Maralinga
Kerin confirmed that no decision on the way forward would be made until the advice and views of the aborigines had been received. (In an aside he confessed to not knowing how they could be expected to give a considered view.) He said that the State government had been trying to stir things up; HMG should not believe alarmist newspaper reports which were all the Government of South Australia's doing, and did not reflect the Commonwealth Government view. For his part he was grateful for the help given by the British experts in compiling the report.
Lord Caithness said that we would study the report with care, taking particular account of the legal position flowing from the 1969 and 1976 agreements.
Kerin said Cabinet would probably come to a decision within 2 - 3 months. They saw no need to debate the issue in Parliament. He hinted that they would go for the lowest cost/quickest clean-up option, and that an approach for British financial assistance would be made on a Prime Minister to Prime Minister basis and not during his own visit in June.
4.
Call on Senator Evans, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Evans was his usual ebullient self. He welcomed Lord Caithness warmly, remarking that this was the third time they had met in four months.
Cambodia
Evans agreed with Lord Caithness that the coup in Thailand would have an impact on Cambodia. The military would be less disposed to Phnom Penh than Chatichai had been: they were likely to be more pro-China. Evans thought this could be helpful, by causing a concentration of minds in Phnom Penh and Hanoi.
Evans said that Costello was in Jakarta at present trying to get Alatas' views. He saw Alatas was very intent on moving things forward. Costello would go to Phnom Penh in the next ten days, not with any new initiative in mind but to find out exactly what it is that the SOC want. It was simply a matter of trying to keep the attention of the major players engaged. The overriding need was to seek a way round the impasse they had reached. Evans was not opposed to elections being held by the Phnom Penh government but he believed that peace would be unlikely unless the Khmer Rouge were included in elections since this was the only basis on which China would agree to stop their supply of arms.
He also believed that the
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