SIGNIFICANCE TO AUSTRALIA OF SOVIET SHIP'S AGRESSIVENESS

"Commodore Alex Solyanik, of the Russian ship Van Gogh, left no doubt as far as he was concerned he would stay in the Gulf of Carpentaria until, in his own time, he decided to leave" - The Age, Melbourne, July 15.

In the action of the Soviet Commander Australians may well be given a taste of things to come. The whole attitude is typical of that of a bully operating from a position of superior strength. The strength referred to however is not merely the use of a ship 100 times the size of those whose rights in the fishing grounds are being plundered by this particular bully. It is the fact that the bully knows that he is backed by policies of increasing strength of the Soviet in the area in which his marauding activities now take place.

While Australians on the whole may be blissfully unaware of the changing balance of sea power in the Indian Ocean with the withdrawal of the British navy by 1971, it is certain that a Soviet Commander would not be unaware of the significance of such matters. Neither would he be unaware of the growing power of Soviet power, not only naval in the Indian Ocean, but the increasing build-up of Soviet influence throughout South East Asia, where the penetration through trade into countries like India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia goes on apace.
Trade being only the forerunner of political penetration.

Commodore Solyanik may have been a little premature in his display of overbearing arrogance towards a country he considers of no significance; but judging us on our policies of compromise with the Communist bloc both in trade and aid with the Chinese and European satellite Communist States, as well as our acceptance of Communist terms for fighting the war in Vietnam; it is hardly likely we will adopt a policy of strength against him.

The manager of the fishing company, Mr. R.L. Mostyn who sent a telegram to the Prime Minister, Mr. Gorton, unwittingly used terms, which could well be applied to the policies of ourselves and other Western Nations towards the Communists. In demanding action against the Soviet vessel Mr. Mostyn said, "Unless our Government is content to be classified as completely gutless".

SOVIET LEADER BREZHNEV AFFIRMS POLICY OF COMMUNIST VICTORY

"The Soviet Communist Party Chief, Mr. Leonid Brezhnev, today reassured his country's North Vietnamese and Arab allies that Russia did not intend to make any deals with "imperialists" at their expense" - The Age, July 4.

Mr. Brezhnev was making his first speech for three months. As chief spokesman of the Communist Party he was endorsing the official policy line on Vietnam. His words showed up in sharp relief the real policy of the Communists at the Paris "peace" talks. We have not seen any Western leader submit, that in view of what Mr. Brezhnev said we are wasting precious time at Paris, and we should bring the farce to an end by ending "any deals" we have made to restrict the war in Vietnam. Such resolute action would soon bring about a change in policy by the Communists.

ABORIGINES BEING USED FOR FOMENTING RACIAL AGITATION

"National Aborigines Sunday should be declared a national day of mourning, the Rev. Arthur Preston said yesterday in Wesley Church", - The Age, July 15.

An Australian wide campaign has been organised against the Government's decision to not make a land grant to the Gurindji tribe of a part of the Wave Hill cattle station now leased from the Government by the big pastoral firm of Vesteys, who are depicted as the grasping monopolists exploiting the depressed Aboriginal natives. The Rev. Preston makes a typically fatuous statement, which is representative of the general viewpoint being propagandised on this question.
He said Australian Aboriginals "had had their hopes dashed by the Federal Government's refusal…"

One would be pardoned for believing the Rev. Preston was under the impression that the Aborigines were landless and lacked opportunity. The facts are quite different. Mr. W. Wentworth M .P. the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs pointed out on a recent T.V. interview that some six million acres of land, most of it of a high degree of fertility was reserved for the Aboriginals. They could easily demonstrate their claims for other land, and their ability to make good use of it by making a success of the land already reserved to them. Apart from which there is no law, which denies to the Aboriginal his right to property, obtained in the same way, as any other Australian becomes a property owner.

The fact that there are special problems involved has been the concern of missionary and welfare workers for decades. To ignore such realities and to accept the agitations of johnny come lately organisations such as the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders is to reveal a great degree of ignorance or naivety.
While it is understandable that the thinking of the general populace can be influenced by secular organisations promoting the Aboriginal question for political ends, it seems remarkable that Christians should ignore the great wealth of experience gained by their own missionaries on such matters. So often we see Church leaders appealing to Caesar to solve problems. God seems to have been relegated to a secondary position.

A pertinent comment on this aspect comes from Allan Lockwood, editor of The Wimmera Mail-Times in the edition of July 3. Mr. Lockwood has just returned from Northern Australia. Mr. Lockwood wrote of "the city born idealists who make sudden incursions to aboriginal lands, see them living without air-conditioning and refrigeration, and then just as suddenly leave for their southern shooting towers from where to fire their revolutionary bullets, would do well to speak with the men and women who have known a life time of heartbreak and dedication in trying to help these lovable yet essentially tribal people. The missionaries for instance, yes, and one or two of the much maligned station owners.

Missionaries of all denominations could have hit the headlines time and again with stories of utter misery and deep disappointment". Mr. Lockwood pointed out the frustration to the missionaries of educating children who inevitably return to the tribal existence. Of the deep antipathy of the tribe to any who betters himself.

The "revolutionary bullets" in the Wave Hill episode were fired by well-known Communist Frank Hardy, and the former welfare officer Mr. Bill Jeffrey who co-operated to the full with Frank Hardy. Mr. Dexter Daniels the 28-year-old Aboriginal leader took his lead from Frank Hardy at Wave Hill according to Hardy's book "The Unlucky Australians."
The Communist Party evidently regards Mr. Daniels very highly. He has been sent to Bulgaria to attend the 9th World Youth Festival at Sofia this month. There he will no doubt be further impressed with the power of the international movement so interested in his contribution towards the Wave Hill Strike.

The Christian Church in Australia promoting a petition by the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Tortes Strait lslanders has harnessed itself to the machinery of this revolutionary political agitation. As with racial agitation the world over, the objective is not the welfare of native peoples, but their ruthless and cynical exploitation to promote warfare between races. The final objective being the destruction of stable government.

WALLACE MOVES FORWARD IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL RACE

In his latest report from North America Mr. Eric Butler provides further comments on the American Presidential race:

Developments in the American Presidential race are now providing further confirmation of my previously expressed prediction that ex-Governor George Wallace of Alabama could be the decisive influence in the election of the next American President. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are now openly expressing their fears about Wallace. Following the period of mourning after his wife's death, Wallace has started to hit the campaign trail in full cry. Large audiences are packing in to hear this aggressive ex-boxer exhort them to "Stand up for America". No longer can the mass media ignore Wallace, so it is not surprising that already there has been launched a vicious campaign of character assassination. One "political analyst" writes that "Even in this bizarre election year of 1968, there is nothing more incongruous than the thought that the President of the United States may somehow be horse traded, with a one-time truck driver and political medicine man the decisive broker who determines who shall lead America in the perilous days ahead".

Australians and New Zealanders who think at all realise that the outcome of the war in Vietnam could be decided by the 1968 U.S. Presidential contest. My view at this moment is that the war in Vietnam has been lost. It has been lost because of the successful erosion of American will. The political confusion in the United States has never been more pronounced than it is right now. The successes of the Senator McCarthy campaign, based on an anti-Vietnam policy, and the moves by Vice-President Hubert Humphrey to divorce himself from the Johnson Administration, have also had a marked effect on the statements of Republican Richard Nixon, who sounds more like a "dove" every day. All this must be cheering to the Communist strategists in Moscow, Peking, and Hanoi.
Only a miracle can now avert the threatened American retreat in Vietnam. And that miracle can only find expression in the campaign of George Wallace.

Politics is the art of the possible, so I have little patience with those purists who insist that George Wallace is not a Conservative but a "populist". George Wallace may smoke cheap cigars, as his smearers claim, he may be a compulsive talker, and he may like to shake as many hands as he can find, but he is the one man in the Presidential race who says in clear language that he will authorise the American Chiefs of Staff to win in Vietnam. He also has some tough language for foreign countries, which accept American foreign aid while giving support to the Communists.

Wallace continues to speak out on the urgent necessity of creating law and order inside the United States. He would charge with treason anyone "who sends blood to the Vietcong" . And he would replace retiring Supreme Court Justices with men who will stop coddling Communists.
Only a miracle can put George Wallace into the White House, but I believe that Wallace's prospects are improving rapidly now as the race starts in earnest. His campaign has a substantial flow of increased financial support. But it is reasonable now to predict that Wallace will gain sufficient electoral votes to force the selection of the next President into Congress. And in this situation Wallace will attempt to extract specific promises from that candidate who is prepared to try to meet Wallace's demands in order to become the President.
It is most significant that Richard Nixon is treating George Wallace with much more respect at present!

Of course Wallace is not a Conservative, but he is against Big Government. It was not considered a crime that Lyndon Johnson was a great hand-shaker in 1964. 1 believe that Wallace is trying "To Stand up for America", and in doing so he could render not only America, but the whole free world, a service greater than he realises.

ON TARGET BULLETIN

SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
AUTHORITY

In his latest book, Death of a Nation, John Stormer has faced the question, which confronts inevitably those seeking an answer to the catastrophes facing the world today. In this book, which even if it does not sell as many copies as its predecessor, None Dare Call It Treason, its impact will be greater in deciding the issues confronting us. Stormer goes back to the source of ultimate authority, God. He shows quite clearly how it is because of the departure of individuals and nations from understanding and obeying the voice, the directives, and the principles on which God's authority is based that man has landed himself in one hell of a mess.
And that is the correct way to describe the situation.

C.H. Douglas commented that when we reached that point when the forces working for World Government were in their ascendancy, "we would see a glimpse of hell". Stormer endeavours to show the way back to God's authority. That man has to realise that the world was created by God, and the laws on which depend the survival of civilisation are God's laws.
That God grants the "life abundant" to those who accept His authority. While death and despair results when His authority is flouted.

What then are some of the principles we should be concerned to follow? Authority is defined as Power or right to enforce obedience. Christians believe that ultimate source of Authority is God. And this is the only source of ultimate power.
We stress the word, only, for unless this is clearly grasped at this point then we will end up with different conclusions.

God, however has delegated some of this power to Man, (Genesis 1:26-31) Man has been entrusted with Authority as part of God's plan for His world. Therefore Man is answerable to God for the use he makes of this Authority. It is clear therefore that Man does not have unlimited Authority, or Power, but only that which comes from God.

If the one principle of the source of power and its delegation to Man by God can be clearly established in this discussion, the basis will be set for future discussion.