MRS. DOUG ANTHONY ON RACE REALITIES

"At 18 (Mrs. Anthony) she got very angry when the late Mr. Arthur Calwell, at that time leader of the Opposition Labor Party, lauded the White Australia Policy. 'In those days I thought everyone was equal though I had no deep political feelings', she says. 'Now, having seen the racial unrest in other countries, particularly in England and America, I don't believe we should open the floodgates to Joe Blow...Nobody has yet solved the racial problem so why do people think we can?" - From an interview with Mrs. Doug. Anthony by Marianne Pretorios in Woman's Day, July 22nd.

The change in Mrs. Anthony' views since she was a girl of 18 highlights the truth that generally speaking a person adopts a much more realistic attitude towards issues as a result of experience gained over years. Youth should be encouraged to accept responsibilities in every possible way, but it is criminal irresponsibility that electors of eighteen years of age should be encouraged to believe that they possess greater wisdom than their elders. If the views held by Mrs. Anthony at 18 years of age had prevailed, then Australia would now be suffering the same acute racial problems as other nations. It is not so long ago that Mrs. Anthony's husband was strongly criticising the League of Rights for expressing similar views to those she now holds. The League was "racist". We trust that she has convinced her husband that her views are sensible and realistic.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GENUINE FREEDOM

Developments in Portugal, where the Marxists of all types demonstrated an unsuspected strength following the military coup and liberalisation programme, have convinced Spain's Communist leaders that the time has come for them to prepare to move to take control of Spain when the elderly General Franco dies or retires. Santiago Carillo, the exiled leader of the Spanish Communist Party called a special press conference in Paris in the wake of the Portuguese coup. Carillo foresees a broad-based provisional government for Spain, even generously suggesting that there are some Ministers and ex-Ministers associated with the Franco regime "who would be valuable in a democracy."

The Franco victory was a major set back for Communist strategy at the time, but a dictatorship is not a permanent guarantee against Communism, as the military Government of Chile will find. Writing of what has happened in Portugal, Wilfred Burchett the well-known international Communist journalist, observed in the Guardian (U.S.A.) of May 25th that "A development which has astonished foreign observers in Lisbon is the strength, now surfacing, of Portugal's Communist Party, whose leader Alvaro Gunhal, returned to Lisbon April 30th after 12 years' exile in Prague and Moscow. Observers credit this party with having kept an organisation intact during decades of illegality and it is emerging now as one of the strongest cohesive political forces in Portugal, second only to the movement of the armed forces itself. It is reputed to have an influence even within officer ranks, up to the level of some of the captains who animated the coup.

Individual freedom protected by a firm Rule of Law, thus ensuring that individuals are made personally responsible for how they use their freedom, is a basic essential for defeating the Communist challenge. But even in British countries the Rule of Law is breaking down under the impact of a destructive inflation, which is exploited to foster increasing centralisation of power over the individual. Portugal's Spinola is finding that the military coup of April 25th was like opening a Pandora's box. The Communists are stimulating increased wage demands which can only produce even more disastrous inflation. General Spinola is finding that he is being compelled to resort to increasing force in an attempt to prevent anarchy. Anarchy in Portugal would be disastrous for the African Provinces of Mozambique and Angola. The loss of the ports of Beira and Laurenco Marques to the West would have a devastating effect on Western defence strategy.

The truth must be faced that mere repressive anti-Communism, no matter how sincere it may be, is not sufficient in the long run to halt the Communist advance. The army in Chile provided the people of Chile with a temporary reprieve from a Communist take-over. But like General Spinola they are finding that continuing inflation is a cancer, which aids long-term Communist strategy.

MR. JOHN GORTON'S FRANK ADMISSION

"Australia could be governed without the States, Mr. Gorton, MHR, said yesterday. He claimed on Channel 9 that several other Liberal MPs agreed with him. Mr. Gorton.. .said that states could be replaced by regional councils. 'I know it is Labor Party philosophy but what's wrong with that?' he said." - The Sun Melbourne, July 16th.

Mr. Gorton's frank admission that he supports Labor Party philosophy provides further confirmation of our warnings about Mr. Gorton over the years. Like Mr. Whitlam, Mr. Gorton also argues that the destruction of the States and the establishment of regional Councils is not "a centralist idea." But he also says "A more centralist (federal) government would be better." He wants more power given to the Federal Government. We agree that Australia could be governed without the States. Hitler proved that Germany could be governed without the German States. But the price was a vast Federal bureaucracy and a drastic loss of individual freedom.

It would be interesting to know who are the other Liberal MPs who agree with Mr. Gorton. Mr. Whitlam should invite Mr. Gorton and these MPs to join the Labor Party and openly work for National Socialism. But perhaps he feels that their subversion of the Liberal Party will ensure that there is no effective opposition to his centralist programme!

It should not be forgotten that in the last Parliament the Opposition agreed to the Whitlam Government's Commonwealth Grants Bill, one of its major instruments for furthering its centralist programme. And then Opposition Members subsequently attempted to justify what they had done.

THE SOVIET THRUST INTO THE INDIAN OCEAN

"Perth - A Russian fleet of up to 30 ships was now on station in the Indian Ocean, the Director of The Australian Institute of International Affairs (Dr. T. B. Millar) said here yesterday. He believed that about a third of the Soviet naval force were fighting ships, another third submarines and the remainder intelligence ships, fleet auxiliaries or space support vessels." - The Age Melbourne, July 16th.

Dr. Millar made his revelations in the 1974 Sir Robert Menzies lecture at West Australia University. Speaking before his lecture Dr. Millar said that Soviet units came "very close" to the West Australian coast. But he also said "I will not say they came into Australian territorial waters. . .

With the report that a British naval vessel has recently been able to traverse the whole of the Suez Canal, although some wrecks still remain to be removed, it is certain that before long the Soviet will be moving naval forces from the Black Sea and Mediterranean through to assist in its growing thrust into the Indian Ocean. The Soviet is already using the former British port at Aden and the former RAF airfield, and has port facilities at Berbera and Mogadishu, Somalia. The Whitlam Government presumably believes that the Soviet build up in the Indian Ocean constitutes no potential threat to Australia, as it is opposing the establishment of an American base at Diego Garcia.

CONDITIONING FOR STILL HIGHER INFLATION

"Provided we devise machinery to protect the weaker members of society, and provided the burdens of sacrifice are fairly shared, it may be that the world will learn to live with inflation on a higher scale than it has known in the past. This does not mean that strong measures will not be needed to check inflation from time to time." - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in an article examining what he hopes will be the quality of Australian society in 1984, published in The Australian.

Before the last Federal Elections Mr. Whitlam promised that he would reduce the Australian inflation rate to less than 10 percent over the next twelve months. He briefly repeated that promise when answering Mr. Snedden's first question in the new Parliament. But his article in The Australian indicates that he is already preparing for a shift, and that Australians are being conditioned to accept permanently a higher inflation rate. One thing is certain; the Whitlam Government's present financial policies, if persisted with, must ultimately force the inflation rate past 20 percent while at the same time producing greater economic dislocations.

Rumblings of discontent amongst Labor Members are already audible. We do not often find ourselves in agreement with Mr. Clyde Cameron, who in the past has made some erratic statements about The League of Rights, but his recent criticism of Treasury "experts" may be a straw in the wind, while we must strongly support his view that "We should eliminate Sales Tax on all essential items, reduce the sales tax on less essential items, and, at the same time, ensure that such reductions are passed on to the consumer." In his letter to Treasurer Frank Crean in which this proposal was made, Mr. Cameron made the acid comment that "I am sure it would not be beyond the wit of your brilliant economists in the Treasury Department to evolve a means by which this could be done." We have not the slightest doubt that if Treasury economists' salaries were reduced at the same rate that. inflation increased, they would soon evolve a programme for reversing inflation!

TWO-STEP ANTI-INFLATION PROGRAMME

BRIEF COMMENTS

When Mr. R. Hawke was recently faced on television with the question of how he felt about the two percent increase in interest rates, recommended by the Reserve Bank on whose board he sits as a member, Mr. Hawke did some quick back stepping. As a member of the Reserve Bank Board he was not permitted to make any public comment. Yes, very neat, Mr. Hawke, But if you felt strongly enough about the increased imposition on the very people you claim you are concerned about, and were in fact opposed to it, you could have resigned in protest from the Board. We realise, of course, that this would have meant the loss of a "perk" which helps Mr. Hawke to keep the inflation wolf from his own door.

British beef producers face a crisis similar to that experienced in the U.S.A., where under President Nixon's Phase IV programme the price of beef was frozen while the food to feed beef animals was allowed to rise. Beef was withheld from the market until the end of phase IV, which resulted in a dramatic price increase resulting in consumers not buying. The result was a glut, a drop in prices, with the Government now buying large quantities of hamburger meat in an attempt to revitalise the market.

Government controls make all problems worse. A consumer discount system applied to the free market system would ensure that both producers and consumers were satisfied. But the planners of all kinds are opposed to this concept. It would start to remove the problems, which they need to justify their programmes for still more centralised controls.

Remember how the amazing Dr. Kissinger brought "peace with honour" to Vietnam early last year? Today Kissinger is a most detested figure in the eyes of many South Vietnamese, who see him as the architect of a blatant betrayal. Saigon's official figures show that since the January 20th cease-fire in January 1973, more than 86,000 soldiers have died on both sides, and that 83,000 South Vietnamese troops have been wounded in action. Even the representatives of Trudeau's Canada left the International Commission of Control and Supervision in disgust. Reliable American commentators reported Dr. Kissinger as saying privately that he was not too concerned if his "peace" negotiations eventually resulted in South Vietnam being taken over by the Communists - so long as this did not happen too soon after his proposals were accepted.

P.A. James. Melbourne Management Consultants, make no bones about blaming Keynesian economic theories for worldwide inflation. In a recent scathing attack upon press economists, P.A. James makes the following thought-provoking comment: "The reason the Western Democracies have accepted these false theories is simple. Many Members of the Democratic Parliaments and Governments are lawyers and the lawyer (and the judge) always accepts the "Expert Witness". If, say a man was only partly qualified as an Accountant, but had been Chief Accountant for G.M.H. for 20 years his evidence would not be accepted against the evidence of a Batchelor of Commerce who had just graduated."

In a comment on the recent Canadian elections, National Director of The Canadian League of Rights, Mr. Ron Gostick, says that a major reason for the failure of the Conservatives led by Robert Stanfield, was lack of a genuine anti-inflation policy.