Torres Islanders want to see Mr Hawke

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 4

Torres Islanders want to see Mr Hawke

NZPA-AAP Canberra Australia’s Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Mr Gerry Hand, will advise the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, to visit the Torres Strait Islands as soon as possible after islander calls for independence from Australia. After two days of talks with island elders at the week-end, Mr Hand said he was pleased with the progress of negotiations and he would recommend to Mr Hawke that he visit the region on the first possible occasion. “They would love to have him here, that is the good part about it,” Mr Hand said in an interview on A.B.C. television news. “I mean he is not going

to be coming into a hostile environment. These people have been trying for some time to get their Prime Minister to come and see them.” Mr Hand said he was happy with the talks. They had been positive and had covered a number of Federal and State issues.

After talks with Mr Hand, the acting chairman of the Torres Strait Islander Council, Mr Getanto Lui, jun, criticised Mr Hawke’s dismissal last week of the islanders’ call for seccession. “We felt that it was a very irresponsible attitude by the Prime Minister because he did not come up with an alternative,” Mr Lui said.