BETTER NEWS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 220, 28 June 1943, Page 3

BETTER NEWS

THE POSITION OF AUSTRALIA.

MORE IMPROVEMENT LIKELY.

BROADCAST BY DR. EVATT. (N.Z. Preps Association —Copyright.) (Rec 0.40 a.m.) LONDON. June 27. “The news from Australia is better and is going to be better still,” said the Australian Minister for External Affairs (Dr. Evott). “Not only on land and in the air, but also on the sea things are going to be much more unpleasant for the enemy than they Inn o been for some time.'’

Broadcasting, Dr. Kvatl; told British people that in the past year there had been a notable improvement in the war situation from the Australian viewpoint. As Japan moved southward 15 months ago the fate of Australia and New Zealand looked desperate. However, with help from England and America both the British Dominions remained inviolate and the po>i;’on in the Pacific had now changed from one of deepest gloom to one of hope and reasonable .confidence. “Mr Churchill’s leadership in voir perils is paralleled by his understanding of ours,” said Dr. Evatt. Recently, after the conferences at 'Washington. he and Mr Roosevelt foretold increasing offensive action against Japan in the Pacific. But just as there is really only one enemy there is really only one front—although there are many frontiers. That front; is whoreover our enemies still stand.

“The largest of the frontiers to which free men have rallied iu defence of our cause is the great frontier of the Pacific. Australians, with tiie help of New Zealanders, hold that frontier. But. as we fight we have never forgotten the necessity for unified control and a united purpose. Wo know that supreme war strategy demands an overwhelming attack at chosen points. “But we are also sure that while we break one paid of the line the enemy must not only be hold at all points but oven pressed bac-k That is why the Pacific frontiers must bo.supported and developed. Wo shall reap a harvest from the great victory in Africa and the blows against Europe only if we can hold the enemy in the Pacific and gradually drive him back toward the land where his treachery was born. “Therefore our objective in Australia is not security for ourselves alone so much as increasing insecurity for Japan,” Mr Evatt told listeners. Australian airmen serving with the Royal Air Force breatly outnumbered those serving with their own Royal Australian Air Force. Giving details of the war in New Guinea, he said that at one time 80 per cent, of the Allied troops were suffering from malaria, but : numerically the enemy's total casualties were twice as heavy as ours.

“The Dominions have earned the -right to be heard in planning for peace,’’ claimed Dr. Evatt. “After the last war the Allied nations had the clianee to establish true freedom, but wo fumbled and missed groat opportunities. We neglected our duty toward the youth of our own countries. We allowed unemployment, the dole, and poverty to haunt both the last generation and the present. And if we failed to perform our duty to our neighbours, oven within our own countries. still less did wo perform it toward the weak, helpless and poor of the world. To-day we fight for another chance—and wo cannot ease up either in Europe or in the Pacific.”