AUSTRALIAN MILITIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN MILITIA

"Extension Meets Needs Of • Military Situation" N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright Rec. 10 a.m. SYDNEY., this day. The extension ofc-the service area of Australia's militia to the limits of General Mac Arthur's South-west Pacific command is accepted by war observers in this country as satisfying the complete practical requirements of the present military situation. Severe home criticism of the bill by those Australians who consider that the militia should be free to fight anywhere in the world is based upon moral and psychological grounds. With the large section of Australia's soldiers enlisted in the A.I.P. and with no restrictions placed either upon their service or upon that of the R.A.N, and R.A.A.F. personnel, the Commonwealth is able to send the bulk of its forces wherever the broadest demands of global strategy may dictate. However, judged by the pace of the Allied advance in New Guinea' and the Solomons, the South-west Pacific area is likely to absorb fully the attentions of Australia's fighting men for some time to come. It includes Japan's key South Pacific base of Rabaul, New Britain, as well as many other untouched strongpoints. "Mystification" Overseas Australian correspondents overseas, including New Zealand journalists, have reported "some mystification" concerning the Australian plan for the extended use of the militia. It is felt by the Commonwealth Government that stress has ben placed overseas upon the "restriction" imposed by the Washing-ton-decided limits of General MacArthur's command area rather than upon the "extension" of the militia's service beyond Australian territory. The fact that the Federal Opposition has decided, though "very reluctantly," not to oppose officially the Militia Bill in its present form indicates that the Opposition has some sympathy for the considerations governing the choice of General MacArthur's full sphere of operations as the area of liability for militia service. No Alternative for Opposition The Sydney Morning Herald offers this editorial comment: "Since it seems impossible to amend the Militia Bill without precipitating an upheaval which might result in the loss of even the reform now proposed, the Opposition has no alternative but to accept the measure as it stands and to work for the future abolition of the humiliating restrictions which it imposes." The same paper expresses sympathy with the Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, for his "compelled compromise" with the anti-conscriptionist elements within his own party, but declares that "a bolder handling of the situation, while it would not have Caused any deeper fissure within the Labour movement, would have avoided the unhappy situation in Parliament and mitigated the severity of criticism among our friends abroad." Majority Favours Total War Effort Broadly, Australians may be divided into the formerly powerful but now diminishing section who hold strongly to traditional anticonscriptionist views and to the vast majority who believe that for total war a total effort is required. This latter section is subdivided into: (1) Those who consider that the proposed extension of the militia service area completely meets the present practical requirements of the military situation; and (2) those who are opposed ethically to any restrictions whatsoever on the use of Australia's fighting men. It is this last division which it voicing severe censure of the bill. Its attitude stresses Australia's "moral obligation" to her Allies. The Country party leader, Mr. Fadden, as reported yesterday, has announced the Federal Opposition's acceptance of Mr. Curtin's assurance that the Militia Bill fulfils every practical demand of military strategy in this global war, and it is the moral issue which has motivated antagonism to the bill.