Home Australia The 1975 Coup That Australia Still Fails to Confront

The 1975 Coup That Australia Still Fails to Confront

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by James O’Neill*

We have recently been able to view the early 1970s communications that took place between the then Governor General John Kerr and Buckingham Palace. This has been thanks to the tireless work of Melbourne academic Professor Jenny Hosking. The mainstream media have published extracts from this correspondence. The picture that emerges from the correspondence, chiefly between John Kerr and the Queens principal private secretary Sir Martin Charteris, is that Kerr disapproved of the Labor government and in particular the foreign policy stances that it embraced.

One of those stances was of critical relevance to the sequence of events leading up to the dismissal of the Labor government by Kerr in November 1975 that will be discussed below.

The coverage of the palace papers by the mainstream media displays a particular mindset that has been almost completely ignored in the media coverage. That media has ceased upon the fact that the bulk of the correspondence did not bear the Queen’s signature, but that of her principal private secretary, Charteris. The inference the media has invited us to draw is that the sequence of events did not directly involve the Queen and her responsibility for the dismissal could, therefore, be severely downplayed.

Such an approach displays a profound misunderstanding, or more likely, deliberate concealment, of the role of the palace in the 1975 coup that terminated the life of the Whitlam Labor government. It is unthinkable that the principal private secretary would have acted on his own initiative without the knowledge and approval of the Queen.

For all the professed outrage that a democratically elected government could be overthrown by the actions of a person answerable to a foreign head of state, there is no evidence at all that those powers have been curbed in any way. In theory, assuming Kerr acted within his powers, there is nothing to stop a repetition of those events at some future date. That this should be the case, 45 years after the precipitating events, is extraordinary. A serious question has to be posed as to why it is that Australia, so often asserting its nationhood, should tolerate this extraordinary subservience to a foreign head of state. It was certainly a question notably absent from mainstream media coverage of those historic events.

Equally absent from most mainstream media coverage of the events that Kerr’s papers refer to, is that Kerr was a long-time asset of the United States CIA. The Whitlam government had pursued a number of foreign policy initiatives that had displeased the United States. Three are of particular note. In this writer’s view, the events of November 1975 cannot be properly understood without understanding the role played by the changing Australian foreign policy stance and the reactions it invoked in the United States.

The first of those three critical decisions was the decision by the Whitlam government to withdraw Australian troops from involvement in the Vietnam war. The United States had replaced France as the dominant European power in that country after the latter’s defeat at Dien Bien Phu and their subsequent withdrawal from Vietnam.

Their replacement by United States forces had a number of consequences, including the cancellation of the nationwide elections that would almost certainly have been won by the North’s Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Under United States control, the South instead installed a puppet dictator and for the next 20 years, the South was governed by regimes under US military control. That regime was in turn overthrown in 1975 by which time the Australian troops had been safely withdrawn.

The second major foreign policy initiative was Whitlam’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate government of China. That decision met with enormous criticism from the Liberal Opposition who had not been told of similar moves being planned by the Nixon administration.

The third initiative was probably the most important with enormous ramifications that persist to the present day. That was the decision of the Whitlam government to close the United States controlled Pine Gap spy centre located near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The coup took place the day before Whitlam was to make the announcement of Pine Gap’s closure to the Australian parliament. It is highly significant that Pine Gap remains operational to this day. It is still under United States control and is one of multiple US bases in the country. It is undoubtedly the number one missile target for both Russian and Chinese systems.

The removal of the Whitlam government was, therefore, a high-priority for the United States. As part of their preparations for the coup, they appointed Marshall Green as United States ambassador to Canberra in 1973. Green was known in US diplomatic and spy circles as the “coup master”. There were good reasons for that appellation.

Green had been the man behind the 1961 coup of South Korea’s Park Chung-Lee. Four years later his next major assignment was in Indonesia where he organised the July 1965 coup that displaced President Sukarno. He, in turn, was replaced by President Suharto who then loyally served United States interests for the next three decades (1967–1998).

Green later went to Chile where the left-leaning President Salvador Allende was replaced on 11 November 1973 in yet another United States organised and financed coup. Again, the pattern was similar to Allende’s replacement Augusto Pinochet imposing a pro-American right-wing dictatorship from 1973 to 1998.

His appointment as United States ambassador to Australia in early 1973 was part of a US plan to displace the Whitlam government with one more amenable to US foreign policy wishes. The timing of the coup the day before the intended announcement of Pine Gap’s closure is one of the most powerful indicators of United States involvement.

Another key development was that in 1975, according to John Pilger and never denied let alone rebutted, was that Whitlam discovered that Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence agency, was decoding secret Australian cabinet cables and passing that information on to the Americans (www.guardian.com 23 October 2014.)

The coup not only displaced a democratically elected government. It had a chilling effect on both major political parties. Ever since the coup it has not mattered which of Labor or Liberal-held government. Subservience to United States foreign policy wishes has been the overwhelming characteristic of Australian foreign policy, not just in diplomatic support but also joining at least three illegal foreign wars (Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria).

Australia also provides loyal and almost unqualified diplomatic support in United Nations bodies for the State of Israel whose record for foreign interference in its region is matched only by the United States.

While the release of the palace papers is therefore to be welcomed it would be naïve and foolhardy to believe that it will have the least effect on Australian foreign policy. That remains a major battle yet to be waged.

*Retired barrister at law and geopolitical analyst. He may be contacted at joneill@qldbar.asn.au

66 COMMENTS

  1. “cancellation of the nationwide elections that would almost certainly have been won by the North’s Communist leader Ho Chi Minh”

    It begs the question – what on earth is communism or socialism – or left or right – or any other upside-down-ism to the ordinary folk – the peasants in the rice fields – in any particular context.

    They don’t vote for a grand ideology but when they are breaking their back in the rice fields or the like, maybe the hope of things like ‘free’ (i.e. ‘state provided’) health care and education for their children is appealing.

    Oligarchs/hegemonists will of course have none of that nasty D-word (‘Democracy’). Maybe they needed to cancel those elections to prevent what President Gaddafi provided for Libyans or President Hussein for Iraqis. Heaven forbid it should come to this …

    DPRK: Free Universal 12-Year Compulsory Education System

    Thank you James – always appreciate your articles.

    I think we can rest assured that Pine Gap is secure under the current regime – as are [Prince] Andrew’s exploits.

    • Hi Julius and excellent article, Neil.

      However, may I correct a crucially important point;

      Ho Chi Minh was NOT a communist. In point of fact, he disagreed with communism. Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist. He simply wanted to rid his country of imperial invaders. Ironically, he was also an important ally of the USA and allies in the war against the Japanese.

      US intransigence, and prevention of elections in 1954, forced him into an alliance with General Giap, who had brilliantly defeated the French at Dein Bien Phu and was widely regarded as the most capable battle general of the 20th century.

      As usual, US intelligence and comprehension of of the sentiments of foreign populations was appallingly inadequate and it was simply presumed that anybody opposed to the US was a communist.

      This applies also to Australia, which was regarded as dangerously pink for some previous six decades. Ben Chifly’s Social Services Act of 1946 had the Pentagon apolexic. And so it was that when Whitlam made a stand for national sovereignty this was regarded by the CIA as a stealthy communist coup.

    • Allan, there’s plenty to suggest John Kerr was a CIA asset.
      Try this article from the great John Pilger for starters :

      http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-cia-coup-against-the-most-loyal-ally-is-history-s-warning-in-2020

      Some stand-out paragraphs from the article :

      ‘ Kerr was not only the Queen’s man and a passionate monarchist, he had long-standing ties to Anglo-American intelligence.

      He was an enthusiastic member of the Australian Association for Cultural Freedom, described by Jonathan Kwitny of the Wall Street Journal …….. as “an elite, invitation-only group… exposed in Congress as being founded, funded and generally run by the CIA “.

      Kerr was also funded by the Asia Foundation, exposed in Congress as a conduit for CIA influence and money. The CIA, wrote Kwitny, “paid for Kerr’s travel, built his prestige, even paid for his writings … Kerr continued to go to the CIA for money”.

      Senior CIA officers later revealed that the “Whitlam problem” had been discussed “with urgency” by the CIA’s director, William Colby, and the head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield. A deputy director of the CIA said: “Kerr did what he was told to do.’

  3. whitlam should have been jailed, not just dismissed.
    removed the Crown without a referendum. Unidroit & LIMA agreements, putting Australian farming/manufacturing/industry on the path to destruction.
    He should have been jailed & the Constitution restored at that time, to it’s rightful state, backdated to be restored to the first time, Constitutional changes were made, without the required referendums approving them. That’s what should have been done at that time, as well as jailing whitlam, and all those that aided and abetted him.

    • Well said, Bob.
      Whitlam and Cairns were avowed communists and I think they were trying to “rush through” a destabilisation that would result in a “republic” with a completely new “Constitution” drafted and imposed by the new World order. However, they did lay the groundwork for what was achieved by Fraser and Hawke by stealthy increments (the Fabian way) that I think would have excited much more controversy had Whitlam not effectively cut the legs off the Governor General and the Constitution.

      There are many more cunning traitors that should face a firing squad than just Whitlam and his cronies. (I deeply suspect that Kerr was also in on the racket).

      The CIA, MI6 and all the other “eyes” are only agents for a much bigger plan that is well underway.

    • Bob, in November 1975 when Whitlam was dismissed there were no ‘jails’ – only GAOLS were utilised for incarcerating criminals in Oz.

      • I’m afraid you are wrong Bob, although I appreciate where you are coming from.

        The Constitution does not require referenda, merely permits governments to exercise such. The Constitution provides no rights for citizens whatsoever, except to complain to the Queen. I suggest you read Arthur Chresby… an MHR and constitutional expert.

        Our Constitute ain’t worth jackshit, which is why Aborigines are being encouraged to demand inclusion. This campaign is paid for by BHP, RioTinto, and the Liberal Party.

        I have never made up my mind about just how guilty Whitlam was. Yes, he signed the Lima Agreement, but this seemed quite innocuous back then. He most definitely opposed our loss of national sovereignty.

        I suspect he was told that if he kicked up over the sacking his family would suffer.

        • Nonsense, Tony!

          The Constitution (accepted rules as to how the government should operate) was blardy good until it was ignored and bypassed to make the “government” “sovereign owner” of the country; something ardently desired by the supranational corporatocracy and their vassal politicians etc.

          Originally, laws to govern the nation were to be proposed by the House of Representatives, submitted to the Governor to be written up by his chosen researchers, then be submitted to the House of Review (Senate) for modification or acceptance, and, if passed, be presented for the Royal Assent.

          if there is impasse between the people and the Royal representative then the argument would proceed to the Privy Council etc. where matters pertaining to the Magna Carta, Coronation Oaths, Bills of Rights, moral and legal issues would be under scrutiny… under that system there would no chance of a puppet “democratically elected” dictatorship selling Australia out to secret interests or agendas or ideologies….. like, how would they go trying to impose arbitrary “rules” like lockdown, for example.

          Sure, the Constitution only states that the Constitution can only be changed with the approval of the people via referendum (ignored from the beginning) but there has been a deliberately ignored push for a Citizens Initiated Referendum which would allow even more popular dissent against tyranny.

          Of course, the Nationalistic communist dictators don’t want none of that… it would seriously interfere with their :New World Order”.

  4. The U.S. has been slowly collapsing, that process appears to be accelerating. Perhaps in a few years the U.S. dollar will be rejected and it’s military no longer feared.

    I wonder what Australia will do/become when the collapse of U.S., and thus the ‘Empire’ occurs.

    • Terry, totally agree, the US is on a slide with little chance of recovery.
      Trump will win in Nov, however he will have an uphill battle for the next 4 years.
      The concern is, what happens after his 4 years have expired, it seems a fordrawn conclusion.
      I am concerned, they will assasinate him. He is draining the Deep State, he is disassembling the pedo world, and he is also taking control back of the federal reserve, and not to mention, his exit from the UN and Who.
      Previous president’s have been taken out for less.

  5. “the decision by the Whitlam government to withdraw Australian troops from involvement in the Vietnam war”

    What year we talkin’, James?

      • Thank you, Peter. So is it really all that signif? And, James, do we really know that Uncle Sam was unhappy with that withdrawal? And thanks to the scholar you mentioned who dragged the papers out of hiding.

        Pleas put her onto the Wood Commission files. Thanks.

  6. Hey, 77, you listening? How about making a movie that consists of three people in a room being interviewed by you. The room is in The Palace and the three 1975 figures are: Gough, Heinz, and Liz.

    Nurse Ratched pops in to give them injections of sodium amythal (sp?) so they will not be able to hold back.

    Fire away with questions.

  7. Eight years ago. Scowcroft is still alive now at 95. The meeting (of “the Atlantic Council”) was about “strategy.” Fancy that.

  9. I remember that pre Whitlam sacking, a large American company (I think General Electrics) made mention at its A.G.M. ” that there would be a new government in power in Australia by the end of the year”.

    I thought to myself, “how in hell could they come to that belief ?” Apparently they had been told.

    • yes Mal all scripted–the grand plan -very scary
      re General Electrics–there is a Unilever connection

      Unilevers big business big funders of Tavistock Mind Control Agenda have recently been running off shore meetings for senior executives NGO’s- etc– a few years back new Unilevers CEO said to be replacing Soros- although also heard Obama has (replaced Soros that is)- my grandmother was in the employ of Unilevers and was involved in the setting up of Tavistock node in Geelong and all that meant–

      just grabbed this off web

      “Unilever washes its hands of “philanthropy” motive while General Electric profits by saving the world’s resources: How social responsibility is also good for business”

  10. I can not believe we are even discussing this. Back up 20 years and US(UK) were detonating and burning plutonium bombs on/above the mainland and Islands that supplied fertiliser for our farms. Secret spooks above ASIO would be known by cabinet pre Gough.
    Smoke and mirrors people, never been a legal way out.
    Amancipation by declaration of independence, and maybe a constitution along the lines of the Articles of Confederation. That’s only a maybe.
    Impossible, why, Australia’s Constitution has large parts simply copied and pasted from the US’s, nearly 120 years ago, way before Whitlam.

    • I have to finish this thought, only if the above were to eventuate, then all here, could deal with the world’s biggest islands secret and real reconciliation become possible.

  11. Thanks James, you have triggered me to respond as a Tavistock asset and defector. :-))
    I met Gough and his entourage a couple of times when they toured Top End communities.
    His Innovative Schools Commission mandate to Rethink Education for the Twenty- First Century and commitment to Indigenous bilingual, two way models of education “shaped” my career and influenced my life’s narrative firstly in Melbourne as the teacher co-ordinator of an innovative parent run primary school and later in my role working with the local Central Western Desert communities to fulfil the Aboriginal Education Policy 21 Goals. The Hurstbridge Learning Co-operative is still operating nearly 50 years later. The 10 year partnership between the school and community has been erased from the record and the highly acclaimed action research model of two way learning and community development through education, documented in the award winning Papunya School Book of Country and History which now seems to be “owned” by Penn University courtesy of a Don Zoellner CDU Northern Region.
    Ahh good to get that off my chest so to speak.

    So a couple of (somewhat rushed} contributions to your article that connect some dots for me and maybe some others.
    Kim Beazley Snr’s role looms large in relation to Education. Another Tavi asset Perth Node
    “Beazley served as the Minister for Education from December 19, 1972, until the government was dismissed on November 11, 1975.
    He was responsible for the implementation of iconic Whitlam policies, including the abolition of university fees and needs-based funding of schools.
    Kim Edward Beazley, born on September 30, 1917, succeeded the former Prime Minister, John Curtin, in the Western Australian seat of Fremantle, at a by-election on August 18, 1945. He held the seat until he retired at the 1977 election. When first elected, he was the youngest member of the House of Representatives, aged 27.
    Beazley is the fourteenth of the original 27 Whitlam ministers to have died. There are 17 ministers from the three Whitlam governments still living. Clyde Cameron, 94, is the oldest. Paul Keating, 63, is the youngest.
    Beazley was the father of Kim Beazley jnr, the former leader of the federal Labor Party. Beazley jnr is retiring from Parliament at this year’s election, after 27 years representing Swan and Brand.”

    And this link provides personal insider stories- Kevin Healy’s and Ray Nilsen stories probably more relevant to James’s article and comments.
    http://www.adogs.info/press/gough-whitlams-educational-legacy

    :From Kevin Healy’s story
    “In the 1960’s many of us were in the ALP because it offered alternative and principled policies. We saw it as an avenue for getting radical issues debated in the broader society.
    There was a push to get Whitlam into office in the years 1970 to 1972. His supporters on the federal executive saw the Victorian State executive as a barrier to winning power. The left unions had numbers at the annual Conference and there were a number of key issues in contention: Vietnam; Abortion, Uranium and State Aid. The Victorian Party had strong policies on these matters and were accused of being the cold hand of socialism holding down the party.
    Federal Intervention was led by another group, many of them Church school graduates and supporters of State Aid. They were known as the ‘Participants’. Some claimed to be Fabians like Gough Whitlam and Race Matthews.

    The ‘Participants’ have enjoyed distinguished careers in the political and legal networks since the 1970’s. They were mostly lawyers: Dick McGarvie, Xavier Connor, Frank Costigan, Alastair Nicholson, Frank Vincent. Many later became judges. Race Matthews was an education consultant who became a professional politician.

    Some paragraphs from RAY NILSEN

    The religious freedom clause of the Constitution, Section 116, could not be tested if citizens did not have standing to go to the court in the first place. They had been told, again and again, that they could only get into the court with an Attorney-General’s fiat. There had been various attempts to get into the High Court since 1956. They had all foundered on this issue of the standing of taxpayers to bring an action. So we knew we had set ourselves an almost impossible task.

    The religious members, like my missionary sister Dorothy, put it all in God’s hands. They went ahead in faith. I believe in God, but I had no illusions about religious men. I have never trusted priests and parsons of any religious brand once they see the colour of taxpayer’s money. Actually I’ve since learned that even the smell of money can have a corrupting influence, even on people you took for granted as friends.

    I decided to learn from Cromwell. Once I joined battle, I would keep my powder dry. Nellie and Sofie are always game for a fight, Henry, once it was discovered he was my brother, suffered discrimination at work, but he put up with it and kept the home fires burning with finance from his pay. My eldest brother, Karl, sent money from Canada, and Mum—Mum worked over the kitchen stove and kept the food on the dining room table.

    Zigouras approached all the Attorneys-General, Commonwealth and State. The Federal Attorney-General and those of Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia, refused fiat; Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania asked for further information. The Tasmanian DOGS were hopeful that their Attorney-General Everett would give fiat. Their State school networks were small, manageable, and still intact. They were disappointed. Everett was sympathetic but he had enough problems without adding Archbishop Young to them.

    Zigouras and I sat in the Carlton office and amused ourselves collating the replies. Western Australia and South Australia were upfront political; the rest passed the buck in a round-robin of State and federal Attorneys-General. It looked as if the Australian High Court was not available to Australian citizens to test a Constitutional matter. Litigation was stopped before it could start.

    • We of course can disagree, I can not accept Gough at face value, I’ll just say he just sowed further seeds of division to be used later.
      The Original’s, did not need to rally under a flag, was not their way, but these others.

      • thanks Simon no disagreement with me- just sharing some clues as to the layers and layers of lies and deceit–grooming-carrot and stick — the power of the Crown and MKUltra projects operating in Australia–thee is a hidden history and created history to fit the current pandemic agenda

        one example from above has many clues

        “While I’m Prime Minister I can’t have you walk the streets. If you want to know about politics we have made arrangements for you to go to the United States and look at how they are dealing with the causes and outcomes of the 1960s, 1970s racial conflicts. The final US State Department agreement was signed by President Nixon. Among other events, it enabled me to go to Wounded Knee in 1973 and after the siege finished I could meet with the Wounded Knee leaders at the New York University.

        Gough Whitlam further requested that I spend time with Australia’s mission to the United Nations, under the tutelage of Richard Butler, Australia’s Ambassador to the UN. My short time there certainly inspired me, having gained profound insights into racial conflicts and human rights.”

        • That bastard Richard Butler.

          I recall watching a debate on the ABC (or perhaps SBS ?), a few months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Butler was carrying on about how he knew for sure that Iraq had WMD’s.

          Butler is a worthless P.O.S if there ever was one.

  13. Former National Security Advisor to Bush 41, Brent Scowcroft, gets the respect he deserves in the interview below :

  14. I’m no fan of Whitlam’s economic policies but credit where it’s due and kicking the Yanks out of Pine Gap and pursuing an independent foreign policy was the right thing to do.

    Better to die standing proud and tall rather than live on your knees in slavish vassalage to the American empire.

    • These these thespians were a cut higher, young and dubious at the time, just wanted comedy. Well good black comedy for sure.
      b quiet now, excuse me

  16. Hell yeah, we are the underdogs, we could be farkt(as the western lingo). always backed the so called underdogs. I rather go down with you all, than be consumed by the agenda.
    (sorry, that little feeling we all be cut off, here, soon).

  18. I am left wondering if those involved in this debate are of that period in history. If so they should remember the tyranny of Robert Gordon Menzies.

    Menzies was kicked out of power during World War II and replaced with a Labor Government which history records as successful, under the leadership of John Curtin and Ben Chifley. Then for some reason the electorate turned against that success and put Menzies back in government.

    I was one who had to endure the Vietnam War or face imprisonment, under the War Criminal Menzies. It was not until many years later that history actually admits that the Vietnam Affair was a civil war.

    The relief of the Whitlam era was enormous, in my opinion. Then we had Malcolm Fraser take advantage of the social improvements that the Whitlam Government provided and foreign policy changes that took place and late in his life he seemed to agree with those attempted changes.

    • I know, born late 1964, brother 1961, went Barker College. He more than me, near conscription. We possible officers in “waiting” for duntroon. Whitlam gets the guernsey for stopping conscription. Don’t buy any of it, though, just a game.

  19. I am sorry to disapoint all the Whitlam accolytes.
    In 1974 i was unemployed due to the Whitlam disaster.
    No worries , i survived, however thousands of Australian Labor workers over the following decades became redundent and with following political saboteurs, the workers are still betrayed.
    I only wish that newbys would look at the facts as to how the Whitlam government destroyed Australian industry and independence.
    Trump has realised what was also done to the US and, realising that a country can not rely on other countries, is bringing back manufacturing and business for his country.
    What am I talking about? The Whitlam beyrayal of Australia.
    To realise just search the Labor party signing up to the Lima declarartion by Don Willisee in 1975 at the UN dictate.
    Search: ‘The Lima Declaration 1975’.
    I recall the Whitlam bs when tv manufacturing and even shoe manufacturing was decimated by Whitlam…….. all on tv.
    Since then we have been led by Traitors in Canberra sabotaging Australia’s sovereign independence and making us vassals of the UN corporate globalist control freak agenda.

    • Nothing Whitlam did caused unemployment in 1974. But Wall St sure sucked massive amounts of money from the economy to undermine that government. And Wall St is the US as far as Australia is concerned.

  20. To make a simple point I ask James O’Neil.
    Are you wearing underpants?
    Good, you are.
    Now where was it manufactured?
    Good, you know.
    Now tell me what it will be like when you have no underpants, no shoes, no uniform and a pissant rifle when you fight for your country to thwart invaders wearing your underpants.

    • Just to divert for a second from this serious discussion Ned, your reference to underpants and fighting a war wearing underpants cannot go unanswered. As a Vietnam Vet myself, 69-70 I can attest many of us did in point of fact, not wear any at all. Imagine walking around soaking wet with under dungers chaffing your bits all day and night. YES, we did fight our war Commando as a result. L.O.L.

  21. Ned, die-hard Whitlam followers aside, most observers would agree that he was leading the country into an economic abyss.

    That said, there should never have existed a situation where the ‘Queen’s representative’ was in a position to sack an elected leader of this country.

    For eff’s sake, why do we even need a Governor General ?
    Why can’t we just amend the constitution to erase this position without the need to have a ‘President’ of the parliament ?

    As for the underpants, if we stop buying it from China, it will just come from another 3rd world hell-hole – perhaps a Bangladesh or Cambodia or … wherever.

    The jobs are not coming back to resurrect the textile industry.

    Similarly, for all Trump’s bluster about ‘bringing jobs back to America’, the reality on the ground is that U.S trade deficits are worse under him and there has been no NET GAIN in jobs in manufacturing industries in the U.S.

    (Yes, some jobs were created in manufacturing in the earlier part of his tenure but when he kicked up the trade war with China a few notches and imposed tariffs etc, what Trump hadn’t factored in was that many Chinese made components are in the SUPPLY CHAIN for what is described as ‘Made in the U.S.A’).

    And, as local manufacturers are scrambling to find alternative suppliers for these Chinese made components, in the interim they’ve just passed on the extra costs from the Trump tariffs to the U.S consumer and in the process dampened demand – leading to job losses in those particular industries.

    And, if we ever do end up with a situation were it is decreed that undies are locally made and imports are not allowed, you can bet they’ll be a hell of a lot more expensive.

    • Thanks Truth for this up to date Pilger link: very relevant to the Article also recognising Jenny Hocking’s tireless work -a must read. Thank God ASIO’s role was mentioned.
      and thank you John Pilger we see the world through the same focused lens yet full spectrum- you draw the threads together so clearly–beyond my ken.

      THE CIA COUP AGAINST ‘THE MOST LOYAL ALLY’ IS HISTORY’S WARNING IN 2020
      2 June 2020
      http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-cia-coup-against-the-most-loyal-ally-is-history-s-warning-in-2020

      • You’re welcome Diane.

        That’s one to my tally to slightly offset the numerous insights I’ve gotten from your posted comments and links.

    • Spot on, Truth Vigilante, recently tried to buy replacement tires for my car. Have used COOPERS tire for many years, made in the U.S. of A. My supplier tells me they no longer come from the U.S. but CHINA, where COOPERS have established a factory there. They now carry a label Made in China, designed in the U.S. So much for all Trump’s waffling on returning manufacturing to the U.S. when Corporations are doing deals to undermine that claim.

  22. The rot set in three decades ago. Remember doing some woodwork, in a building/warehouse in Annandale. Early in the week, a semi would reverse in, they’d unload the boxes of linen wear made in China. Then four young Indonesian men would place the linenwear into boxes marked, made in Australia. A few days later another semi would come be loaded and distributed to hospitals and other government departments.
    At this stage, all that can be said is U NO WHO.

    • Good point ’56’. When you see an item labelled ‘ Made in Australia’, do we know for sure if there isn’t a law whereby a retailer can market something as such even if it has minimal local input ?

      I recall reading a story about Callaway golf clubs which are labelled as Made in the USA.
      BUT, the story went on to say that the head was made in China and the shafts were made there too.
      Then, it was assembled in the U.S.

      For eff’s sake, how is that American made ?

      Logic dictates that it should have at least 50 % but in this Orwellian world I’m not surprised by anything.

  23. In 1947 Great Britain went broke and handed everything over to the US. Australia’s head of state has always been in England as far as I know. Whitlam and Turnbull are a pair of peanuts in these equations. Their problem is hubris!
    Nowadays we have one-belt-one-road which is actually multiple roads to multiple sea lanes.
    They are at work on one through Laos to Vientiane, this is supposed to go past the new Thai airport down to the port of Rayong (near Cambodia).
    Another one only evident from looking at the map, a superhighway going straight towards a huge harbour in western Burma/Myanmar, nearby is where the Rohingas are being thrown out.
    They have ports in Sri Lanka and also assets in Darwin and Western Australia.
    They are right now grappling with the US, Japanese and Philippines navies down there in ASEAN territory. They are staking out part of the horn of Africa opposite Yemen, this is the sealane towards Suez, making Yemen more strategic than it was before.
    We are told the focus is a new Silk Road for peaceful purposes to Africa and Europe, the focus, it is suggested, is entirely towards the west.
    However, somewhere in China I think we can be reasonably certain there is a think tank working out how to control the entire Western Pacific in a 50 year plan. Australia would be a great prize and no doubt it is seen that way. These think tanks will be studying history and devising their own false-flag scenarios, maybe something to inflame Indonesia to start things off.
    So Australia can’t shake off London and Washington and if it could it is left with nothing anyway.

  24. ‘bg’, as much as I disparage the U.S hegemon, what I’m hoping for is a multi-polar world.
    ie: where there is NO one power that Australia is in vassalage to.

    Yes, Australia is quite the prize. Therefore, no one power would want it to fall under the sole influence of another.
    If we could have a world where there was a balance of military/economic influence (one would exert more economic sway while another’s might be military based) between China, Russia and the U.S in the decades to come (a REAL possibility), we could remain neutral and play one power off against another – always making sure to never align ourselves within the orbit of one particular entity too closely.

    It can be done.

    • “Australia the one great prize” ? L.O.L. Have just completed a trip through our North West and Pilbara areas from as far inland as Meekathara right through the Pilbara to the Coast near Exmouth. Seriously, people who post a lot of crap like I’ve read above have no idea at all of what’s going on. The sad FACT is, Australia is nothing but a place to dig massive holes in the ground and steal our resources, sell them off at a pittance to over seas Corporations to manufacture raw materials into end products. These Corporations are in the majority, NOT Chinese either, but Western based and one of the major ones is Rio Tinto. The biggest shock of all, was the discovery of a massive mineral sands operation within 100 K’s from Perth it’self, where excellent farm land has been destroyed, dug up massive holes in the ground, with open cut allowing access to the rich sand there. Apparently the sands have more value than the food production conducted there previously. All the talk of Australia being a rich prize, is laughable, it’s already done and dusted, long gone, and the population hasn’t the faintest idea of what’s happened. B.T.W. the Corona restrictions have helped enormously in denying the populace the info of what’s going on, while everyone is locked down.

  25. Nth Korea is well and truly within China’s orbit.

    I was thinking more the Switzerland model.
    Not part of the European Union, not controlled by the Rothschild aligned ECB and has its own currency / monetary policy.

    Trading partner of all and runs, for the most part, its own race.

    Oh, and did I forget stupendously rich and not squandering endless billions treating PTSD’ed ex-servicemen who previously fought wars on behalf of Israel and the American empire.

  27. Not entirely off topic since there’s been a ‘financial coup’ in the U.S in recent years which entails that both of the major parties are fiscally irresponsible and both are pursuing official Socialist doctrine with reckless money printing, Banana-Republic levels of budgetary deficits and massive increases in the depth of the swamp (ie: expansion of big government).

    World renowned financial commentator Bill Bonner had this to say about it :

    ” The only thing both groups (Dems and the Repugnant-cans) agree on is the one thing that will ruin them both — more corrupt money printing. [Aside from Rep. Thomas Massie, the only other voice of sanity in the entire U.S Congress], Senator Rand Paul, had this to say :

    ‘The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt. They simply don’t care about debt and are preparing to add at least another trillion dollars in debt this month, combined with the trillions from earlier this summer.’ ”

    Bottom Line : The future of the U.S will be one of Debt and Despair.

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