Issue 6: Time For Action

Regrettably, we, and Mr Carter, live in the real world, a world that is rapidly sowing the seeds for World War III if strong action by the US is not taken now. Embargoing grain and computer shipments to the USSR will hit that country hard. Russia has never been able to produce sufficient foodstuffs for its 260 million people and hungry Russians tend to lose faith in their government when the larder is found wanting.

Likewise, Russia is around ten years behind the West in computer technology and has relied since the nineteen fifties. on upgrading their all-important computer technology by way of imported US equipment. Lenin once stated proudly that, “when we fall behind in technology we will beat them (the capitalists) at their own game by buying their knowledge till we can bury them with our superiority”. Denying them this knowledge will no doubt hit the Kremlin hard.

At home we are in a uniquely ideal position to commence a realistic upgrading of our total defence force structure to meet the threats and confrontations that will undoubtedly unfold in the not-too-distant future.

Examine the facts.

To our far north, Vietnam continues its adventures in Kampuchea. How long before the tide of battle spills over to Thailand? Will that produce a bloody clash between Vietnam? and China and would Thailand, not noted as a great military power, be able to withstand the assault of the well-trained and well-equipped Vietnamese? Whether Thailand could defend itself against such an assault is neither here nor there in the long term. The fact is that if such an event should happen then the security of each. country in South East Asia would take a tumble. How vulnerable would the Phillippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and tiny Singapore be to such Soviet-backed intrigue? In the Middle East we have what Time magazine aptly termed a Crescent of Crisis. Islam versus the rest of the world. What will happen in less than two years when the USSR becomes a nett importer of oil? Will the recent foray into Afghanistan be a prelude to an invasion of politically impotent but oil-rich Iran? Again the Indian Ocean region takes on new significance, significance that nobody could have appreciated or projected at the beginning of the Seventies.

The Indian Ocean is also Australia’s region of interest in addition to Asia and both regions are simmering with discontent.

Australia, the world’s largest continent, is immensely rich in natural resources and yet inhabited by a mere fourteen million people who choose to spend less than three per cent of their Gross Domestic Product annually on defence. How can a poverty-stricken and hungry nation such as India (which possesses an atomic weapon) continue to show no interest in our land of comparative milk and honey when her population is approaching one billion? India, of course, is merely an academic example, there will be a dozen such contenders by the end of this decade and none will take us seriously if we don’t begin to grasp the nettle and take our responsibility of self-defence seriously.

It is indeed a time of action and for Australia, the time has never been better.

During the current financial year, the federal government will reap a bonanza due to the two CPI-indexed income awards and the regular increase in the OPEC-designated price of crude oil through Australia’s import parity pricing scheme. These two combined will reap the Treasury between three and four billion dollars this financial year alone.

A mini-budget granting a reduction in income tax and a resultant increase in consumer spending will reinvest some of the government’s generosity thereby returning a portion of the “lost” revenue in further indirect taxes. The result will be a government with a good and balanced budget and the long-term ability to spend a little more on high-priority projects.

During the nineteen seventies federal government spending increased from 26 per cent to 29 per cent of Gross. Domestic Product. In that same period, the defence vote dropped from 3. 7 per cent in 69/70 to a pathetic 2. 7 per cent in 79/80. The majority of the gross increase in federal government spending went to education, health and welfare, with little improvement in any of these services to reflect the massive increase of funds pumped into them in that period.

Right through the seventies, despite some high-flying rhetoric called a 1976 White Paper, Defence languished with the gap growing ever wider between what was available and what was required.

With our world in turmoil, energy becoming a scarce resource and fourteen million Australians sleeping snugly in the land of plenty, isn’t it time we looked at reality and began to pay a serious monetary commitment to the safety of this nation’s future?

Total planned Defence expenditure for 1979/80 is marked at $2,887m. We would propose a real increase in defence spending by 10 per cent taking into account an annual inflation rate of a similar figure. Ten per cent inflation per annum would lift a proposed 1980/81 Defence budget to $3,175. Add a real increase of a further 10 per cent and we have a total of $3,492 or a nett increase in real terms of an additional $317m.

What is important in this exercise is to stress that this in- crease is almost wholly directed towards the all-important area of capital equipment acquisition. The top end of the table after manpower and maintenance of existing facilities and equipment is taken into consideration.

In 1979/80 the important capital equipment area was allotted $442m. The above assessment on a true increase of 10 per cent would raise this figure to $760 reflecting an increase of some 72 per cent on the 79/80 capital equipment outlay. Three hundred and seventeen million dollars out of a windfall of three to four billion is not a king’s ransom yet would provide the icing on the defence cake so badly needed as we enter this precarious period of international instability.

A nett increase of this amount would go a long way to bringing Australia’s total defence forces to the point where it was a true deterrent for any country to launch an assault against our sovereignty.

An increase of this amount would provide the RAAF with an additional squadron of TFF aircraft, tankers and a third Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMP) Orion squadron all monitored by Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft and our own Jindalee OTH-B radar system. Significant upgrading of the civilian airstrips and support facilities at Port Hedland, Broome, Derby, Kalumburu, Wyndham, Darwin, Gove and Weipa would go a long way to providing a viable forward base for LRMP and TFF aircraft in their endeavours to provide air support for the army and navy.

The Royal Australian Navy would have sufficient funds to seriously consider a two or even three-ship carrier force using Short Take Off & Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft in the fleet air defence, maritime strike and anti-submarine role. Failing this additional FFG frigates, more submarines and two dozen missile-armed medium-sized patrol boats assigned to northern bases would go a long way to protecting our vulnerable sea lanes.

The Army could well utilise the assets of an enhanced RAAF transport sector, particularly in the application of heavy-lift helicopters such as the Chinook. Additional mechanised firepower, man-portable anti-armour and surface-to-air missile systems and a greater emphasis on forward basing would provide a mobile ground force backed by realistic levels of air and sea power that would represent a true deterrent to our northern neighbours.

And all this could happen IF our politicians decide to look reality in the face NOW before it is too late.

Lead times in introducing modern weapon systems are now upwards of a decade. We scraped by in 1942 by the skin of our teeth. In the decade to come we will not be so lucky, next time we will either win or lose with the basic equipment we commence with.

More than ever, it is a time for action, not mere talk. Our government MUST provide a worthwhile increase in defence spending if we are to maintain regional credibility in the years to come.