Tasman passports rouse P.M.’s ire

Press, 28 April 1981, Page 2

Tasman passports rouse P.M.’s ire

Parliamentary reporter

The Australian Government’s decision to require passports for Tasman travel from July 1 was described as excessive, unnecessary, and undesirable by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) yesterday. “We regret it. It is not going to be well-received in terms of Australia-New Zealand relations,” said Mr Muldoon. He said that the Australian “ultimatum” had been made with a uniquely bad sense of timing, coming as it did the day before Anzac Day. Mr Muldoon said that he hoped the passport decision would not have any practical effects on the negotiations for closer economic ties between the two countries, but the decision did show “a certain insensitivity which disturbs us a little.”

He dismissed as “quite ludicrous” any suggestion that the Australian move was an attempt .to pressure the New Zealand Government into banning .the Springbok tour, but said, too, that it would not materially affect the stated reasons for the control of terrorist movement and the drug trade. Drug traffickers had demonstrated their ability to travel under false identities, and the aircraft hijacking cited by the Australians had been committed by a mentally deranged Australian, v “Requiring passports is not going to stop mental illness,” said Mr Muldoon. Contrary to suggestions

from Australia, no evidence existed to support the argument that a German expelled from Australia had entered that country by way of New Zealand. “There is evidence that he entered Australia on a German passport with a visa issued by an Australian consular office. There is also evidence that he had an Australian passport acquired by means of a birth certificate not his own, and that he had travelled in and out of Australia on this passport and under a false name,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon said that it was impossible for New Zealand to “harmohise” its visa requirements with those of Australia, as New Zealand had special two-party arrangements with more' than 30 countries dispensing with visa requirements, which Australia did not have. The Press Association reports that the Passport Office has had a rush of people applying for passports after the Australian Government's decision.

The office has applied for extra staff to cope with the demand, and has asked people who are not travelling until July to delay their applications for at least a month. The executive officer for the passport office, Mrs Clare Watts, said that she thought the rush was just an initial panic.

Mrs Watts said that the new regulations pose a speci al problem for British

people resident in New Zealand travelling under a British passport. “British people resident in New Zealand will now need a visa to travel to Australia if they are travelling under a British passport,” she said. “This will apply to all British people in New Zealand in 1949 or since.” -

A spokesman for the Australian High Commission confirmed that Commonwealth passport holders who previously made passport-free travel between Australia and New Zealand would now require visas, as well as passports.

The Australian Government's move has been described as "bordering on the ridiculous” in a "Sydney Morning Herald” leading article.

Commenting on the decision, the newspaper said that it "savours of using a sledgehammer to swat a few flies.”

“As such, it borders on the ridiculous. It can be confidently predicted that the targets — drug smugglers, illegal immigrants, and’prospective terrorists — will prove too elusive,” the newspaper said.

"Mr Muldoon is absolutely right when he says that the Australian Government’s decision is 'unfortunate, unnecessary, and regrettable.’ The' putative benefits of catching some drug smugglers are heavily outweighed by the advantages of the present travel arrangements.”