PM Transcripts

~ CR PRESS: 11. No. 26/ 1971
MEETING BETWEEN THE PRIME NMflII1STER AND GENERIJL DALY
Statement bLLhe Prime Minister, Mr. john Gorton.
An article in The Australian today purported to report details of a
conversation between General Sir Thomas Daly and the Prime Minister.
Allegations in the article that General Sir Thomas Daly criticised the
Minister for Defence are untrue.
On Monday 1 March I learnt that Otories were circulating Lithe Press
Gallery alleging that serious criticisms of the Army were being made by " Defence
sources". Those criticisms were to the effect that it had been necessary to call in
J. 1. 0. to report on the Army's activities, that the Army was Seeking to' " sabotage" ci~ tl
action, and that the Army had operated outside Ohuoc Toi Provu-ce without proper
permission. According to press rumours General Sir Thomas Daly was named in
these reparts. On hearing this, and on hearing that a newspaper proposed to publish
these rumours the next day, I rang Sir Thomas Daly and asked if he hiad heard of
these canards. Sir Thomas said he had not and I asked him to call at once.
The purpose of this was to warn Sir Thomas Daly o~ f what was being said.
It was also to make three things clear.
The first was that all there was to go on was rumours in ths-Press Gallery
and there was no indication as to whether there was any truth in the stories that these
rumours had originated from Defence sources.
The second was to make it clear that I knew the allegation~ s against the Army
were false, that I had the utmost confidence in the Army and its commanders and
that I wanted Sir Thomas Daly and the Army to ' know this.
And the third was that if these false allegations agaist the Army appeared
publicl:.' they would be denied at the highest level. We did not propose to allow
servicemen to be subjected to such unjustified criticism without fully defending
them. This has been done, unequivocally, by the Minister for DefEence, and by
a joint statement issued by the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister for Defence.
At no time did Sir Thomas Daly " denounce" the Miniister for0-Defence or
accuse him of disloyalty to the Army or to the Army Minister.
CA NBERRA
4 March 1971