AUSTRALIAN POLITICS AT CROSSROAD

"Australian politics are at an historic crossroad. It is no exaggeration to say that the whole future course of our major political parties could depend upon the results of the Federal elections on October 25. . . Not since the Liberal Party swept into office in 1949 has its outlook undergone the drastic changes Mr. Gorton has made since he assumed its leadership and for which he will be seeking public endorsement at the polls. In just 18 months Mr. Gorton has questioned such basic Liberal Party philosophies as federalism and imposed distinct centralist control on the national finances, even dictating to the States what taxes they can impose and what deficits they can budget for." - Allan Barnes, Canberra correspondent, The Age, (Melbourne) Aug. 27.

A study of the Australian press reveals that there is solid support for Mr. Gorton's "new look" amongst the "pragmatists" like Mr. Douglas Wilkie, all of whom have welcomed the "realism" of the new Freeth - Gorton foreign policy. Mr. David Solomon of The Australian, a typical left-wing liberal, writes that "A solid government victory - particularly if carried through in the face of DLP opposition, would do more to change the structure of Australian politics than any other event since the Labor Party split 15 years ago."
Mr. Solomon is correct when he says that "At stake ... is the future development of the Liberal Party if the Australian electors endorse the dramatic shifts in Liberal Party philosophy and policies, this will be one of the most disastrous votes in Australian political history. It would be a vote for national suicide.

In The Age of August 27, Mr. Allan Barnes quotes a Leftwing intellectual as having said at a private dinner in Canberra that "The best thing that could happen at the election, he argued, would be a strong vote for Mr. Gorton a vote against Mr. Gorton would end the reform of the Liberal Party. It would bring a return to conservation and strengthen the hand of the DLP."
There is no doubt that the future of the DLP may also be vitally affected by the coming Federal Elections.

If Prime Minister Gorton and his Foreign Minister Freeth persist with their views concerning the possibility of a future "security pact" with the Soviet Union, and refuse to make any concessions to the pressure of the DLP, then the DLP has no alternative but to demonstrate that it has the capacity to discipline the Government by making a contribution to a major reduction in the Government's majority. If the DLP refuses to call for electoral sanctions, or if it does call for them without success, its future as a decisive political force will be in serious jeopardy. Any serious loss of parliamentary representatives by the Country Party would intensify the campaign by those Liberals who believe that the Country Party should be eliminated. It is clear to those who understand the real issues, both domestic and external, involved in the coming Federal Elections, that a major essential is that the Gorton Government's policy be reduced sufficiently to enable the genuine realists in the Government parties to assert themselves. A vote of censure will enable men like Sir Wilfrid Kent-Hughes to have some influence.

FRANCE MOVES TOWARDS MORE REVOLUTION

"Hundreds of Frenchmen are keeping a close watch on prices this summer by order of the Government. They work to a pattern. They go into shops, check the prices being paid by consumers and, if these are too high, give a report to the Government price control office…Stiff fines face offenders against the freeze, which blocks prices of industrial products, together with profit margins at all stages of distributions." - The Herald, (Melbourne) September 2.

The savage austerity programme being imposed upon the French is part of the price the French Government of President Pompidou is being compelled to pay as a result of borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. This is the same type of price the British have been paying since their Fabian Socialist Prime Minister put them under the domination of the International Credit Monopoly - a monopoly established, never let it be forgotten, by the secret top Communist in the American Treasury Department, Harry Dexter White, in association with top Fabian Socialist Lord Keynes from the United Kingdom.
While present financial policies of increasing debt and heavy taxation are maintained, it is axiomatic that inflation must continue, and any rigid attempt to halt it must inevitably result in a major economic breakdown. The French Communists are awaiting their chance.

THE PHONY SINO - SOVIET CONTROVERSY

"The Russians have assembled an impressive weight of unproven circumstantial allegation to show that the Chinese stage-managed the latest and most dangerous of clashes on the Sino - Soviet border in Sinkiang, but it is hard to believe Peking would have chosen this remote region in Central Asia for a trial of strength with the Soviet Union." - Dennis Bloodworth, from Singapore, in The Age, (Melbourne) September 2.

Periodically over recent years sensational headlines in the daily press have claimed that the Soviet Union and Red China have been on the "brink" of a major war. It is astonishing how quite intelligent people uncritically accept these reports, which are not based upon the observations of independent journalists or photographers. The outside world has to rely upon reports from either Moscow or Peking concerning the long border between the two Communist nations. Why should we believe what either Moscow or Peking says? We laugh at some of the incredible lies they tell about Western Nations. Both Moscow and Peking are notorious liars, and the propaganda they issue for international consumption should be taken with the usual "grain of salt."

It is obviously absurd that Peking would provoke the Soviet Union, to a major military clash in the very Sinkiang area where they have their six major nuclear installations. This includes the Lop Nor testing grounds from which the Red Chinese are expected to launch their first intercontinental ballistic missile in the early 1970s. China also obtains most of her oil and uranium from this area. There is a real conflict between Moscow and Peking, primarily for leadership of the world Communist movement, and about the best tactics to be applied to destroying the common "capitalist" enemy.

The Soviet is skillfully exploiting the fear of Red China to advance its own much more advanced global strategy, into the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia. It was ten years ago that the Marxists were starting to consolidate their first major base in the Western Hemisphere, in Cuba under Fidel Castro. Recently a major Soviet Naval force visited Cuba. Contradicting the inspired stories of friction between Castro and the Soviet, Orlando Castro Hidalgo, former high-level Cuban intelligence officer who defected to the U.S.A. has revealed that Castro is actively assisting the Soviet to strengthen their grip. Under a new 1968 Soviet-Cuba agreement, the Soviet began sending additional technicians to strengthen the force of 8,000 "advisers" who stayed on after the 1962 crisis. The main mission of the new technicians is to prepare and maintain naval and air bases for the Soviet missile-firing ships, submarines, and planes which it is planned to base on this most strategic island.

According to Castro Hidalgo, the construction of Soviet shipyards at Bassra, Iraq and at Alexandra, Egypt, has extended the reach of Soviet air and sea power to the Suez Canal and Persian Gulf. This network is now being extended into Algeria. With an eye to securing control of the Indian Ocean, the Soviet has been developing bases in Somaliland. Bases are also being sought in Cambodia and North Vietnam. According to documents Castro Hidalgo has turned over to the U.S.A. authorities, the Soviet's master plan calls for a link up of all these bases, including those in Cuba, to protect Soviet forces operating in any part of the world.

The outward movement of Soviet military power will, stresses Castro Hidalgo, see an increase in both the militancy of "national-liberation" wars and movements and in direct strategic support for them in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Are you listening Mr. Gorton and Mr. Freeth?

Exploiting anti-Chinese feeling in Indonesia, the Soviet is working its way back into favour. Generous terms have been given concerning Indonesia's massive debts to the Soviet. In Malaysia the Soviet is planning to break into the Far East rubber trade. The Soviet is now taking 30% of Malaysia's rubber. It continues to pour military equipment and economic aid into North Vietnam where Hanoi has recently made it clear that there is no early end to the fighting in South Vietnam.
Australian boys continue to die in this Soviet-backed war of "liberation." Mr. Freeth and Mr. Gorton please note.

BIG EVENTS

THE INTERNATIONAL CHESS BOARD

Eric Butler comments:

It is true that the Australian Government can do nothing about increasing Soviet naval activity in the Indian Ocean. But this is no reason to suggest that the Soviet should be accepted as a possible partner in a "security pact." The Freeth-Gorton suggestion, put forward without any prior consultation with the Cabinet, can only mean that its authors seriously believe it possible that Australia and the nations of South-East Asia could safely offer the Soviet military and naval bases. It is chilling to realise that this revolutionary thought could be expressed at the very time of the first anniversary of the Soviet's major military thrust into Czechoslovakia.

In Moscow the Soviet paper Pravda has warmly welcomed the proposed change of policy by the Gorton Government. Generally unnoticed in the controversy following the Freeth-Gorton foreign policy statement, was the fact that a Soviet naval squadron has recently visited the island of Mauritius. Attempting to exploit the economic problems of newly "independent" Mauritius, the Soviet is seeking bases astride the oil and trade routes across the Indian Ocean.

Prime Minister Gandhi of India has, much to the pleasure of Moscow, moved India dramatically towards more Socialism with her successful campaign of support for Mr. Giri as India's new President. Mrs. Gandhi is making it clear that she proposes to intensify her Socialist moves. She is being closely advised by the former foreign Minister in the late Pandit Nehru's Cabinet, Mr. Krishma Menon, a man with a long pro-Communist background. Soviet influence continues to grow and unless a miracle occurs, India's future looks bleak.
One of the Soviet's major objectives is to obtain Indian naval bases for its Indian Ocean naval forces.

As tension mounts to new heights in the Middle East the Soviet has pointedly displayed its massive naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean. With a total of over 60 vessels, probably 63, the Soviet armada is the biggest yet to operate outside the Soviet's home waters. A dramatically expanding naval force is a major feature of the Soviet's global strategy. In testimony before a U.S. Congressional Committee, Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover, pioneer of the American nuclear submarine fleet, has expressed his grave concern about the growth of the Soviet Naval strength. It already had a much larger number of conventional submarines than the U.S.A. and by the end of 1970 would have superiority in the number of nuclear submarines.

But these developments do not appear to worry Prime Minister Gorton, who light-heartedly expresses his view that he did not believe that Australia was threatened militarily for "at least 10 years." If the Soviet makes the same progress over the next ten years that it has over the past ten years, Australia could then be hopelessly isolated.