Aust. Dissenters Under Fire

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32361, 29 July 1970, Page 17

Aust. Dissenters Under Fire

(HZ. Press Association—Copyright) BRISBANE, July 28. Disillusion among youth in both Australia and America was the result of a Communist propaganda victory, the Australian Minister of Defence (Mr Mdcolm Fraser) said last night, making his second attack in three weeks on illegal forms of dissent and on those who advocated defiance of the law.

Addressing Young Liberals in Brisbane, Mr Fraser said that most young people in Australia had known only an affluent, fully-employed country. “Why, then disillusion?” he asked. Does it revolve entirely around the issues of peace and war? Does it stem entirely from the horror and tragedy, the dismay and disappointment, and the suffering of Vietnam? “Or does it indicate in its entirety a victory for the propaganda machine of our opponents, unable to win on the battlefield? “Can they win in the schools, and on the campuses, and in the homes of America and Australia? “Has it been possible to establish so much disillusion with our* cause that a signi- , ficant minority now believe us to be wrong, that the North Vietnamese are now shrouded in a mantle of justice, with righteousness on ; their side? “If you think I am too far- , fetched in my view, we now ' have members of Parliament , saying that North Vietnam is ; right and that our cause is wrong. “Thus, Australia and a large 1 part of her people became the 1 villians in the minds of many.” 1 Mr Fraser went on: “Dis- ■ sent, by many, now appears ! to accept advocacy of defiance ■ of the law, and defiance oi ! the law itself is a principal ■ technique of dissent. This must be understood. It must 1 be exposed for what it is—- '■ an attempt to break dowr - the constitutional mechanism

and the democratic process of change.” Repeatedly in his speech, Mr Fraser emphasised his concern that those who advocated defiance of the law were no longer restricted to a radical fringe. They embraced members of Parliament in the Australian Labour Party, some ministers of religion, and some schoolteachers, he said.