276. Letter From the Australian Ambassador (Parkinson) to President Carter1
Dear Mr. President,2
I have been asked by the Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser C.H., M.P., to pass to you the following message dated 28 May 1980:
BEGINS—
“My dear Jimmy,
Since our conversation earlier this year and our recent correspondence on the Olympic Games,3 most countries have declared their position on participation in the Moscow Games and it now appears that an effective boycott is in place.
It is, however, a matter of very great regret to myself and my Government that the Executive of the Australian Olympic Federation decided last Friday4 by a very narrow six to five majority that an Australian team should participate in the Moscow Olympic Games.
As you know, I and my Ministers have consistently urged the Australian Olympic Federation that, in the national interest, an Australian team should not participate in the Moscow Olympic Games.
A number of significant community interests in Australia have deplored the decision and this reaction is likely to become more widespread as the implications of the Executive decision become widely known in the community.
We remain firmly of the view that an Australian team should not participate in the Moscow Games and I and my Ministers shall do all that we can to persuade the Executive to reconsider its decision. We shall also call upon individual sporting bodies and sportsmen and women to make their own decisions not to participate in the Moscow Games.
It is my sincere hope that we can succeed in bringing home to our sports leaders and sportsmen and women that they should put their responsibilities to the national interest ahead of their responsibilities to sport and thereby lend their support to the stand taken by the United [Page 912] States National Olympic Committee and those of many other like-minded countries.
With best wishes.
Yours sincerely
(Malcolm Fraser)”
ENDS
Yours sincerely,5