Australian High Commission, London, 19 October 1972
16856. Confidential
I have had discussions with Alec Douglas-Home and Home Secretary Robert Carr this week about problems arising from the entry and residence of Australians in Britain.
2. Douglas-Home himself, during a farewell call I made on the 16th October, raised this matter (the previous week, at a private dinner, I had a frank discussion with Denis Greenhill, Permanent Under-Secretary Foreign Office, regarding Australian complaints). Douglas-Home was sympathetic, expressed concern, and said that they were hoping to devise measures which would eliminate friction and ill-feeling.
3. This morning l had a long session with Robert Carr at the Home Office on this specific question. I told him that from my own personal knowledge the immigration gates at airports were not always separated into UK, Commonwealth, and Aliens categories. On some occasions the Commonwealth Gate was not manned, and Australians were told to pass through the Aliens gate. I also said that I had received reports that sometimes officials not of British origin, such as Pakistanis and Indians, were employed on immigration duties, and that this inevitably aroused resentment amongst our own people. I observed that this was at the least an undiplomatic disposition of officials, and that quite frankly it was crazy of the Home Office authorities to allow this sort of thing to happen. (I said the same thing last Monday to Douglas-Home).
I also pointed out that we had had numerous cases, in my own time here, of complaints by firms employing Australians that their Australian employees were not permitted to retain their jobs after 3 years. This involved not only hardship to Australians but also to their British employers who valued highly their services.
I further told Carr that questions had been asked throughout this year in the Australian Senate, and that the matter from time to time had erupted in Australian newspapers. The Agents-General were also involved on account of the many complaints they had received. In passing, I stressed the value of sentiment in statecraft, a proposition with which he immediately agreed.
Carr’s whole attitude was extremely sympathetic. He spoke with deep appreciation of Australia, of his visit there in 1961, and told me that he had Australian connections. He seemed to understand readily how we felt, and the damage that is occurring to pro-British sentiment amongst Australians.
4. As to action, Carr undertook personally to see that the Commonwealth gates at ports of entry were properly staffed. He had always believed that if there was no official on a Commonwealth gate, Australians were directed to the UK gate. To this I replied that according to the evidence in my possession this was not so. As soon as he could find time, he wanted to go to Heathrow formally and examine procedures himself but he realised that this was difficult on account of his being easily recognised by his own officers.
Carr continued that with Britain’s entry into Europe, another factor would come into play: the special position given to EEC nationals. His Department was proposing to have 4 entry gates as from next year consisting of UK, Commonwealth, EEC, and Others.
5. I then adverted to long-term policy, pointing out that recent events in some Commonwealth countries did not provide much hope for a meaningful Commonwealth in the future. I told him that I had long believed that member nations of the Crown Commonwealth should receive preferential treatment over those other Commonwealth nations who were Republics. If this were done there could be no criticism on grounds of racialism, so long as countries such as Jamaica, Fiji, and one or two others remained in their present constitutional status. He did not reject this concept, but clearly was not prepared to accept it at this stage.
6. Carr asked me whether Australian feelings over British immigration controls had worsened since the 1962 Act. I told him that I thought they had, and had been exacerbated by his own Government’s Immigration Act in 1971. […]
7. Carr said that his Department was trying to help Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders by allotting to them a much higher percentage of entry working vouchers than other Commonwealth countries. He also said that his officers generally tried to help Australians wishing to remain here for long periods by administrative means. Ultimately, however, it was not possible to avoid the existing Law,
8. All in all, I came away feeling that although Carr has been Home Secretary for only 3 months, and as he admitted is not conversant with all the details of immigration control, he is determined to meet at least some of our objections, and whenever he can to remove sources of friction. Despite being an ardent Marketeer, he seemed very pro-Australian. He is an extraordinarily relaxed man to deal with and his final words were that he hoped that my successor would come to see him from time to time, and discuss these questions.
For some time now, my personal assessment of Carr is that he is a rising star in the Government, and one day could well become leader of the Party, and a Prime Minister. He will be a most valuable man to have on our side.
[NAA: M1003]