sympathetically.

§ LORD PETHICK-LAWRENCE
May I interrupt the noble Viscount? He says that the people in the Cocos Islands lose nothing of their rights, and will have precisely the same rights, so far as entry into this country as they had before. But is not the noble Viscount in saying that, going a little beyond the facts? It is true that the existing inhabitants of the Cocos Islands can go, but I think those born hereafter will lose that right.

§ VISCOUNT SWINTON
Technically perhaps, yes; but as a matter of fact, no. I cannot say what Parliament is going to do about the right of entry into this country. Under our law and practice here, anybody from anywhere in the Empire is free to come into this country. Therefore, not only will the existing citizens of the Cocos Islands continue to have all the rights of British citizens, which they will continue to be, and, also, their rights vis-à-vis Australia, but unless Parliament alters our practice about free movement in the Empire, future generations, who will automatically become Australian citizens, will also have their right of entry here. Moreover, these people will, I think, get more than other non-mainland citizens of Australia—including Tasmania for this purpose in the mainland. I do not think there is any undertaking about right of entry into 263 Australia in connection with Papua. Papua, I believe, was transferred by the Peace Treaty after the First War and became part of New Guinea. Therefore these Cocos islanders will be better off, if I may so put it, than any other Australian non-mainland citizens who are in a like position.