The following is summary of statement at the Plenary Session [1]:-

Begins:

1. Acceptance by the nations of the invitation to this conference
coupled with the Moscow Declaration and United Nations
declarations means that nations are substantially agreed on basic
objectives. We have to apply ourselves realistically and
intensively to translating our fervent desires into firm
commitments and into principles and methods of action. It is now
the duty and the opportunity of this conference to pass from
general principles to the practical working rules of the proposed
organisation. The best initial contribution any nation can make to
this conference is to say frankly where it stands.

2. The cardinal points of Australia's policy in relation to
security may be restated as follows:-

(a) There must be speedy and orderly procedures for the peaceful
handling of disputes between nations.

(b) There must be a system of sanctions which can be imposed very
rapidly and which will be based on the united military strength of
the great powers, but shared in by all powers.

(c) A permanent system of security can be made effective and
acceptable only if it has a foundation in economic and social
justice and real international stability can be achieved only by
promoting measures of economic advancement as well as by
maintaining security. Australia welcomed the general acceptance of
the Dumbarton Oaks principles. We do not speak as theorists, but
because as a nation fighting in two world wars not for ourselves
alone but for world security. We have learned by bitter experience
that peace and security are indivisible and that nations in the
Pacific cannot contract out of Europe any more than European
nations can contract out of the Pacific.

3. For world organisation to succeed all members of the United
Nations must pledge themselves to co-operate in carrying out by
force wherever needed the decisions of the organisation for the
preservation of peace. Obligation to contribute to enforcement
action should be accepted by all members and decisions of the
organisation to apply enforcement measures should be equally
binding on all members. The expectation that there will be
complete and immediate application of measures for collective
security is essential both to deter the would-be aggressor and to
bring re-assurance to the peoples of the world who look for
security.

4. While acceding to the general principles of the Dumbarton Oaks
proposals, we propose to make positive and constructive
suggestions on certain points:-

First. We accept the principle that there should be a security
council of the world organisation vested with wide executive power
and authorised to act immediately on behalf of members of the
organisation in meeting a threat of armed conflict. We also accept
the principle that for the purposes of security the greater powers
should act as a unit and, therefore, that these powers can be
properly accorded special recognition, including requirement of
unanimity on enforcement measures. Cases covered by Chapter VIII
(a) are different. Why any one of the five powers which is not
party to a dispute should be empowered to prevent attempts to
settle it by means of conciliation and arbitration we are quite
unable to discover.

5. Second. We consider that in the processes for the pacific
settlement of disputes the maximum use should be made of the
permanent court, both for fact-finding and for terminating
disputes which are capable of settlement by reference to standards
of International Law. The permanent court has been a successful
institution and we hope a step forward will be taken in relation
to its compulsory jurisdiction.

6. Third. We think that express provision should be made in the
Charter the better to secure the political independence and
territorial integrity of individual nations. These rights are the
very basis of a nation's existence. At the same time we recognise
that in the course of time adjustments in the existing order may
become necessary, not so much for the preservation of peace as for
the attainment of international justice. The Charter could,
therefore, properly declare that the organisation should exert its
powers for the promotion of justice and the rule of law in the
Charter should also be inserted. A specific undertaking by all
members to refrain in their international relations from force or
the threat of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of another state. The application of this principle
should ensure that no question relating to a change of frontiers
or an abrogation of a state's independence could be decided other
than by peaceful negotiation.

7. The powers and functions of the General Assembly in regard to
the settlement of disputes should be clarified. The General
Assembly is to comprise all members. We admit one exception, and
one exception only, to the right of the Assembly to consider and
to make recommendations as it thinks fit with regard to any matter
affecting international relations. While the Security Council is
handling a dispute in accordance with Chapter VIII of the
Dumbarton Oaks proposals, nothing should be done to diminish the
authority of the Council or to hamper the prompt settlement of the
dispute. We suggest that on taking over a dispute the Security
Council should give some clear indication as to whether it is
actively handling the matter. During the period when the matter is
being so handled the Assembly can fairly be precluded from dealing
with the subject on its own initiative. But it is equally
essential that the assembly should be kept notified of the
position so that it would be competent to make positive
recommendations in relation to the matter in case the dispute
should become frozen in the Security Council.

8. In regard to the composition of the Security Council, special
attention should be paid to the proved willingness and capacity of
members to make a substantial contribution to security. It will
have to be recognised that outside the great powers there are
certain powers who by reason of their resources and their
geographical location will have to be relied upon, especially for
the maintenance of peace and security in various quarters of the
world. Further, these powers which proved by their record in two
world wars that they not only have the capacity but also the will
to fight in resistance of aggressors threatening the world with
tyranny have a claim to special recognition in any Security
Organisation. One way in which this special claim might be
recognised is that categories of non-permanent members should be
drawn up so as to ensure that the non-permanent members of the
Security Council do, in fact, represent powers whose material
resources, geographical location and willingness to resist
aggression make their actual co-operation with the great powers
absolutely essential to the effective working of a security
system.

9. Turning to the proposals for economic and social co-operation
the statement stressed our view that peace and security must rest
on economic justice and social security. Apart from the
relationship of welfare to security, welfare is an end in itself.

Greater welfare, employment for all and rising standards of living
have been promised in international declarations such as the
Atlantic Charter and in the national declarations of policy of
most of the socially advanced countries of the world. This pledge
should be written into the charter and suitable machinery provided
for the progressive fulfilment of the pledge. Member countries
should also accept the obligation to render reports on the action
they are taking to carry it out. The economic and social council
should be made one of the principal organs of the world
organisation, with extended powers and functions and should be in
permanent session.

10. The statement urged that the Charter of a World Organisation
should recognise that the main purpose of the administration of
dependent or undeveloped territories is the welfare and
advancement of the peoples of those territories. While, no doubt,
certain modifications arising out of experience should be made in
the terms of existing mandates, on the whole the system worked
reasonably well. Certainly most of its principles could safely be
extended to dependent territories taken away from our enemies in
the present war. Subject to the overriding requirements of
controlling bases and facilities for the purpose of security,
these detached territories should properly be held in trust for
the native inhabitants. They should be administered under terms
which will impose upon the administering power a duty to the
United Nations to promote the welfare of these dependent peoples.

This principle of trusteeship which in modern times powers have
frequently recognised in relation to their colonial possessions by
positive unilateral declarations cannot, in principle, be confined
to undeveloped territories formerly belonging to our enemies in
world war I or world war II. We, therefore, wish to see provision
in the Charter for:-

(a) The continuance of the Mandate System.

(b) The establishment of new mandates.

(c) The recognition of the principle that the purpose of the
administration of dependent territories is the welfare and
advancement of the peoples of such territories.

We also wish to see the setting up of an expert organ of the
United Nations the function of which will be to inform the World
Organisation of the welfare and progress of the peoples of
mandated territories and such other dependent territories as may
be determined upon by appropriate action.

11. The statement urged the wisdom of regarding the Charter as
having many transitional features. If that were conceded the
organisation could start off in the expectation that the Charter
would be progressively modified to fit the normal conditions of
international relations after the period of post-war
rehabilitation has been completed. To that end, however, the
amending process needed greater flexibility.

12. The concluding section referred to our gratitude to the great
powers and our close relationship with Britain. We appealed to all
countries and, especially, to the great powers not to shrink from
making improvements in the Charter merely because a little more
time and a little more trouble would be required.