AUSTRALIAN POLICY REGARDING THE FUTURE OF WESTERN NEW GUINEA

1. The issues raised under this heading appear to us to be of
critical importance for Australia. They could become also in a
very short space of time matters which would involve dramatic
attention in the Australian press. We feel these statements to be
accurate for the following reasons:-

(a) Western New Guinea occupies a position of strategic and
tactical importance for Australia and its external territories.

(b) Nominal control by a non-European administration in Western
New Guinea could result in the rapid influx of large numbers of
Asiatic peoples, with consequent serious implications for-
(i) the Metropolitan Territory of Australia and Australian
Immigration Policy
(ii) the administration of Papua and New Guinea.

2. It should be mentioned also that, whether justifiably or
otherwise, any indication of withdrawal by a European power from
Western New Guinea would be calculated to lead to serious
questioning of the approach the Government has adopted to the
Indonesian-Netherlands dispute.

3. It is felt, therefore, that wait and see tactics may not be
justified in the present situation. The attached cable [1]
suggests certain possible courses of action and it is felt that
Critchley should be asked to treat the matter as one of the
highest importance and some urgency and to indicate as soon as
possible the likely attitudes of the Indonesian and Dutch
representatives to such courses of action.

4. Finally we should like to suggest that this is a matter which
should receive
consideration at Ministerial and Cabinet level.