COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL DEMANDING OVERSEAS TRIPS IMPOSE STRAIN ON MR KIRK

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33532, 13 May 1974, Page 12

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL DEMANDING OVERSEAS TRIPS IMPOSE STRAIN ON MR KIRK

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

WELLINGTON, May 12.—When the Labour Party conference begins on Monday morning it is unlikely that the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) will there in an active capacity. His name has been left off the address !i<t. i<t he is still convalescing from post-operative troubles which include ;. pulmonary embolism.

Yet nobody will predict firmly that Mr Kirk will not attend the conference, or that he will not address it. To a man of his high mental activity and positive views on many subjects, physical incapacity intis: bo an almost intolerable cross to bear. Particularly is this so because his Government, now half-way through its term, has reached a time of assessment.

To many the Labour Government has appeared so far to be a “one man band.” Mr Kirk has appeared to do everything a dynamic leader might be expected to do, and troubles have tended to occur when he was out of the country. In one respect his illness has provided a watershed, for his team has been forced to operate without him.

How long this continues is yet to be decided. His medical advisors have decreed that he will not return to his desk for at least another week, and that he will make no air journeys (presumably because of the blood clot on his lung) before June 1. Many circumstances can alter these rulings, and it is rumoured that Mr Kirk has already made one or more “unauthorised” trips to his office in Parliament Buildings.

Since he assumed office nearly 18 months ago, Mr Kirk has not spared himself. Apart from the enormous areas he has personally covered within New Zealand, often in the elderly unpressurised Douglas DC3 refurbished so long ago for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, he has flown vast distances overseas.

His four trips outside New Zealand have taken him first to Apia (for the fourth South Pacific Forum) Rarotonga and Aitutaki; then to Australia; then on a farranging tour of Papua-New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Bangladesh; and finally to the fifth forum meeting at Rarotonga, with some time on Niue.

I Some cynics have used the term “junketing,” and! 'have largely gone uncor[rected. The truth is that Mr Kirk has tried to carry out, as quickly as possible a plan I of personal visits and personal participation designed to indicate that there has I been a basic shift in New I Zealand’s foreign policies. As he said after the Asian) trip “I told Mr Somare, J President Soeharto, Tun[ Razak, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mrs Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibar Rahman that w’e wanted to work with their governments and others in the area as reliable and long-term partners.” As one of the news media team accompanying him on the Asian trip, I know how well this message was delivered. Mr Kirk lost no opportunity to drive home the theme that New Zealand would play its part in creating the conditions for peace, stability, co-operation and development. He went much further than that. At formal news conferences in each centre he answered questions firmly and forthrightly. To journalists in Djarkarta, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Dacca he stated bluntly that circumstances had forced a change of view on the question of withdrawal of New Zealand troops from SouthEast Asia, and that they would stay as long as they were wanted by the countries concerned. These meetings formed only part of four or five action-packed days in each capital, in which ministers were seen personally, speeches were made. New Zealand aid institutions were visited, and New Zealand diplomatic offices were looked over. There was not time for tourism. Djakarta went by without a formal trip round the city; the party was four days in New Delhi without seeing the Red Fort. The message was well and firmly given at a time when the oil crises was developing (and at least half the countries visited were actively concerned with the produc- ( tion of petroleum products). Highlights occurred at unex- . pected places, such as the j All-India Medical Centre (where Mr Kirk threw away his notes and spoke brilliantly on the rights of man and the obligations of doctors) and in Bangladesh (where the Prime Ministerial Hercules was recognised as the plane which had flown in some of the first relief supplies to that suffering country). But the remarkable thing to me was that Mr Kirk retained the drive, as well as the physical and mental agility, to attend to all his selfimposed tasks in temperatures which varied from 35 to zero degrees Celsius. The capacities and limitations of Mr Kirk’s chosen means of transport are worth mentioning. The Lockheed Hercules is a magnificent workhorse, built to carry large consignments of cargo in pressurised conditions over vast distances at

Jan hourly speed of about <3OO nautical miles. j As an airliner it is slower [and less comfortable that [the planes Air New Zealand • discarded 10 years ago. For Prime Ministerial travel the [selected aircraft takes on a [container-sized plywood box [which contains some adjustable seats facing a table. That is the headquarters of [the Prime Minister and some of his secretarial staff. I Ahead of this and facing lit, two rows of seats are installed for the use of departmental officers, spare secretaries, special people m transit, and others (including journalists). Each seat is supposed to be adjustable (mine wasn’t), and each has one of those invaluable maroon open-weave woollen rugs marked T.E.A.L. that were such a comfort to passengers in the flying-boat days. In these surroundings Mr Kirk usually works while in flight, assisted by his secretaries or by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meals vary from package lunches to heated-over courses obtained from Air New Zealand. There is plenty of time for work. The plane was in the air for nine hours between Wellington and Port Moresby, and nearly as long between Port Moresby and Djakarta. Nevertheless, the trips have not been unpopular. The First Minister of Papua New Guinea (Mr Michael Somare) chose to travel with Mr Kirk rather than with the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Whitlam) to last year’s South Pacific Forum meeting, and was a guest again to Rarotonga last March. The Niuean leader (Mr R. Rex) also chose to travel by Hercules. Mr Kirk’s contribution to both forum meetings was positive. At Apia he carefully enunciated New Zealand intentions; at Rarotonga he managed several times to put the forum back on the rails when discussion seemed to be running away from controllable subjects. According to several islands leaders, Mr Kirk’s was the dominant presence at this year’s forum, and they did not imply that at any time he attempted to take charge. I have made these points, which I know from observation to be valid, because I believe few people realise the effort which Mr Kirk has expended in doing what he believes to be his job. It must be remembered also that the six-nation trip was undertaken immediately after a ten-month session of Parliament (the first of the new Labour Government), and that Mr Kirk returned from Asia to plunge, again without a break, into the social necessities surrounding the Royal visit and the Commonwealth Games, before turning straight into the daily tumult of the second Parliamentary session. It is possible that Mr Kirk is being driven too hard. But we first must determine who is the driver, is it the position or perhaps the public? Is it his own party or is it himself?