BATTLE OF AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1942, Page 2

BATTLE OF AUSTRALIA

PRIME MINISTER’S WARNING CANBERRA?February 16. “The fall of Singapore opens the battle for Australia. Singapore is our Dunkirk.” With these warning words, the Prime Minister of Australia (Mr. Curtin) declared: “Everything we have, everything which belongs to us must now be mobilised.” Mr. Curtin said the Government was now fully convinced that a Japanese attack on Australia was inevitable. “On the battle for Australia,” proceeded Mr. Curtin, “will depend not merely the fate of the Commonwealth but the frontier of the United. States, indeed of all the Americas, and therefore, the fate of the English-speaking world.” He would be a very dull person who did not accept the fall of Singapore as involving a completely new situation. The battle of Australia demand what the Battle ofBritain required. The service and complete devotion of Britons in their defence of the Homeland applied with equal force to Australians for the defence of Australia. “Our honevmoon is finished. We must work and fight as never before. Every citizen has a parallel duty to that of the man in the fighting forces. Hours previously devoted to sport and leisure must now be given to the duties of war.” CABINET MEETING CANBERRA, February 16. . The full Cabinet will assemble in Sydnev to-morrow, followed by a meeting of the War Cabinet, which is regarded as the most vital in the Commonwealth’s history. The Minister for the Army (Mr. Forde) announced that secret moves, decided upon weeks ago in the belief that Singapore would not be held—including large-scale movements of troops and aircraft— were already being carried out. Mr. Forde told interviewers that he had no information whether Australian troops had been moved from Singapore Island, and also that he had no further news about Australian troops in New Guinea and Amboina. “NO SURRENDER” POLICY. (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) SYDNEY-, Feb. 17. A policy of “no surrender,’ m the most-literal sense of the term, is likely to be put before the people of Australia by the Federal Government,. alter the fateful meetings of Cabinet and the War Council in Sydney today and to-morrow, says the ‘ Heral< The Minister for the Army said: It is the considered view of the Commonwealth Government that the situation in the Pacific is capable of control. The Government is doing its utmost. There is no need and no time for dismay, although it would be foolish to try and conceal from the people the gravity of the situation. Australians’ existence depends on their working or fighting.