AUSTRALIA IN PAPUA

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 15

AUSTRALIA IN PAPUA

“No Date For Withdrawal”

(N Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 22. "We are not going to be bulldozed out of New Guinea, nor are we going to leave that country in a hurry,” the Australian High Commissioner (Vice-Admiral Sir John Collins) told a meeting of the Wellington branch of the United Nations Association last night. “We can give no definite date for the political independence of those people because we feel they will need our help for many years to come,” he said. “We recognise the sovereignty of the Netherlands in West New Guinea. That is definite. “The ultimate objective for those peoples must be selfdetermination. "We have no military commitments with the Netherlands. We stand at all times for peaceful negotiations. But we do not agree with the Indonesia claim that West New Guinea should be handed over to them at once. That is not negotiating. We will not stand for any pressure or force.

“Don’t run away with the idea that Australia is making money out of Papua,” said Sir John Collins. "It is costing my country £14,500,000 every year. ...” To suggest that a definite date should be suggested for the independence of a people with no sense of national cohesion, encumbered with numerous languages and dialects, and still practising cannibalism, was ridiculous. They will need us for many years to come," he said.