CODE 18-77
Ru Ricketts,
1. Me Swaine was not of thes
Standing Offer milz RESTRICTED
have the Canacha
So are Source.
only
3
Manly in aman til think we shd parr this tacke
this fat fruft letter attached Thanks
2. I heard on the news over to weekend that My Raclay'st
in
fam
confidence to Mr Chrmen (fax Cetter?) for his into be say Hal ounting said to the Australines I'm HK. John Swaine shot te
in K. Samas te source, not on man. HONG KONG ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS of the ÁSSOCIATION OF PRESIDING OFFICERS OF COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATURES
Mr Ricketts Cauen had taken a
nosedive
とり
1. I spoke to the Clerk of the Commons, Sir Clifford Bolton," who was present at the recent meeting of the Association in Nanibia, when the Australian Speaker made his strange outburst about the attendance of Hong Kong.
2. It seems that the account given to Mr Ehrman was generally accurate, although Sir Clifford was able to throw some additional light on it. Apparently Mr Maclay, the Australian Speaker, is a maverick, who enjoys stirring things up just for the sake of it. It was almost certainly a purely personal initiative, with no other substantive reason behind it. The trouble was that he succeeded in putting the wind up the Malaysian and Indian representatives there, who were worried about the China angle.
3. The meeting finally decided that to get round this unexpected problem the decision as to who should be invited to next year's plenary meeting should be left to the host (Papua New Guinea). The host, not the Standing Committee, would therefore take the responsibility for inviting Hong Kong and the Standing Committee would not raise any objection.
4.
Sir Clifford strongly recommended against raising this incident with the Australians. It would be likely to incite Mr Maclay to take further obstructive initiatives, and he could justifiably complain that the confidentiality, which traditionally applies to these meetings, had been breached. Sir Clifford asked that his own explanation to us should be treated in confidence.
5.
However, since the business will be known about in Hong Kong through the Canadians, it might be worth having a quiet word with the Australian Consul General but with the caveat that we would not want anything to be said to the Australian Speaker that might do more harm than good.
K. Sanders
KAM Saunders
WH 311
270 3544
5 February 1993
CC Matthew Oakley, CCD
com.wealth.PR
JRB
No need, provided we source to Mr Swaine, I Hink. Si Bunten suggests it might be best if Canberra were to check the relationship between the Evans + Mr Maclay before saying anyting to the Consul General. It could four
her in a difficult
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position of the 2 men are Frinds. KP572