Canberra, 15 March 1983
CER Treaty
Last night I attended a dinner at Government House for High Commissioners to celebrate Commonwealth Day. Prime Minister Ha[w]ke and his wife also attended and I had the happy task of introducing them both to the High Commissioners. In the course of my rounds I thanked Mr Hawke for receiving my call1 that Sunday while he was in Brisbane campaigning and he said he was glad to have had the conversation and stated that he appreciated the urgency of the matter and indicated that it could come up at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting (the first) or Friday’s. He raised no matter anti-the treaty at all. Mr Hawke was in extremely good form. He indicated that he had received letters of congratulations from Prime Minister Muldoon and Cabinet Ministers and later I had an interesting talk with him on trade unions.
- Also attending the dinner was …2 and what follows please protect, as he indicated that it was really on a personal basis to me…. indicated that he had spent a considerable time briefing Mr Hayden on CER and its implications, especially the need for Australia and New Zealand to be seen to be moving closer and closer together. Apparently Mr Hayden took on board … view and did not raise any matters anti-CER. Accordingly it would appear no opposition will come from the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.
- At the table the Governor General indicated to me that he personally had been most disappointed that the treaty had not been signed before the election. Apparently the Prime Minister’s Department and Attorney-General’s Department had fully briefed him on the requirements for the signing.
[matter omitted]3
[ABHS 950/Box 1228, 40/412 Part 6 Archives New Zealand/Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga 0 Aotearoa, Head Office, Wellington]
- 1 The phone call mentioned in Document 264.
- 2 Material identifying the informant has been exempted under S.36 (1) (b) of the Australian Freedom of Information Act 1982.
- 3 A later message was sent to add the following sentence at the end of paragraph 3: ‘I was able to inform him that according to Mr Hawke there appeared to be no difficulties’.