Canberra, 6 August 1968
The Minister saw Sir Henry Bland this afternoon at 3.30pm. He had previously arranged to meet Mr. Fairhall in Canberra today to discuss the question of the strength of the P.I.R. Mr. Fairhall was not able to come and the Minister spoke to Mr. Fairhall by telephone.
The upshot of the telephone conversation was that Mr. Barnes would put in a Cabinet Submission stating his view and Mr. Fairhall would circulate a paper also.
Sir Henry Bland subsequently rang Mr. Barnes and said that Mr. Fairhall had spoken to him and he would like to have a talk with Mr. Barnes. This took place at 3.30 pm.
The Minister explained to Sir Henry that he was primarily concerned about the reliability of the force and secondarily about the economic aspect. Sir Henry Bland professed surprise to learn that the question of the reliability of the force was the major issue. He said that had this been known he was sure the Army people would have had a good deal to say. I said this was clear from the papers and I had told the Defence Committee clearly that this was the Minister’s view.
The Minister mentioned that since it might take a little time to get a Cabinet Decision he had mentioned to Mr. Fairhall who had agreed that there should be no recruiting pending that decision. Sir Henry said that the next intake was for December and there was therefore no present question of deferring future recruiting. 1
[ matter omitted ]
[NAA: A452, 1968/2441 part 2]
1 Warwick Smith and Bland later confirmed this understanding by an exchange of letters (see Warwick Smith to Bland, 7 August 1968, and Bland to Warwick Smith, 12 August 1968, in A452, 1968/2441 part 2).