POLICIES; WHAT ARE WE OFFERED?

"He placed two small beer glasses on the counter and said, 'look, here's the Liberals - here's Labor.' In between he placed a large beer glass. 'Here's the Monster' he went on. The 'monster' used to be the Country Party 'today it's the DLP', said the bar-room Walter Lippman." - Michael Ryan in The Age, Melbourne October 9, reporting on the reception to the Prime Minister's policy speech.

The above concept probably typifies the feelings of many Australians, that the DLP constitutes the one alternative to the major parties. In terms of political realism we would agree that to use the DLP to censure the major parties is sound strategy. Whether the DLP constitutes a genuine alternative to the policies of socialism and centralism of both the Liberal-C.P. coalition and the Labour party is an entirely different matter. The greatest attraction of the DLP is the realism of its defence policy, for as Mr. Gair said when delivering their policy speech, "what is the use of talking about domestic policy if we are to lose our freedom." However along with all other parties there was not sufficient understanding of how the enemy undermining Australia from within should be challenged.
Professor Toynbee has pointed out that of 19 great civilisations, 16 have been destroyed from within.

Prime Minister Gorton's policy speech revealed the belated acknowledgement that he had taken the party off the rails, and that he was hastening to scramble back on to what he hoped was the winning track. On foreign policy he almost abjectly apologised for his responsibility with Mr. Freeth for agreeing we could co-operate with the Soviet in a collective security arrangement. It should be remembered in the future that the P.M. stated categorically in regard to S.E. Asia, "We will continue to support the concept of a regional security pact in that region in which we participate. But we will exert all the influence at our command to prevent participation by Russia in such an arrangement. We believe that our security would be threatened by the establishment of any Russian naval or military bases in that area. We believe that any military alliance or arrangement between Russia and a country in our region would pose a threat to ourselves."

Much is made by political commentators of the role of the minority force of the DLP in forcing this about face. Apart from the fact that the greater number of Australians were concerned about the previous Freeth-Gorton policy of appeasing the Communists, the inherent right of small emerging groups in a free country to act as a deterrent to those operating the power structure, is the main factor restricting the corruption which comes from obtaining power. This has always been the role of the Australian League of Rights. Few would doubt the efficacy of a good cattle dog in moving the mob. His effectiveness is not restricted by his size.
The remainder of the Prime Minister's policy speech was a recital of socialist promises and plans all made possible by the intrusion by government into the private purse and domains of the individual.

Nothing was said about the two fundamental and outstanding problems facing the Australian community inflation and the political and financial sovereignty of the States. Both problems are inseparable, and while we have economic centralism we must inevitably get increasing doses of its natural by-product socialism. The real government, the entrenched bureaucracy will not yield centralised power until there is a real showdown in the political field. All state politicians, irrespective of party labels should now be campaigning vigorously to enforce concessions from the Federal parties. Without any real revolt from the Municipal and State level there will be no basic change in Federal policies, irrespective of the party in power.

BASIS FOR MIDDLE EAST SETTLEMENT

"The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr. Riad, indicated yesterday that his Government would recognise Israel's pre-1967 borders as a settlement based on Israeli withdrawal from all captured territories. Egypt thus went further than it had ever gone before showing willingness to acknowledge Israel's boundaries, as they existed before the 1967 war. For 25 years Arab governments refused any such concession, which came from Mr. Riad in a statement at a foreign correspondents' luncheon in New York." - The Australian, October 1.

Objective observers of the Middle East crisis have stressed for years that no peace was possible unless there was a firm guarantee that Israel had no further expansionist policies. The more realistic of the Arab leaders, like King Hussein of Jordan, have recognised the impossibility of undoing what has been done by the Zionist conquest of Palestine. They have therefore asked for two undertakings from the UN, which brought Israel into existence as a new State:
1. That Israel formally accepts the original borders laid down by the UN, and
2, that Israel adequately compensates all those Palestinian refugees forced to leave their homes and properties by the Zionist terrorists.

So far from responding constructively to these reasonable requests, spokesmen for the Israel Government have made it clear that they intend to keep permanently all the territory they have taken beyond the boundaries set by the UN. This has left the Soviet in the position where it can exploit the natural resentment of the Arabs and in the process extend its influence in the whole of the Middle East.
If the West wishes to halt the Soviet advance in the Middle East, the first essential is that it applies the necessary pressure to Israel to force it to meet the reasonable proposals of the moderate, anti-Communist Arab leaders.

CAN PRIME MINISTER BE TRUSTED ON DEFENCE?

"Prime Minister Gorton said in Perth yesterday that the Commonwealth Government would meet the total cost of the causeway to Garden Island as the first step towards a naval base in Cockburn Sound. The cost was expected to be about $7 million... Mr. Gorton said that work on the causeway - scheduled to begin next financial year would take up to two years to complete." - The West Australian, October 10.

DLP leader Senator Vince Gair may find some satisfaction in Prime Minister Gorton's pre-election statements that Australia's defences will be strengthened, but thinking Australians are entitled to assess a Government on its record, not on last-minute pre-election promises designed obviously to get votes. Mr. Gorton's Budget indicated no great concern about expanding defence - in fact the defence vote was down by 5 per cent.

The Prime Minister and his Minister for External Affairs Mr. Gordon Freeth, have made a number of misleading and self-contradictory statements concerning the Soviet thrust into the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia. They have suddenly realised that this performance could lose them up to three Liberal Members in Western Australia, including Mr. Freeth himself, and so the Prime Minister belatedly seeks to create the impression that he is preparing to clear Australian defence to counter-balance the growing Soviet influence in the Indian Ocean.
But what substance is there in what Mr. Gorton promises?

Building the causeway is only a start towards creating an adequate naval base. Mr. Gorton admitted in Perth that the causeway was going to take up no two years to complete. At his Perth airport press conference he declined to give a timetable for developing Cockburn Sound. But it would take a "long time." A Government realistic about Soviet policy in the Indian Ocean would, of course, have had the establishment of a major naval base in Western Australia under way before this. By the time Mr. Gorton even has the causeway finished, the Soviet could have its naval forces in the Indian Oceans doubled, or trebled.

Writing from Perth, the Australian correspondent for the London Times, Mr. Stewart Harris, provides some chilling facts about the Soviet's naval strength and Australia's appalling weaknesses, which neither the Government nor the Labor Party has stressed Mr. Harris has reported: "No party... has explained that ten Skyhawk fighter-bombers on Australia's one aircraft carrier, the Melbourne, and 24 F111 land based bombers (when they arrive) will be the only weapons able to challenge the threat from Russia's missile-equipped navy. Even the Indonesian navy has l2 Komar class patrol boats with Styx missiles."
Mr. Harris points out that Australians have not been told about Russia's Kresta and Kynda class organisers with Shaddock missiles firing hundreds of miles, the 120 Russian submarines in the Far East with missiles effective up to 300 miles; the ballistic missiles, Sark, Serb and Sawfly, and the last with a range of up to 2000 miles and all carried by submarines.
Mr. Harris states that against these long-range weapon systems, Australia's big new America destroyers, the Hobart, Perth and Brisbane would be helpless.
He also makes the serious allegation that Australian naval officers are worried about the situation, but cannot afford to speak their minds, and that those resigning would lose their pension rights.

With more realistic financial and economic policies, Australia could at this late hour make the necessary effort to step up necessary defence measures. Prime Minister Gorton's pre-election promises are just not good enough. The fact that the ALP defence programme is no better is beside the point. Only some electoral punishment of the present Government will have the desired effect in Canberra.

HYPOCRISY FROM FEDERAL TREASURER

"There would be no clarification of the Government 's proposed tax relief for lower and middle income earners before the election, Treasurer McMahon said… The Government had not had time to work out scales, but relief would start at about the $2,000 a year level. The government had not worked out an upper figure." - The Daily Telegraph October 10.

After years of maintaining a taxation policy which has, as a result of an inflationary financial policy which Mr. Mc Mahon himself says he cannot resolve, imposing an increasingly heavy burden upon Australian middle-income earners, the Government has belatedly decided just before a Federal election that something should be done. But it is rather vague. However, we suggest that careful note be taken, for future reference, of the Prime Minister's policy speech, in which he said "The Government's aim would be to reduce personal income tax over the three year period starting with the next budget. At the end of the period it would be providing relief, to lower and middle-income earners of the order of $200,000."

However, against this pre-election promise we have the Federal Treasurer's own statement that inflation is going to continue. Mr. Doug Anthony Minister for Primary Industries, is on record as telling a meeting of farmers in the Western District Victoria, that the basic wage will double in the next ten years, and that therefore increasing economic centralism was inevitable."
In his election policy speech on October 8, Party leader John McEwen said that 'farmers' costs had more than doubled…"

But these are financial costs, resulting from the very inflationary credit policies, which Mr. Mc Ewen and his colleagues have been supporting. It is blatant hypocrisy for the Government to be charging Mr. Whitlam with advocating an inflationary programme - which, of course, he is while the Government is imposing the same type of programme.
While this programme continues treasurer McMahon's promises about tax relief in the future can be treated as yet another example of the hypocrisy of politicians trying to bribe electors to vote for them.

STUDENT FRONTS

"A student, Paul Jackson, has been expelled from a leading Melbourne Catholic High School, De La Salle for distributing student 'underground' newspapers." - Tribune (Communist) September 24.

The Tribune reveals that Jackson is a member of "Socialist Secondary Students" which was formerly Students Dissent (SID). The change of name for this student front organisation will interest those who attended Mr. Patrick Walsh's lectures on The Student Revolt. In the same issue of The Tribune another well-known Communist Front organisation, the Association for International Co-operation and Disarmament announced the names of a panel of speakers to campaign against Mr. Nigel Bowen in the Federal election. Mr. Robert Wilton son of the Chief of Staff, Mr. John Zarb whose "conscience" has been splattered all over the Australian press, Rev. Stan Moore of the Unitarian Church recently returned from involvement in USA in draft resistance counseling. Also involved is Murray Sime Barrister and Guy Morrison, Journalist. Another important "guest" of the A.I.C.D. is Miss Judith Todd, daughter of former Rhodesian Prime Minister, Garfield Todd, who will lecture under the chairmanship of Dr. Jim Cairns at the Camberwell Civic Centre in Melbourne on November 5.
Election comment authorised by Eric D. Butler, 273 Little Collins St. Melbourne. 3000.