Australian foreign policy long held

Australian foreign policy long held back by politically correct Prime Ministers, Politicians, Academics and inward looking press matures as we head off to the Solomons to help stabalize the trouble pacific nation. The operation is called ‘Helpem Fren’, pidgeon English for ‘Helping Friend’. I know most of you could have worked that out – but some… The force consisting of; 1500 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, 105 Kiwis, 123 members from a Fijian Rifle Company (don’t mess with these guys either, Harold) with contributions from Tonga, Samoa and PNG, 120 personnel from a Kiwi rifle company in reserve. Come on cousins – lift your game!, 155 Australian Federal Police, 25 Kiwi police, and 90 Australian Protective Service personnel (to secure the bad guys when they’re caught.) I hope there are a lot of Provos (Military Police) going as if this lot ever got leave together………. The rebels have been told not to resist and thats good advice. Its one thing to terrorise locals but another matter to terrorise a rifle company from the Royal Australian Regiment – our Infantry force. I know, I’ve commanded such a company and at times they terrorised me. Yes. It is a small force but that’s what the commander of 275 Regiment said of D Company, 6RAR when he figured he had them surrounded at Long Tan in August 1966. A couple of thousand Vietcong couldn’t overcome D Company’s 118 men and he lost several hundred troops finding out. Communist Divisions and Regiments have been stopped in their tracks by Aussie rifleman so the Solomon Islands’ most prominent militant, Harold Keke, obviously a keen student of Australia’s military history, has stated he is willing to disarm. If he doesn’t I’m sure he can be accomodated. The local hoodlums are becoming uneasy Spy planes, known as UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) will be used to track the rebel forces and gangs of thugs which have terrorised the Pacific island nation. Meanwhile Mary-Louise O’Callaghan reporting from Honiara, tries to put a bad spin on Prime Minister Howards actions. Mary-Louise has a go at Howard; Queried about his idea of “pooled regional governance”, Howard yesterday demonstrated just how steep his personal learning curve might be. “I can’t for the life of me see how that’s got anything to do with colonialism. I think it’s got a lot to do with common sense,” he said. Who would ever suggest that “pooled regionnal governance” and “colonialism” were one and the same. Sending troops, police and billions of dollars of aid at the invitation of the Pacific Forum could hadly be interpreted as “colonialism”. I think Howard’s learning curve is a lot flatter than Mary-Loiuse’s. Read her article in the box here. It is generally positive but we need to exorcise the word colonialism from our media before fools start quoting it back. The article about Howard’s new Pacific solution is here I receive daily Defence Media emails and will keep you posted on our adventures on the North-East Frontier.