Big boost for Aust, defence

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 6

Big boost for Aust, defence

NZPA. Canberra Australia’s . armed forces are to be increased by an additional 5000 men, bringing- their total strength to 76,000, the Defence Minister (Mr Jim Killen) has announced. The recruiting programme is part of a Government decision to boost defence spending over the next five years by an average 7 per cent in real terms. The Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser) had earlier outlined to Parliament the need for a big increase in defence expenditure, as a key part of Australia’s response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Mr Fraser also pledged a -10 per cent increase to $l2O million to aid the Island States of the South Pacific over the next three years to head off possible _ Soviet moves for influence in that area. He reiterated his strong opposition to Australian participat.’ n in the Moscow Olympics and said the Government was active in the organisation of an alternative international games for athletes who could not go to Moscow.

The Oppostion leader (Mr Bill Hayden), in a hard-hit-ting reply, accused the Prime Minister of grandstanding and scare-monger-ing “for the dual objectives of massaging his own ego and of exploiting the issue as a domestic .political distraction.’’