Chemical-Warfare Testing Denied

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31754, 10 August 1968, Page 13

Chemical-Warfare Testing Denied

(N.Z .P A.-Reuter— Copyright)

CANBERRA, August 9.

A firm denial of the existence of a germ or chemical warfare testing ground anywhere in Australia was made yesterday by the Federal Minister of Supply (Senator K. Anderson).

He was commenting on a London report published in a Sydney newspaper claiming the existence of such a testing ground at Innisfail, in northern Queensland. Senator Anderson said that Innisfail had but a joint tropical research unit. The London report claimed Dr Sten Rose, a London research biochemist, as revealing the existence of a germ and chemical-warfare testing ground in Innisfail, after he had given a 8.8. C. broadcast on chemical warfaire on Tuesday. The London report said: ‘“Australia, being one of the signatories of the Quadripartite Pact between Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia, has access to all the information from the other three countries as to new discoveries they make in micro-biological or chemical warfare,” said Dr Hose, in an

exclusive interview today. “ ‘We now know that they have an experimental station, listed as being Innisfail, where they can test any new weapon’.” Senator Anderson said that the tropical research unit at Innisfail—jointly established by the British Ministry of Technology and the Department of Supply—was formed to study the behaviour and degradation of and stores in tropical environments.

He said: “The simple facts are that the unit was not established for the purpose of undertaking chemical and biological warfare tests, and has not been so used. Nor am I aware of any plans to use it for such tests in the future.

“I categorically deny the existence in Australia of a germ or chemical warfare ground,” Senator Anderson said.