Passport assurance

Press, 14 May 1981, Page 4

Passport assurance

PA Auckland New Zealanders have been given a firm assurance of preferential treatment on entering Australia from July 1, even though passports must be carried from then. The Australian Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Doug Anthony) said that New Zealanders showing their passports would pass through entry controls more quickly and smoothly than other people. There would be no requirement for visas or entry permits, and the long-standing right of free travel between citizens of both countries would be preserved.

Ip a speech to an Auckland Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday, Mr Anthony launched a spirited defence of his Government's contentious passports decision. The trouble, he said, was that not everybody was a New- Zealander, apd some matters of concern from other parts of the world had now reached Australia. “Political terrorism took some time to reach Australia, but now it has arrived in all its pgliness," Mr Anthony said. “We now know, from our own experience, what a political assassination is. “We now know, from our

own experience, what a terrorist bombing is ... a terrorist bombing in the heart of Sydney with people dead in the street.” Mr Anthony said that such events caused anxiety about loopholes in entry procedures, and law enforcement agencies said that the loopholes were being exploited and the existing Tasman travel arrangements abused.

As much as Australia regretted imposing a passport requirement, it had to do so to keep certain people out who were entering through New Zealand.