THE PRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1981. Tributes to Mr Taiboys

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1981. Tributes to Mr Taiboys

The years between 1975 and 1981 have been important for New Zealand internationally. Throughout this period New Zealand has been well served by its Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Taiboys, whose performance in those portfolios was praised in Parliament on Tuesday evening. Among the more significant issues which he confronted during that period were the negotiation of New Zealand’s butter exports to Britain after 1980, the introduction of a sheepmeat regulation in the European Economic Community, the growing awareness of the importance of Australia to New Zealand, leading to the talks on closer economic relations, the continued strengthening of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, and the negotiations for access to the market of Japan. New Zealand also increased its exports of manufactures greatly in these years.

For the negotiations with Europe endless patience was needed as well as a willingness to travel to Europe frequently. Such negotiations are not the work of the Minister of Foreign Affairs or' Overseas Trade alone. Much of it has to be done by public servants who are posted abroad, or who travel with the Minister. Mr Taiboys acknowledged the work of the people in departments in Parliament on Tuesday.

In the negotiations with Australia, something different was required. These needed the exercise of imagination to grasp the significance of Australia when the tendency on both sides of the Tasman had long been to take the country on the other side for granted. Mr Taiboys made a tour of the Australian states at the beginning of 1978. This visit established a rapport with the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, and paved the way for later developments. Mr Taiboys’ task in dealing with various countries — Japan, Australia, and the United States in particular — was complicated from time to time by statements by the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon. Sometimes these statements were unhelpful, and confused

the relationships with New Zealand. Mr Taiboys appeared to take these complications in his stride though, on some occasions, some straight talking from the Prime Minister was probably needed to ensure that New Zealand made its position in a debate unmistakably clear.

The Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand almost coincides with the last weeks of Mr Taiboys’ holding of the Foreign Affairs portfolio. He was probably more outspoken against the tour than any of his colleagues. He was committed personally, not just through Government policy, against withholding entry visas from the Springbok team. He argued that to refuse visas on one occasion would risk having the whole issue raised again in the country when another tour was likely. He hoped the trauma which New Zealand would subject itself to through the tour would give New Zealanders the chance to come to terms with their geographical position in the world instead of believing that the country was an appendage of Europe. Whether that will be one of the outcomes of the tour remains to be seen. Doubtless when he puts his portfolios behind him in November he will at the very least be an interested observer. Foreign policy and trade policy were for many years matters on which the Government and Opposition were seldom in conflict in Parliament. The parties and party leaders were generally in accord on at least the broad principles of foreign policy. This was partly because the options were few and because official advice customarily dominated the thinking of Ministers and members of the House. Such unanimity no longer prevails to the same extent as it did in the 1950 s and 19605. The tributes paid in Parliament to Mr Taiboys on Tuesday were all the more notable because of the conflicting party views on some aspects of foreign policy. Parliamentary approval of the job done by Mr Taiboys, particularly in a tenacious effort to protect New Zealand’s trading interests, can be fairly endorsed by all New Zealanders.