SERVICE OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23800, 20 November 1942, Page 5

SERVICE OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA

USE OF MILITIA FORCES LABOUR CONFERENCE DEFERS DECISION MELBOURNE, Nov. 19. The Federal Labour Conference wa« asked by the Prime Minister of Australia (Mr J. Curtin) yesterday to agree to Parliament amending the De» fence Act, to enable the militia forces to serve in territories in the southwest Pacific as they were proclaimed as being territories associated with the defence of Australia. At present militia service is limited to Australia and territories under Australian control* The delegates decided to adjourn the discussion, refer the matter to their State branches.and reassemble for a special conference not later than the end of December. Mr Curtin’s objective is to place the A.I.F. and the militia on the same operational basis for service where required in the south-west Pacific. The Labour policy in the past has been opposed to sending compulsorily enlisted soldiers outside Australian territories. Mr Curtin’s move came as a great surprise to the conference, as the matter was not listed for discussion, but 'he was given leave to introduce the subject, which was debated at length. Delegates took the view that it did not involve alteration of the Australian Labour Party’s constitution on the question of conscription. When the matter was discussed previously delegates opposed the sending of Australian forces, except volunteers, outside Australia. Mr Curtin, supporting his proposal, claimed that because of the present limitation Allied war plans would .be hampered. They would be faced with the position of having all the Australian forces available for use in some parts of New Guinea, while only the A.I.F. could be used in other parts of that territory. The special Australian correspondent of the New Zealand Press Association says that Mr Curtin told the conference that it was absurd to ask men in stand up to bombs in Darwin and at the same time forbid them to attack the Japanese in Timor, from which the bombers were coming. He added that the Japanese could not be defeated merely by their expulsion from Australian territory, and that they would have to be pursued far beyond its limits before their power was broken. The A.I.F. alone might be insufficient xor this purpose. There was no intention of using the militia in Europe or in other remote theatres, but only in the Pacific, which was vital to the defence of Australia. Labour Conference Criticised The Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr W. M. Hughes) has stated that those opoosing Mr Curtin have ?. “parish pump” outlook. He asked: “What would Australians think if the Australian coast was being invaded and the Americans ?aid, ‘We can come only to a certain parallel of latitude and'longitude, and no further?’ That will be the position if we continue to have two armies and if Australian militiamen art- needed in an emergency outside Australian territory.” Opposition members of the War Advisory Council suggest that the Opposition may raise the question of a united Australian Army at the next session of Parliament. “What a dreadful pickle we would be in if the Japanese decided to retreat to Tc'.yo. We would not be able to tou:h them at all,” says tha Sydney “Daily Telegraph” in a leading article to-day, referring to the decision of the Federal conference of the Australian Labour Party on Mr Curtin’s request for authority to extend the te Tutorial liability of the militia for service beyond Australia and the manda'.tQ territories. Australian commeetr tors are unanimous in praise of Mr Curtin for bringing such a contentious matter before his party conference. Trey are severely critical of the decision of the conference. The “Sydney Morning Herald" says: “It is almost incredible, and it is certainly contemptible, that the supreme Labour body, alter a year of war wits Japan, a year in which soldiers of the American draft have poured into this country and the neighbouring islanos to help in cur defence, should have hesitated to give the Labour Prime Minister the very modest extension of authority over the militia which he has sought.” Ihe newspaper adds; “The issue of wider territorial operations for th? militia, which may hE ,- e been academic in May, when Australia stood precariously on the defensive, has become me of acute military reality and urgency to-day.” - ~ I