Gorton Challenges Whitlam

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31596, 6 February 1968, Page 13

Gorton Challenges Whitlam

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright)

SYDNEY, Feb. 5.

The Australian Prime Minister (Mr Gorton) today challenged the Federal Labour Party to explain clearly to the public its policy on the Vietnam war.

Speaking at the > Liberal Party’s New South Wales pre-election rally in the Sydney Town Hall, Mr Gorton said the war was the most grievous burden facing the Government.

“We, a nation of 12 million people, equivalent only to the population of London or New York, are doing all that can reasonably be expected of us in this,” he said.

“The Government’s policy is clear. We believe President Kennedy sent United States troops to South Vietnam to help the Government of that country to resist armed attacks upon it

“These attacks were mounted and maintained by the Government of North Vietnam, which continued to send more and more troops into South Vietnam until the action assumed the character of an invasion. “For that reason the Australian Government believed America was right in sending her troops to Vietnam, not because they were to fight Communist aggression but because it was aggression, and aggression in any form cannot be tolerated.” Mr Gorton said Australia was playing its part in the war because she believed the United States was right and because of her reliance on the United States. “We shall continue to do this for as long as it is necessary to deter aggression,” he added. Mr Gorton said the Leader of the Federal Opposition (Mr Gough Whitlam) had publicly stated a policy which called for all bombing of North Vietnamese targets to cease and for the ground war to be turned into “a holding operation,” with allied troops not fighting unless attacked. Mr Whitlam had also stated that if the United States and South Vietnam did not accept such a policy, then Australian troops should be pulled out of the war entirely.

“Since then,” Mr Gorton said, “the- Labour Party’s policy has become little more than vague talk and blurred references. The time has come for the Australian people to be told the exact policy of the Labour Party on the Vietnam war.”

In Melbourne, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr Lance Barnard) had earlier said that Australia should be relieved of its Vietnam commitment so that it could fill the gap left by the British in other parts of Asia. Mr Barnard maintained that Australia should be working to maintain the security of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, but this was economically impossible while she was so strongly committed in Vietnam. “The British decision to withdraw from South-east Asia has left a vacuum in the area of great concern to Australia,” he said. "It would be sensible for us to transfer our major effort to an area where we can make a substantial contribution to peace and security.”

In Singapore today, Australia’s External Affairs Minister (Mr Paul Hasluck) told a press conference that North Vietnam was determined to force a military solution in South Vietnam, preferring that to a peaceful one. Speaking before his departure for Kuala Lumpur, Mr Hasluck commented on the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam.

He said the Communists had demonstrated a capacity to organise and to mount a sizeable offensive. But, he said, they had also demonstrated the fact that their losses in mounting this offensive has been enormous. The offensive had failed, as it was bound to fail, because of the overwhelming superiority of the forces defending South Vietnam.

Commenting briefly on Mr Barnard’s suggestion that Australia should be relieved of its Vietnam commitment so that it could fill the gap left by the British in other parts of Asia, Mr Hasluck said: “Australian defence and Australian security re quire different decisions in different situations. Anyone is completely foolish who starts writing single prescriptions for every possible eventuality.”

Mr Hasluck later arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the second stage of his tour to discuss future defence arrangements in the light of the British withdrawal. He has already had talks with the Singapore Prime Minister (Mr Lee Kuan Yew) and wiU go on to Djakarta in two days’ time and later ti Wellington. This afternoon he had talks with the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister (Tun Abdul Razak) and tomorrow he wiU meet the Prime Minister (Tunku Abdul Rahman). In Brisbane, Mr Whitlam said that antipathy between the United States and Communist China was the gravest problem in South-East Asia. He said he believed Canada, Japan and Australia could together bring about an improvement in relations between the two countries. On Vietnam, Mr Whitlam again came out in support of

“hold and secure” operations against the Viet' Cong. He said he believed the “constant bashing” of the Viet Cong by the United States and her allies would not produce a viable government in South Vietnam. What was needed was “building” on areas cleared of Viet Cong and held securely. He believed most of the South Vietnamese people did not want a Communist government, but the South Vietnamese elections, while “an extremely successful operation,” had not produced a respected Government. “If some of the money spent on bombing went on seeing that public servants were properly paid, on physical improvements, or on health and education, or on marketing, it might be possible to produce a viable Government,” Mr Whitlam said.