DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

Northern Advocate, 19 January 1944, Page 2

DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

REALISING that the islands lying to the north of Australia, and studding the south and south-west Pacific, may be either springboards from which an anemy might launch attacks on Australia and New Zealand, or points fiom which the Commonwealth and the Dominion might be defended against enemy attack, the Canberra conference has decided that islands should be converted into a screen to preserve the strategic isolation of the two countries, whose security, as Mr. Cm tin has pointed out, is linked with that of adjoining islands. It is therefore urged that those islands should be developed as bases controlled by Australia and New Zealand m co-operation with Britain and friendly Powers. First, of course, the islands must be wrenched from Japanese hands, a task which is progressing satisfactorily, after which decision must be made as to the location of bases, the strength of Dominion forces available for the maintenance of defence, and the assistance that would be forthcoming from other parts of the Empire and other nations linked in any system of Empire and international co-operation. Australia and New Zealand, it is indicated, must look aftei their own houses to a greater extent than in the past, but there is an admission that if they did not have the moral and material support of others also interested in the maintenance of peace in the Pacific, they would not be able to ensure their own security. The Australian and New Zealand representatives at Canberra clearly recognise that the defence of their countries is largely dependent upon air and sea power, for which they must look to Britain in considerable measure, but there is obviously agreement that the United States, the Netherlands East Indies and France must participate in the defence of Australia and New Zealand no less than the defence of the Pacific generally. It is suggested that the proposals of the Canberra conference should be studied by the defence staffs of the two countries, discussed by the respective Governments and later at a further joint conference, before being submitted to a conference of Empire Prime Ministers at London for examination and report. If this outcome of the conference is given the suggested consideration at the earliest moment it should be possible to have a matured plan ready for submission when the day for the framing of post-war policies arrives.