Anti-Communism and Forward Defence
The Australian public had been manipulated into fearing that a monotholic 'red tide' of communism was coming to Australia, due to the strong anti-communist policy of the Liberal government. We became so convinced that the Liberal government were in power for 22 years straight.
Menzies stated that "the takeover of South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia," as the "Domino Theory" claimed that unless this was stopped then after Vietnam had fallen to communism, the surrounding countries would follow, eventually leading to Australia. Minister for External Affairs, Paul Hasluck in his judgement the South Vietnamese were not dealing simply with a situation of civil unrest that it really was, but with a "large scale campaign of assassination and terrorism."
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