Recent revelations of the maladministration of the increased sums now being spent on military have been made public. In 1962-3, Australia's military expenditure was about £171 m., about £250m, less than the estimate for 1967-8. Over the four intervening years the rate of increase has averaged 22 per cent. The Federal Treasurer said on August 15th: "It is not the present level of defense spending so much as the rate of escalation that concerns us most, Plainly we camot continue for long to meet anything like the rate of increase of recent years without deep impairment of the economy....«...among the countries of the western world only the United States, Britain and France are at present devoting a larger proportion of their resources to defense than we are", Five years ago, the external costs of defense were well under # Al00m. a year, This year they could rise above $ A350m. At this level they would represent 11 per cent or more of Australia's exports. Defense orders for ships, aircraft and other equipment and supplies at June 30th last were costed at more than ¢ A600m, The apparent aim of the Treasury is to maintain the ratio for military expenditure of 5 per cent of the gross national product. There is no great confidence that this will be possible. The pressure from the Generals and the Admirals for further substantial increases in Australia's military expenditure is.very strong, One of the particular problems of Australian defense planning has been the difficulty of defining the enemy. Thus the government decided to re-equip the air force with 110 of the Mirage fighters. These aircraft had proved themselves in the Arab- Israeli war. The Australian requirement for these fighter interceptors was undertaken at a time when the great fear was of "an Indonesian attack on Australia". While the Air force front line machinery is thus designed to meet an Indonesian threat that does not exist, the Australian army in Vietnam has to depend on United States Air Force air cover and is starved of helicopters. Some additional Australian escalation in Vietnam is now popularly regarded as inevitable. Public support for the war is dropping rapidly in Australia as it is in America,
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