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From the Overseas Service of the Australian Broadcasting Commission is distributed by the
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8/5 b.de Courcy Ireland
Tuesday,
6 May 1975
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AUSTRALIA RECOGNISES NEW GOVT. OF SOUTH VIETNAM Australia has formally recog- nised the new Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. The formal recognition was announced by the Australian Foreign Minister, Senator Willesee. He said the Australian Ambassador in Hanoi had been authorised to inform the Special Representative of the PRG in Hanoi of the decision and to discuss with him the question of diplomatic relations.
Radio Australia's Canberra office says the decision to recognise the new Government in South Vietnam is in line with the Australian Government's policy of recognising national realities. Australia follows Laos, Sweden, Malaysia and India, which have also recognised the new regime following the fall last week of the Saigon Government.
Australia's Embassy in Hanoi yesterday received a statement from the Revolutionary Government saying that it was the sole manager of State affairs in South Vietnam and exercised full sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Peacock, said in Melbourne today that recognition of the Revolutionary Government by Australia was premature and unnecessary. Mr Peacock said the Australian Government should have waited until the political evolution in South Vietnam became clearer. There was virtually no information coming from Saigon and there was inter- national uncertainty about the extent to which North Vietnam was insisting on controlling events in the south.
CALL FOR U.N. REFUGEE PROGRAM The Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Willesee, said in Port Moresby today Australia would ask the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to set up an international program to care for Vietnamese refugees. He said Australia would offer to pay its fair share of such a program.
Senator Willesee said the Government had not decided what it would do if a refugee ship entered an Australian port. The Australian Government is still awaiting confirmation from Singapore authorities that some Vietnamese refugees on ships there want to come to Australia. There are reported to be about 6000 refugees on ships anchored off Singapore.
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Meanwhile, the United States has disclaimed any responsibility for more than 4000 refugees now in Hong Kong. The refugees were rescued by a Danish freighter and taken to Hong Kong after their ship began sinking. The American State Depart- ment said the refugees should seek assistance from Hong Kong and Danish authorities.
UNION PROTESTS ON PLANNED CONSORTIUM Trade Unionists in some of Australia's car-building centres are calling meetings to protest against the Australian Govern- ment's plan to join with Japanese firms in automotive manufacture. A meeting has been called at Geelong in Victoria, the site of a big Ford plant, to protest that jobs could be in jeopardy. The Geelong secretary of the Vehicle Builders' Employees Federation, Mr Kevin Allen, said the part-Japanese cars to be built with Government backing would sell in direct competition with Ford products. Mr Allen said the workers were expressing shock and disappointment at the threat to their jobs posed by the Government's plan to join with Japanese interests in car manu- facture in South Australia.
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WHITE COLLAR UNION REJECTS WAGE RESTRAINT CALL Australia's biggest union of white collar workers today rejected the Arbitration Commission's call for wage restraint. The Federal Executive of the Australian Council of Salaried and Professional Associations said unions must be free to press their wage claims based on any grounds they think fit. The statement in Melbourne comes after the Arbitration