RESPONSIBILITIES AT HOME AND ABROAD

"Within five years there will be no white armed combat troops inside Asia." - Dr. J. F. Cairns, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Parliament, March 4.

One of the major setbacks suffered by the communists and their agents in this country was the decision of the present Government to keep troops in South East Asia after the proposed British pull out in 1970. Any policy, or any decision which indicates there is strength and purpose left in the enemies of communism will result in howls of anguish from the fellow travelers and dupes of the communists…However as Dr. Malcolm Mackay remarked in the parliamentary debate on the Government's decision the remarks of Dr. Cairns (reproduced above) are not the words of quick reaction. "They came with the repetition of the confident assertion of an operations-room briefing."

Dr. Cairns makes it clear that he considers the presence of Australian troops in Vietnam constitutes violence on our part against the North Vietnamese who are serving the cause of the communist conspiracy. At the same time he urges his own troops spearheaded by academics and student revolutionaries into acts of violence against the forces of law and order of the country in which he was born and bred.

On this day of Anzac we should pause and think for a moment of the true meaning of patriotism. To love one's country has become almost a crime. With many of those who reproduce the effects of modern "social studies," patriots are suspect as being against "progress." Nationalism is under attack as being the force which stops true understanding of other people. Modern education elevates internationalism as superior to nationalism and forms a basis on which socialists peddle their wares. This was brought out clearly in the Canadian spy trials in the fifties when many of those found guilty of betraying their country pleaded that they did so in the interests of an international society.
Private property and nationalism are an extension of one another.

A recent report from a liberal Country League conference in South Australia draws attention to the attack upon the institution of private property in propaganda put out by the United Nations. The institution of private property and the quality of individual initiative with competition ensures the people of a nation reproduce the best of what they have to offer. The British, whose patriotism, loyalty to God, Queen and Country made them great, and inspired words of love for their native land such as those of Sir Walter Scott in our Thought for the Week, were great so long as they were loyal nationalists.
Now stuck in the mire of international socialism imposed from within and without, they have been forcibly stripped of their greatness.

Socialism, the creed of envy and coveting the gains of others, cannot abide the concept that as one would fight for and protect one's own plot of earth, family and nation, so should those who clearly hold these things to be of value, also fight that others should have the same rights, whether they be Vietnamese, Tibetans, Chinese, Russians or the enslaved peoples of Communism.
Dr. Cairns and his fellow socialists are fearful that while one nation, Australia, even tenuously extends the hand of help to others against the forces of tyranny it will constitute a rallying point around which the forces of national freedom can be rebuilt.

THE CURTIN BY-ELECTION

"The Federal Government will review the pensions means test following its rebuff in the Curtin by-election in Western Australia at the weekend," - The Age, April, 21.

Twenty per cent of the vote went to the independent candidate standing for the abolition of the means test. This was undoubtedly a censure of the Governments economic policies. By-elections generally reflect domestic, rather than international or foreign policy issues. A recent Gallup poll showed that a greater percentage of Australian people found it harder to make ends meet, that the value of money was lower than at any period since the war. Comparative figures of similar polls taken every few years were given. The abolition of the means test will not help the situation one iota if it is financed out of consolidate revenue as pensions are at the moment.

Those people over 60 or 65 receiving the pension will find that the value of the dollar will depreciate that much more under present economics as to make the extension of pensions to all of no economic gain. The Government refuses to depart from the principle of financing all social service payments out of the current revenue collected through taxation and other imposts on the community. Thus pensions are a part of the financial cost structure carried by every producer of goods and services in the country.

If the Government decides to abolish the means test under the present rules it will increase taxation and force up the cost structure, which in turn will bring increased prices and a further devaluation of the currency. People on fixed incomes such as pensioners will be worse off. However on past performances the Government will be forced to release additional credit into the community when costs are forced up. Therefore any realistic attempt to alleviate the problem of those on fixed incomes must be centred on the utilisation of such credit as direct purchasing power to the consumer, in this case the pensioner. The injection of such credit into the community via the pensioner would bring down costs. Also as it is readily agreed that pensioners are living on a subsistence level, the increased purchasing power would help buy surplus production. As efficiency increased, and fewer and fewer individuals were involved in the productive system, the pension; as a measurement of financial credit against the real credit, (production of goods and service) could be increased and the age when the pension is payable should be. Thus a true measurement of progress would take place.

SPY SCANDAL SPECULATION

"A top agent of the Russian secret service has defected to the West and 'blown the gaff" on a whole ring of Soviet agents in Europe and the U. S., the Baltimore Sun reported today" - The Herald April 21.

The report is linked with the arrest of a top American UNESCO official by Scotland Yard and Intelligence officers in England. According to the Baltimore Sun "dozens of Americans and others are to be arrested" on the basis of the disclosures made by the defecting agent. It is an intriguing thought as to just how many Kim Philby's, George Blake's and other are operating in the West. Undoubtedly the removal of all the present top agents of the conspiracy would be a setback for the Soviet, if this could be achieved. The question remains of eradicating the basic sickness, which works for communism and against those who are courageous enough to stand up against it.

Reports from America tell of Democratic Congressmen being penalized for their support of George Wallace. One such was Representative J. Rarick who in World War II was a prisoner of the Nazis and is now demeaned by his own party for his opposition to red fascism. In a speech to the House of Representatives Rarick said I have felt tyranny and I say with clear conscience that I had rather be last and free to represent my people than first as a political prostitute. Scars of persecution in support of Constitutional government become badges of honor and respect in the hearts of free men, I will not compromise my duty."
If such men can be found in any number in the West there may be some chance of dealing with the cancer of Communism. The Liberal Government in Australia could do with such men to deal with the student rioters and their backers.

FLIGHT ON ANGUILLA

"Those who have been following the Anguilla affair know that he has become the only British negotiator trusted by the self-elected former president of the island Ronald Webster" - The Herald, April 12.

The above reference is to Lord Caradon, previously Sir Hugh Foot. The fact that Mr. Webster will entrust no one but Lord Caradon to represent him in negotiation makes it clear on what side of the fence Mr. Webster sits. As Hugh Foot, Lord Caradon was one of the chief agents engaged in the task of selling off the British Empire to socialists and communists. One of his major achievements was negotiating the "independence" of Cyprus to Makarios, who with General Grivas was responsible for terrorising civilians, and shooting British servicemen's wives and children as a means of gaining their objective. He graduated to the spiritual home of many international socialists, the United Nations, and as a member of the Trusteeship Council headed a mission to New Guinea which recommended early self government for the native people. So ludicrous were the recommendations made by his team that "putting the Foot in it" became a common way of describing any half-baked suggestion for New Guinea's future. Mr. Webster's close association with "the Foot", makes much clearer his own aspirations in Anguilla. Perhaps another strategic Cuba?

CANADA'S FAR REACHING DECISION ON NATO

Mr. Eric Butler reports from Canada on the significance of the Trudeau Government's policy concerning NATO:

After many months of speculation, during which Prime Minister Trudeau said that his Government was engaged in a foreign policy review, the Trudeau Government's statement on Canada's future role, in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has pleased very few. It is generally believed that it was only opposition within his own party and public opinion, which eventually forced Mr. Trudeau to state that Canada was not withdrawing immediately from NATO.
Nationally known columnist Charles Lynch has summed up as follows:
Prime Minister Trudeau does not enjoy bending to pressures, but he put a pretty good face on it yesterday when he announced foreign and defence policies that did not fit his own convictions... Had it been left to him, he would have removed nuclear weapons from Canada's arsenal, and probably would have terminated our military role in NATO, cutting our military budget in half in the process.
However, Prime Minister Trudeau has made it clear that his Government will be taking early steps for what he describes as a "planned and phased reduction of the size of the Canadian forces in Europe."
This statement does not specify what reduction there is to be.

In answer to questions, Mr. Trudeau has refused to state anything precise about the size of the reductions, nor has he stated what is to be done with the Canadian forces brought back to Canada. One result has been widespread criticism of a statement which David Lewis, deputy leader of the Socialist New Democratic Party has described as "meaningless, imprecise and confusing." The NDP quite openly wants immediate and complete Canadian withdrawal from NATO. Mr. Trudeau states that his Government has only reached Stage One of its NATO review. Stage two will be announced later.

The Trudeau Government had planned a 20 per cent reduction of the six squadrons in the Air Division last year, before the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, but this was postponed at the NATO meeting in late November. Reactions to the Trudeau Government's NATO policy have been made clear in Washington and London, with increased demand in Washington that the U.S.A should also reduce its forces in Western Europe.
In opposing a Canadian cutback of its forces in NATO British Ministers Stewart (Foreign Affairs) and Healey (Defence) had anticipated that any Canadian reduction in NATO forces would increase pressure in the U.S. Congress for a cut-back in American troops. Any American reduction must have serious effects on the West Germans, who as a result of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia have been seriously questioning the reliability of NATO.
One of the Soviet's most important strategic objectives in Western Europe is to force Germany out of NATO. Influential voices in West Germany are already suggesting that because of the growing impotence of the West, West Germany should seriously consider closer relations with the Soviet Union and a policy of neutralism, in order to re-unite West and East Germany.

Prime Minister Trudeau received a good press when he visited President Nixon, and there is no doubt that Canadian policies have some influence on Washington policies.