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Deputy Leader of the Opposition

D216/84

NEWS RELEASE BY JOHN HOWARD M.P.

ADDRESS TO B'NAI B'RITH COMBINED MEETING, B'NAI B'RITH  CENTRE, 22 YURONG STREET, EAST SYDNEY, SUNDAY, 18 NOVEMBER, 198A

RACE AND PEACE .

IN 198A AUSTRALIANS HAVE SPENT MORE THAN THE USUAL AMOUNT OF  TIME DISCUSSING AND DEBATING ISSUES RELATED TO IMMIGRATION, RACISM AND MORE RECENTLY, PEACE AND DISARMAMENT,

THESE ISSUES MAY ON THE SURFACE APPEAR UNRELATED, HOWEVER,  HISTORICALLY THERE ARE CONSIDERABLE LINKAGES BETWEEN THEM,

I BELIEVE THAT AUSTRALIA IS FUNDAMENTALLY A TOLERANT SOCIETY.

IN CERTAIN CIRCLES THIS IS AN UNFASHIONABLE VIEW, INDEED IN  RECENT YEARS WHAT IS VIRTUALLY AN INDUSTRY HAS BEEN CREATED  TO ARGUE THE CONTRARY VIEW.

BUT THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, AUSTRALIA HAS BEEN A MIGRANT  SOCIETY PAR EXCELLENCE. YET THERE HAS BEEN ALMOST-MINIMAL RACIAL  CONFLICT,

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Parliament House, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600

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OF COURSE, THE TREATMENT METED OUT TO OUR ABORIGINAL  POPULATION IN EARLIER YEARS IS LESS THAN CREDITABLE.

TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY REMAIN ONE OF THE MORE DISADVANTAGED  GROUPS IN THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY THEY ARE BEST ASSISTED  NOT BY EXCESSES OF THE LAND RIGHTS APPROACH OF THE PRESENT  GOVERNMENT BUT THROUGH PARTICULAR PROGRAMMES WHICH REMOVE

AREAS OF NEED.

CERTAINLY SOME AUSTRALIANS TEND TO MAKE DEROGATORY COMMENTS  ABOUT CERTAIN RACIAL GROUPS. BUT AT THE INDIVIDUAL OR PERSONAL  LEVEL THERE HAS BEEN A REMARKABLE DEGREE OF ACCEPTANCE OF NEWLY  ARRIVED MIGRANTS.

I DO NOT SEEK TO COVER OVER THE OBVIOUS TENSIONS THAT HAVE  EXISTED AND CONTINUE TO EXIST, BUT COMPARED WITH OTHER  NATIONS - WHITE, B U C K  OR BROWN - AUSTRALIA HAS A TRULY  REMARKABLE RECORD. I TRUST IT CAN BE MAINTAINED,

IT VIRTUALLY GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT IN LIVING MEMORY NO  INDIVIDUALS HAVE SUFFERED MORE FROM RACIAL PERSECUTION THAN  THE JEWISH COMMUNITY,

THE MEMORIES OF HITLER'S EXTERMINATION CAMPS BEAR WITNESS  TO THIS FACT.

IT IS TRULY REGRETTABLE THAT IN THE LAST FEW YEARS CERTAIN  INDIVIDUALS HAVE EMERGED WHO ARE WILLING TO WHITEWASH THE  NAZI REGIME, TO C U I M  THAT THE SIX MILLION DEAD WAS A GIGANTIC  HOAX AND TO SUGGEST HITLER REALLY MEANT SOMETHING ELSE WHEN HE

CALLED FOR "THE COMPLETE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS".

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ALL THOSE WHO VALUE HISTORICAL  TRUTH CONFRONT THIS VILE DISTORTION WITH THE ABUNDANT  EVIDENCE THAT EXISTS CONCERNING THE AIMS AND PRACTICES  OF THE NAZI REGIME.

BUT IF WE ARE TO BE REALISTIC ABOUT RACISM SO TOO WE  SHOULD BE REALISTIC ABOUT PEACE.

IF IT HAD NOT BEEN FOR THE ALLIED VICTORY IN 1945 THERE  SCARCELY WOULD HAVE BEEN A JEW OR A GYPSY LEFT.IN THE WHOLE  OF EUROPE.

HITLER'S "FINAL SOLUTION" WAS SMASHED BY FORCE OF ARMS.

THE NAZI WAR ON EUROPE WAS STOPPED BY THE ALLIED ARMIES.

THE GATES OF THE EXTERMINATION CAMPS WERE OPENED BY ALLIED  SOLDIERS - NOT BY MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH PACIFIST SOCIETY,  HOWEVER WELL INTENTIONED THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

IT IS ALSO TIMELY TO REMEMBER THAT IF THOSE SAME ALLIES  HAD BEEN MORE VIGILANT ABOUT THE RISE OF NAZISM AND LESS NAIVE  ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF MILITARY UNPREPAREDNESS, THEN PERHAPS  SOME OF THE HOLOCAUST MIGHT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED,

THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN PACIFISM. WE HAVE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE.  BRITAIN IN THE 1930S WAS FULL OF WELL-INTENTIONED PEOPLE WHO  SINCERELY BELIEVED THAT UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT WAS THE ONLY WAY  TO LASTING PEACE,

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THEY COULD BE FOUND AT THE OXFORD UNION IN 1933  SUPPORTING THE MOTION THAT "THIS HOUSE HILL IN NO  CIRCUMSTANCES FIGHT FOR ITS KING AND COUNTRY" OR  PARTICIPATING IN THE OCTOBER 1934 PEACE BALLOT,

THEIR POLITICAL LEADERS COULD BE FOUND IN BOTH  THE LABOR AND CONSERVATIVE PARTIES BUT NEVILLE  CHAMBERLAIN BECAME THEIR CONSTANT SPOKESMAN.

THE LESSONS OF THE 1930s DEMONSTRATE THAT PACIFISM  IN THE FACE OF AGGRESSION DOES NOT AND CANNOT HORK

IN 1940 BRITAIN FOUND ITSELF VIRTUALLY ALONE. IT  HAD THE SUPPORT OF ITS COMMONWEALTH ALLIES  INCLUDING CANADA AND AUSTRALIA, BUT FRANCE HAD  SURRENDERED. THE SOVIET UNION WAS A PARTNER IN

THE NOTORIOUS HITLER-STAUN PACT. AND THE U.S.A.  WAS OFFICIALLY NEUTRAL.

THE HEADY DAYS OF APPEASEMENT HAD RESULTED IN  VALUABLE TIME LOST. THE END RESULT WAS NEARLY  FATAL FOR WESTERN DEMOCRACIES.

THE LESSONS OF THE 1930s ARE STILL RELEVANT FIFTY  YEARS LATER.

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HOWEVER, THEY TAKE ON A NEW URGENCY AND INTENSITY  DUE TO THE POSSESSION BY A NUMBER OF COUNTRIES OF  WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

ALTHOUGH THERE IS MUCH IN THE PAST WHICH SHOULD GUIDE US  IT.MUST ALSO BE REALISED WE NOW LIVE IN A PERIOD QUITE  UNLIKE ANY THE WORLD HAS PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED.

I AM IN FAVOUR OF MULTILATERAL UNIVERSAL DISARMAMENT - AS  ARE ALL PEOPLE WHO GENUINELY BELIEVE IN PEACE.

BUT I AM STRONGLY OPPOSED TO UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT - BECAUSE  I BELIEVE IT LEADS IN THE END TO WAR, NOT PEACE.

THE DUTY OF ALL WESTERN GOVERNMENTS - INCLUDING AUSTRALIA -  IS TO WORK TIRELESSLY TO BRING ABOUT EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL  DISARMAMENT AGREEMENTS.

THE OPPOSITION STRONGLY SUPPORTS THE EFFORTS OF THE UNITED  STATES TO ACHIEVE THIS END.

IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO WORLD PEACE IF THE  WESTERN DEMOCRACIES WERE TO UNILATERALLY ABANDON THEIR NUCLEAR  OR CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS AND LEAVE THE FREE WORLD AT RISK FROM  DICTATORSHIPS OF THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT.

EVEN IF THE WESTERN POWERS DID DISARM, THIS WOULD NOT LEAD  TO WORLD PEACE. THERE WOULD STILL BE MANY ARMED DICTATORSHIPS  OF ONE KIND OR ANOTHER WHICH WOULD BE CAPABLE OF WAGING WAR -

EITHER NUCLEAR OR CONVENTIONAL.

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I AM VERY SYMPATHETIC TO THE GENUINE AND SINCERE  PEACE-MAKER. THERE CAN BE NO NOBLER CAUSE.

HOWEVER/ I AM CONSCIOUS THAT, IN OUR QUEST FOR  PEACE, WE DO NOT TAKE ACTIONS THAT WILL  UNINTENTIONALLY ENCOURAGE AN AGGRESSOR OR  POTENTIAL AGGRESSOR.

THOSE WHO CAMPAIGNED FOR PEACE IN THE 1930s WERE  WELL-MOTIVATED AND SINCERE. BUT THE UNINTENDED  CONSEQUENCE OF THE APPEASEMENT POLICIES OF THE  CHAMBERLAIN GOVERNMENT WAS TO ENCOURAGE NAZI  AGGRESSION AND TO FACILITATE THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT  BY MEANS OF WHICH HITLER AND STALIN BRUTALLY

DIVIDED UP EASTERN EUROPE BETWEEN 1939 AND 1941.

THE SOVIET UNION HAS DEMONSTRATED BY ITS ACTIONS  IN AFGHANISTAN AND ELSEWHERE THAT IT IS A  MILITARISTIC AGGRESSIVE POWER.

IN AN ARTICLE IN THE AUGUST 1984 ISSUE OF COMMENTARY  RICHARD PIPES WROTEi

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"THE CAUSES OF SOVIET AGGRESSIVENESS ARE  VARIED AND MANY, SOME OF THEM BEING  ROOTED IN RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY, OTHERS IN MARXIST-LENINIST THEORY AND

PRACTICE, BUT PERHAPS THE SINGLE MOST  IMPORTANT OF THESE CAUSES RESIDES IN  THE FACT THAT THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS  DEPENDENCIES ARE RUN BY SELF-APPOINTED

AND SELF-PERPETUATING ELITES WHOSE  EXTRAORDINARY POWER, PRIVILEGES, AND  WEALTH CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED IN ANY OTHER  WAY THAN BY THE ALLEGED THREAT OF

'IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION' TO THE COUNTRIES  THEY RULE. THEIR STATUS IS THUS DIRECTLY  RELATED TO THE LEVEL OF INTERNATIONAL  TENSION. ... IT IS THROUGH AGGRESSION  .  ABROAD THAT THE COMMUNIST ELITE BEST

SAFEGUARDS ITS POSITION AT HOME,"

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE SOVIET UNION WOULD BECOME LESS AGGRESSIVE IF THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER ÃÂ,Ã‘,ÃÂ¤.ÃÂ.

FORCES DISARMED,

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THE TOTAL UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT OF THE N.A.T.O. FORCES  WOULD NOT RID THE WORLD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, THERE IS NO  EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THE U.S.S.R., CHINA OR EVEN  FRANCE WOULD FOLLOW SUIT,

THE FACT IS THAT THERE COULD STILL BE A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST  EVEN IF THE U.S.A. AND THE U.K. WERE TO IMMEDIATELY GET RID  OF ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

IN THE FOUR DECADES BETWEEN 1914 AND 1945 THERE WERE TWO  WORLD WARS THAT CAUSED THE DEATH OF ABOUT 80 MILLION PEOPLE.

IN THE FOUR DECADES SINCE 1945 THERE HAS BEEN NO INTERNATIONAL  CONFLAGRATION - ALTHOUGH MANY HAVE DIED IN PROTRACTED REGIONAL  WARS.

THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE EXISTENCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS  HAD NOT LED TO WAR BUT, RATHER/APPEARS TO HAVE HINDERED IT.

INDEED, PROFESSOR MICHAEL HOWARD, WHO CAN HARDLY BE CHARACTERISED  AS A MILITARIST, COMMENTED IN HIS 1984 DEAKIN MEMORIAL  LECTURE! .

"PARADOXICALLY ... A WORLD WITHOUT NUCLEAR  WEAPONS, BUT WHICH POSSESSED ALL THE TECHNICAL  KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO RECREATE THEM, MIGHT STAND  IN GREATER DANGER OF NUCLEAR WAR THAN ONE IN WHICH THESE  WEAPONS ALREADY EXIST. FOR SO LONG AS THEY EXIST, THE VERY POSSIBILITY OF THEIR USE I S A

SPINE-CHILLING PROSPECT WHICH KEEPS AT LEAST

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THE GREATER POWERS OF THE WORLD  QUITE LITERALLY IN ORDER",

JAPAN IS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF  A NUCLEAR ATTACK,

THOSE WHO ADVOCATE UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT SHOULD ASK  THEMSELVES ONE CENTRAL QUESTION: IS IT LIKELY THAT AN  ATOM BOMB WOULD HAVE BEEN DROPPED ON JAPAN, IF THE  JAPANESE HAD POSSESSED NUCLEAR WEAPONS THEMSELVES AND THE

CAPACITY TO RETALIATE?

IF THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS IN THE NEGATIVE (AND 1  SINCERELY BELIEVE IT IS) THEN THIS DEMONSTRATES THAT THE  POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MAY WELL BE THE BEST MEANS  OF PREVENTING A NUCLEAR WAR - SHORT OF THERE BEING AN  EFFECTIVE DISARMAMENT AGREEMENT IN EXISTENCE.

THE RISING CONCERN OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AUSTRALIANS AND THEIR  FAMILIES AT THE PROSPECT OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION IS BOTH  UNDERSTANDABLE AND NATURAL.

THERE CAN BE NO GREATER ISSUE OF OUR TIME NOR ONE WHICH  SHOULD COMMAND GREATER DEBATE AND ATTENTION.

HOWEVER,OUR CONCERN MUST NOT LEAD US TO EMBRACE SOLUTIONS  WHICH INCREASE THE DANGER OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION AND NOT

DIMINISH IT.

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I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THOSE WHO  SUPPORT MOVEMENTS SUCH AS THE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT PARTY.  THAT GOAL IS TO PREVENT A NUCLEAR WAR,Â·

THE PREVENTION OF SUCH A WAR MUST BE THE FERVENT PRAYER  AND HOPE OF US ALL.

AS SUCH WE MUST ALL WORK TO ACHIEVE EFFECTIVE MUTUAL  DISARMAMENT.

HOWEVER, THE CRUCIAL POItjT TO BE REMEMBERED IS THAT  UNTIL MUTUAL DISARMAMENT CAN BE ATTAINED, IT WOULD BE  SUICIDAL FOR THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES TO THROW AWAY  THEIR WEAPONS IN THE HOPE THAT THE ANTI DEMOCRATIC REGIMES

(OF EITHER THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT) WILL MAGICALLY CHANGE  THEIR SPOTS.

THE IMPORTANCE TO AUSTRALIA OF THE ANZUS ALLIANCE HAS  BEEN UNDERLINED BY THE EVIDENCE OF A SUBSTANTIAL  SOVIET BUILD-UP AT ITS CAM RAHN BAY MILITARY BASE  IN VIETNAM.

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER TO SUGGEST THAT THE  EVER-INCREASING PRESENCE OF THE SOVIET UNION IN THE  PACIFIC REGION IS MOTIVATED BY AN ALTRUISTIC OR HUMANITARIAN  CONCERN.

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IT IS IMPORTANT THAT AUSTRALIA INCREASES ITS DEFENCE  PREPAREDNESS AND DOES ALL IN ITS POWER TO MAINTAIN A  STRONG ANZUS ALLIANCE. THIS REQUIRES THAT AUSTRALIA  CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FACILITIES TO VISITING U.S, WARSHIPS AND THAT THE JOINT BASES REMAIN ON AUSTRALIAN  SHORES.

I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT THE ANZUS ALLIANCE CAME TO .  .   FRUITION UNDER A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT. THE LIBERAL PARTY  HAS ALWAYS ARGUED THE CASE FOR STRONG DEFENCES AND FIRM  ALLIANCES. IT WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO BECAUSE WE BELIEVE  THAT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SECURE PEACE FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS.

I AM ALSO PLEASED TO SAY THAT IT HAS BEEN THE LIBERAL PARTY  WHICH HAS BY AND LARGE PRODUCED THE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL  POST WAR WORLD II IMMIGRATION PROGRAMME WHICH HAS DONE SO  MUCH TO IMPROVE AND ENRICH OUR COUNTRY.

FROM TIME TO TIME OUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS SEEK TO TAKE  THE HIGH MORAL GROUND ON ISSUES SUCH AS IMMIGRATION, RACISM  AND PEACE. THIS CONVENIENTLY IGNORES THE FACT THAT IT WAS A  LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH ABANDONED THE WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY,

OVERSAW THE LARGE MIGRANT INTAKES OF THE 1950$ AND 1960$ AND SPONSORED THE HUMANITARIAN REFUGEE PROGRAMME OF RECENT

YEARS.

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IT ALSO CONVENIENTLY OVERLOOKS THE FACT THAT IT WAS  DURING HR PEACOCK'S TERM AS FOREIGN MINISTER THAT AUSTRALIA  BECAME A MEMBER OF THE UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE.

IN AND OUT OF GOVERNMENT THE LIBERAL PARTY HAS DEMONSTRATED  ITS ABHORRENCE OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND ITS SENSITIVITY  TO THE LEGITIMATE CONCERNS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES NOT ONLY  HERE BUT AROUND THE WORLD, ,

IT IS WITHIN THE LIBERAL PARTY THAT SOME OF THE STAUNCHEST De f e n d e r s  o f t h e  s t a t e  o f I s r a e l  in r e c e n t  y e a r s  h a v e  b e e n FOUND.

ISRAEL HAD NO FIRMER AUSTRALIAN FRIEND THAN THE FORMER  PRIME MINISTER, MALCOLM FRASER, WHOSE CONTRIBUTIONSON THIS  AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL FRONTS WERE PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGED  BY YOUR OWN ORGANISATION,

YOUR COMMUNITY HAS A RIGHT ABOVE ALL OTHERS IN OUR  MIDST TO BE SENSITIVE ABOUT RACIAL INTOLERANCE AND TO  EXPECT THAT ALL OF US SHOULD REMEMBER WHAT HAS HAPPENED  IN THE PAST.

I APPRECIATE THE HONOUR YOU HAVE EXTENDED IN ASKING ME TO  ADDRESS YOU TONIGHT.

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