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1.
25TH COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE,
NEW ZEALAND, NOVEMBER 1979
The 25th Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association took place in Wellington, New Zealand, from 26 November to 1 December 1979. It was preceded by a series of tours arranged, as is customary, to enable delegates to see some- thing of their host country.
Attendance
2.
The UK delegation was originally to have been led by the Lord Privy Seal; but the prolongation of the Lancaster House conference on Rhodesia prevented this, and his place was taken by Mr Peter Blaker, Minister of State, FCO. A list of the UK delegation is attached at Annex A. Mr Neil Marten, Minister of State, FCO, and Minister for Overseas Development, was also present in Wellington for the conference, in his capacity as Hon Treasurer of the Association.
3. There were also, as is usual, delegates from the parliaments of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man; while, from the dependent territories, there were representatives from Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Because of the elections, Belize was not represented.
4.
The great majority of Commonwealth national parliaments were represented. As with Belize, however, the timing of elections. prevented Kenyan attendance; while domestic/political tension was presumably responsible for Guyana and Mauritius being absent. Cyprus, newly-joined, made its CPA debut (and, as was to be expected, made full use of this additional platform). With parliamentary government re-established in Bangladesh and Ghana, their applications to join/rejoin were promptly approved (although they could not participate on this occasion); and the Executive Committee was given delegated authority to accept an application from Nigeria as and when received. The conference was attended by a total of 163 delegates and observers. Nineteen delegations were led by ministers.
5.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General normally puts in an appearance at the annual conference, at the invitation of the CPA, and delivers an address. On this occasion, however, Mr Ramphal felt it was more important for him to be on hand in London, the Lancaster House talks being at a critical stage.
The Debates
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The conference followed the customary pattern. The formal opening on the first morning was addressed by the Governor- General, Sir Keith Holyoake, and the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon. The former's contribution, reminiscing on his own long career in politics, was as entertaining as it was informal, and prompted a standing ovation at the end. Both here and at his own reception at Government House later in the day, he showed his pleasure at
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