Port Moresby, 5 April 1968
Secret
[ matter omitted ]
Item 389: 1968 House of Assembly Elections
The counting of primary votes and the distribution of preferences in the House of Assembly elections has now been completed in all but five electorates.
The election, the second in the Territory, was marked by the participation for the first time of more than one political party. Although the parties—Pangu Pati in particular—attracted a lot of press attention, they had little or no influence on most results.
There was no sponsorship by parties of candidates in the sense that endorsement by a political party is understood in Australia; where there were party affiliations, most of the candidates denied or played down their association. The importance of personalities was illustrated by a large number of results requiring exhaustive counting down to the seventh or eighth distribution of preferences. Three of the five parties failed to have candidates returned, and no more than 14 of the 84 elected members will have known party affiliations.
In the new Assembly, a large majority will be conservative independents who campaigned mainly on parochial issues. This will include a large Highland bloc—at present opposed to political parties as representative of the more ‘progressive’ views of the relatively sophisticated coastal people, who have had a longer association with Europeans. The Assembly will also include a vocal conservative group and a significant number of somewhat radical and more ‘progressive’ members, several of whom belong to Pangu Pati. While most of the independents will be primarily anxious to push the parochial matters on which they campaigned (more development funds for their region, better prices for their produce, more schools and public facilities in their electorates), they may, as a result of frequent support on particular issues, tend to find themselves aligned with an organised group or an influential member, and come to be identified as part of a ‘party’ grouping.
[ matter omitted ]1
Although Pangu Pati was the most successful party, the extent of its support and the degree of its radicalism should not be over-emphasised. It is unlikely to gain support of more than a clear minority in the Assembly but it is difficult, at this stage, to assess what support the party would be likely to command in a clash with Administration interests on crucial issues. Much will depend on whether Pangu leaders exercise restraint in advocating radical policies against the possibility of increased support for the party and the leaders’ own solidarity and agreement on policies. It may well be that some Pangu members will forsake party interests and accept ministerial type appointments if offered.
The All Peoples’ Party was successful in two of the eight electorates contested and could form the nucleus of a larger conservative grouping.
The elections have shown that as yet there is no effective party system in the Territory; the independent conservative element with parochial outlooks remains predominant for the time being.
[ matter omitted ]2
[NAA: A1838, 936/3115 part 4]
1 Matter omitted mentions ‘Prominent figures who were either members of or closely associated with Pangu Pati’ and who ‘had mixed successes during the elections’—one of which was Somare who ‘is anti-European and has a reputation for radical views’. ‘There was’, the report continued, ‘no evidence, however, that he projected this image in his electorate or in his actual campaigning’.
2 Extracts of the above were published as an annex to JIC current intelligence weekly report no. 15/1968, 10 April 1968 (NAA: A1838, 936/4/10).