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awaited a copy of the final Report from Mr Kerin, the Australian
Minister responsible. Lord Caithness said we would have to wait and
see what the Australian Government's response was to the Report.
Antarctica
8.
Mr McClelland said Australia would maintain its position at the
Santiago meeting in November. The Australian Government would be legislating to ban mining in Antarctica to the extent of Australia's legal capacity to apply such a ban. He handed over to Lord Caithness an Australian Government press release about this. Lord
Caithness said the UK's position at Santiago would be positive and
constructive, and that the Franco-Australian paper circulated
earlier this year had made a valuable contribution to the debate.
IRIS II Visa System
9. Mr McClelland said this computerised visa-issuing system could
issue a visa in 90 seconds. He said HMG were considering purchasing
the software and he wanted to commend the system to Lord Caithness
given that he would have a say in whether the UK proceeded with a
purchase.
Mr Lindsay said the Home Secretary would be seeing the
system in action when he left Melbourne for the UK on 15 September
and would probably be discussing IRIS II with the Australian
Immigration Minister, Mr Hand. Mr McClelland welcomed this.
Caithness said it was now for the Home Secretary to look at the
scheme.
Lord
Lord Caithness' Stopovers in Australia
10. Mr McClelland said if Lord Caithness wished to see any Federal
Ministers during his stopovers in Brisbane and Sydney he was to let
him know. He said Australian Ministers much welcomed the chance to
meet British Ministers. Lord Caithness said he was grateful for the offer. He hoped to pay a substantive visit to Australia early in
1991.
Hong Kong
11. Lord Caithness said much of his time would be taken up with
Hong Kong. It was important to maintain confidence in Hong Kong, in
which Australia had substantial economic interests. He hoped,
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