OPEN ADVANCE TOWARDS LIBERAL-SOCIALISM

"The Prime Minister, Mr. Gorton, said yesterday that Australia had reached a watershed in its development. Liberal Party policy had changed and would have to change further with this development. The party would have to re-examine some of the basic tenets it had held since 1949, particularly on State and Commonwealth relations and social services" - The Age, Melbourne, October 15.

When Mr. Robert Menzies, as he was then, formed the Australian Liberal Party by bringing together a number of different anti-Socialist Parties and movements, one of the first to write to Mr. Menzies to tell him how much he approved of the new party and its principles, was Mr. John Gray Gorton of Kerang, Victoria. In December 1949, the Chifley Labor Government was toppled primarily because of the widespread unrest amongst electors who feared the Socialistic and restrictive policies of the Labor Party. The open attempt to nationalise the Australian banking system was still vivid in the minds of many Australians.
The principles of the Liberal Party were stated clearly. The Federal system of government, with effective division of powers between Federal and State Governments, was to be preserved against the Labor-Socialist centralisers.

Before the 1949 Federal Elections, every Liberal speaker was familiar with Hayek's great classic, The Road to Serfdom. Many present-day Liberals would immediately say "Right-wing extremism:" if presented with the type of Liberal Party speakers' notes used at that time.
In his 1949 Federal Election policy speech, Sir Robert Menzies said in the plainest language that if elected his Government would "put the shillings back into the pound", the "burden of bureaucracy" was to be reduced, and much else in similar vein. Country Party leader Fadden had said many harsh things about Socialist planners like Dr. H.C. Coombs, Chairman of the Central Reserve Bank.

But the Menzies-Fadden Government found itself unable to implement any of the major pre-election promises. Inflation continued and the bureaucracy to expand. Slowly the Federal system was eroded as the Commonwealth Government used its monopoly of financial power to intrude into more and more State spheres. All the State Governments have now made it clear that they believe that a crisis has been reached, and that the end of State sovereignties and the Federal system is in sight unless the Commonwealth agrees to stop strangling the States.

Prime Minister Gorton's answer is unambiguous: he emerges as an openly declared centralist with exactly the same domestic policy as that of Fabian-Socialist Gough Whitlam. If the Liberal Party is now about to adopt openly the domestic policies of the Labor Party it must now be known as the Liberal-Socialist Party. This important issue must be brought forcefully to the attention of all Liberal Party Members of Parliament, and to all rank and file members. Mr. Gorton uses many of the superficial arguments to justify increased Federal control, all of them advanced by the Socialists over many years.

The Age in the report we have quoted from, provides the following quote from what the Prime Minister said: "There was a time when this party was formed when it was believed, and when it was dogma and unquestionable, that an Australian Government ought to hand out particular sums to say, Queensland or to Western Australia, and for them to spend it as they pleased. I don't think these conditions s prevail any longer".
Clearly Mr. Gorton believes that he and his colleagues at Canberra have greater wisdom about how to spend money than have State Governments. This is a totalitarian concept. Mr. Gorton should be firmly informed that the money he is talking about is not the property of the Federal Government; that it is the people's money, and that the people can better control the spending of their money through a State Government than through a Central Government.

But the Prime Minister puts forward another Socialist argument when he asks "is it not necessary that the Australian Government should be charged with the responsibility of seeing that the economy of Australia as a whole is managed as a whole, so that inflation is kept under control, so that deflation is met by infusion of credit, so that overseas investment keeps coming?"
The suggestion is that if the Federal Government had all the power to manage the Australian economy, present problems would be solved. This is dangerously misleading. The Federal Government already has complete control of credit policy, and it is because of the Fabian Socialist financial policies now being pursued that inflation continues.
Only last week the Central Bank arbitrarily curtailed the credit expansion policies of the Trading Banks.

It is futile for Mr. Gorton to argue that greater defence needs require more power for the Commonwealth at the expense of the States. If artificial financial restrictions are removed, Australian industry can supply a great amount of the nation's military equipment. If equipment has to be bought from overseas, the Federal Government already has adequate powers for this.
Probably because he does not understand the nature of the conspiracy against Civilisation, Mr. Gorton does not grasp that effective defence against that conspiracy requires internal social and economic stability and realistic foreign policies. Increased internal centralised power must inevitably produce more social and economic friction.
And even Mr. Gorton can hardly blame the States and Local Government for his Government's incredible foreign policies such as joining with the Communists and barbarians in increasing pressure on Rhodesia to capitulate to the demands of Fabian-Socialist Harold Wilson.

PRIME MINISTER WILSON FAILS TO PRESSURISE RHODESIAN LEADER

"The Smith-Wilson summit talks on Rhodesia ended in failure tonight. A communiqué, described as an agreed joint statement, said, 'At the end of these talks both sides recognised that a very wide gulf remains between them on certain issues…Earlier, Mr. Smith had told reporters he was very disappointed with his four days of talks with Mr. Wilson aboard the British warship the Fearless in Gibralta harbour, 'The differences are too great', he said" - The Herald, Melbourne, October 14.

Unless Prime Minister Wilson is prepared to make some substantial retreat from his demands to date, he is no closer to reaching an agreement with the Rhodesian Government headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith than he was three years ago. Mr. Smith and his colleagues have always made it clear that they would welcome an agreement with Britain, which would bring an end to sanctions and political and diplomatic isolation. But as time has gone on, it has been Mr. Wilson who has realised that he needs an end to the Rhodesian controversy even more than the Rhodesians do. He initiated the Fearless talks, not Mr. Smith. As usual he attempted with bluff and extreme talk to gain the maximum advantage from the conference before leaving for Gibralta.
In a TV appearance Mr. Wilson said that there might even be bloodshed in Rhodesia if the talks failed.

The British Prime Minister is obviously very badly advised on the internal Rhodesian situation if he believes the nonsense about Mr. Ian Smith "getting rid of some of his racialist extremists". Mr. Harper former Minister for Internal Affairs was asked by Mr. Smith to resign from his Cabinet, not for political reasons but on personal grounds. Lord Graham resigned from the Cabinet because he honestly disagreed with the Government's constitutional proposals. It is utter nonsense and most misleading to describe Lord Graham as a "racial extremist."
His concept of a constitution clearly indicates his concern for the proper advancement politically of the African through the acceptance of responsibility.

The most authentic voice of balanced conservative thinking in Rhodesia is the Candour League's Rhodesia and World Report, a journal that has not been afraid to take an independent line from the Smith Government. The Editor writes in the September issue: "Those who talk loosely of a 'sell-out' and cast suspicions on the integrity of our leaders harm the national cause. This is a democratic country and in the end it is we, the people, who have the final say…"

This is something Mr. Wilson should remember; he is not only dealing with the Rhodesian Government, but with the Rhodesian people. And after three years of effort they are not going to throw away their independence. Unless Mr. Wilson has some real concessions to offer, it is certain that the Battle for Rhodesia will continue and be intensified.

SOVIET ENCIRCLEMENT OF EUROPE CONTINUES

"Russia continued its naval build up in the Mediterranean at the week-end when a guided missile cruiser passed through the Bosphorous from the Black Sea. The number of Russian warships in the Mediterranean is now the highest on record. The biggest in the fleet of 54 ships is the 23,000 ton cruiser-aircraft carrier Moskva. She is carrying helicopters and a force of marines trained along the same lines as British marine commandos." - The Australian, October 15.

The developing Soviet build-up in the Mediterranean, and the penetration of the Arab world under cover of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is a major part of the Soviet strategy for encircling Western Europe. The desperate moves by West German political leaders to enter into negotiations with the Soviet leaders indicates that they realise their extremely critical situation with Soviet forces massed along their borders. According to press reports on October 15, American Secretary of Defence, Mr. Clifford, has told the Germans "The Soviet Government knows that the United States will not tolerate the use of force or the threat of force". This is not likely to bring much comfort to the Germans as they consider how important the NATO forces were to do anything about the use of force in Czechoslovakia.

Last week we dealt with the most alarming significance of the Soviet thrust into Czechoslovakia. Since then we have received further confirmation of our warning that the whole balance of power in Western Europe had been changed by the Soviet move. In a study for the London Daily Telegraph (September 6 and 7) R.H.C. Steed writes:
"The Czech invasion has shown that the Russian forces are ahead of Western estimates of them in speed of mobilisation and concentration, in air and land mobility and in staff work… NATO had also underestimated the extent to which the Russians would assemble troops in peacetime under the guise of maneuvers, and the simplicity with which real intention could, if necessary, be concealed".
Mr. Steed observes that the Soviet now has an overall superiority against NATO of three-to-one, but could easily achieve a ten-to-one superiority at any given point. Military experts now state the Soviet must have taken six months to plan the forward strategic move into Czechoslovakia.

Having achieved such a major victory, the Soviet is now placed for the next thrust. Western Europe now faces a threatened nightmare. What do our foreign "experts" have to say about the state of the world?
Mr. Hasluck informs us that Australian Government policy is to "influence" and "moderate" Soviet policy!

THE WEEK IN BRIEF

The Soviet has shocked the Finns with a surprise visit to Helsinki by Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin on October 9. The Soviet has claimed that there is a growing German threat against Finland. The Finns fear a Czech-style Soviet invasion… Two representatives of the political arm of the Viet Cong, the National Liberation Front, have arrived in Stockholm to open an information office for Scandinavia…

Two villages in the Biafran leper colony town of Uzuakoli have been smashed and 21 people killed in an air attack by a Nigerian jet yesterday. The jets being used are supplied by the Soviet Union…

On October 9 Vice-President Hubert Humphrey of the U.S.A. appealed to the Soviet Union to exercise its influence in North Vietnam now if it wants a "reasonable" man in the White House to negotiate with… More realistically General Curtis Le May, Mr. George Wallace's running mate, called for either the bombing or blockading of the war to stop Soviet supplies to the Viet Cong. thus hastening the end of the war…