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MAIN CONCERN HAD TO BE THE TREM
·
ER OFFER AT AN UNSPECIFIED DATE. AT
PRESENT HE COULD NOT OFFER ANYTHING MORE TO ANYBODY. HIS
MAIN CONCERN HAD TO BE THE TREMENDOUS INFLUX IN PLACES LIKE
MALAYSIA AND THE DANGER OF ITS SPILLING OVER TO AUSTRALIA.
FOR THE PRESENT HE COULD MAKE NO FURTHER MOVE.
4. MR MACKELLAR REFERRED APPRECIATIVELY TO THE GENERAL
SUPPORT HE HAD RECEIVED AT GENEVA FROM MR LUARD BUT COUPLED
THIS WITH AN EXPRESSION OF DISAPPOINTMENT THAT MR LUARD HAD NOT THEN BEEN ABLE TO MENTION A FIGURE FOR OUR OWN CONTRIBUTION.
I SAID THAT THIS HAD NOW BEEN DONE, WHICH HE ACKNOWLEDGED.
5.
WHEN I CALLED ON PARKINSON AT THE DFA TODAY, I TOLD HIM
OF MY ACUTE DISAPPOINTMENT AT MR MACKELLAR'S RESPONSE WHICH
I WAS SURE WOULD BE STRONGLY FELT ALSO IN LONDON AND HONG
KONG. I SAID THAT THE ''WEST'' AS A WHOLE, NOT LEAST AUSTRALIA, OWED QUITE A LOT TO HONG KONG IN ALL SORTS OF! WAYS AND THAT, WITHIN WHATEVER TOTAL OF INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES AUSTRALIA MIGHT TAKE, SURELY HONG KONG DESERVED HIGHER CONSIDERATION. PARKINSON SAID THEY HAD ALREADY RECEIVED FROM THEIR REPRESENTATIVE IN HONG KONG AN ACCOUNT OF HONG KONG'S POSITION AND A PARALLEL REQUEST
BUT AT PRESENT, AS THE MINISTER HAD SAID, AUSTRALIA COULD
DO NO MORE. THEY HAD TAKEN 16,322 INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES BETWEEN APRIL 1975 AND JANUARY 1979. THIS FIGURE WOULD GO UP TO
21,500 BY JUNE 1979. IN OTHER WORDS, 5,000 MORE WERE IN THE PIPELINE. IN ADDITION, THEY HAD NOW UNDERTAKEN TO RECEIVE 10,500 MORE BETWEEN 30 JUNE 1979 AND 30 JUNE. 1980. THEY HAD
REALLY DONE THEIR PART.
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16. MRMACKELLAR'S
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