1.
CLOSE TRACKING SHOT INTERIOR Filipinos queueing in Australian Embassy, Manila.
0.35

2.
SCU ZOOM IN TO CU People in queue.
0.43

3.
CU girl behind desk.
0.45

4.
CU Australian Premier Whitlam speaking and CU's note-taking newsmen (8 shots)
1.34

5.
SV PAN AND MVS 'Jeepneys' being manufactured (4 shots)
1.54

6.
SV AND CU finished 'Jeepney' (7 shots)
2.11

7.
CU President Marcos interview.
2.29

8.
LV Filipinos signing migrant applications in Embassy.
2.32


(WHITLAM). "The policy of the Australian Government and of the Australian Labour Party, which composes the Australian Government is quite clear. Our immigration policy depends principally on family reunion. Subsidiary to this, is the admission of skilled persons whose skills are undersupplied in Australia, and for whom employment is available in Australia. And in that last respect, there is no discrimination as regards geographic or religious or racial origin."



(COMMENTARY). "This is where the Philippines' own motor industry began, with the conversion of surplus U.S. army vehicles in the late 1940's. The giants from Detroit now have plants in the Philippines assembling modern cars. But the best illustration of the ingenuity of the Filipino workers is still the manufacture of 'Jeepney'. This bizarre vehicle is the poor man's taxi -- a surplus Jeep with an extended body to carry up to twelve passengers. The Jeepney costs about two-thousand Australian dollars. An operator, charging a few cents a trip, can make three dollars a day -- enough to live on."



(MARCOS). "I personally have no objecti to people working in Australia...I would encourage it. But I repeat I don't believe it's proper for me to comment on this until there is a proper proposal."




Initials AE/18.13 AE/18.47


JOHN TEMPLE

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Thousands of Filipinos have been queueing at the Australian Embassy in Manila, capital of the Philippines, for permits to migrate to Australia following a relaxation in the nations's 'whites only' policy. The relaxation was brought to public notice recently when the Australian Government announce moves to recognise trade qualifications for migrants from South-East Asia, South America and the Pacific region -- and when Australian Premier Gough Whitlam said in Manila last month: "Give me a shovel and I will bury the 'White Australia' policy".

Following the news, migrant applications in Manila rose from an average of 3,500 a month to nearly 13,000 in January alone. In addition, the Leyland motor company in Australia has announced plans to bring in filipino workers.

This report, compiled by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, shows the Filipino rush for migration at the Australian Embassy in Manila, the Filipino car industry in Manila -- where Leyland might well look for immigrant workers; and interviews in Manila on the subject with visiting Premier Gough Whitlam and President Ferdinand Marcos. The production includes a reporter's sound-on-film commentary. A transcript of this and the interviews is provided overleaf.

SYNOPSIS: Within days of the announcement of the Leyland plan to bring Filipino workers to Australia, the Australian Embassy in Manila was beseiged by would-be migrants. The rate of applications rose from about three-and-a-half-thousand a month during last year, to nearly thirteen-thousand during January alone. The sudden burst of applications seems to have been caused by the Leyland announcement, but not as a specific response to it. None of the people in this group had seen Manila newspaper accounts of the Leyland plan. They were there because the word had got around, in a general way, that it was now easier to get into Australia. The Australian Prime Minster, visiting Manila last month, met the press after he had talked to President Marcos.