Australias Invelment with Communism

The Nature of the Australian Government's Response to Communism and International Events in the Post WWII Era

Australia's government's response to Communism and international events in the post WWII era was one of fear, suspicion and paronoia. Communism was mainly feared due to propoganda and the "Domino Effect". The Domino Effect was a policy that speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, all would follow, like toppling dominoes. This worried Australia as communism had spread through Asia and was getting closer to Australia. It was also believed that communism would ruin daily Australian life and put our culture and freedom at risk. The government of the time introduced many new foreign and domestic policies in the hope of preventing communism from spreading to Australia. It attempted to permanently get rid of all communism and communists in Australia by outlawing communism and opressing communists and those who had sympathetic view towards them. The world events of the time also greatly influenced how the government reacted and how so much fear and paranoia was created. The super powers were the leaders of the Cold War and competed against each other in every way possible.

In response to the threat of communism two types of policies were formed by the government in hope to eliminate the communist threat. These were domestic policies and foreign policies. The domestic policies were policies put into place to keep control, watch and stop communist activity in Australia while foreign policies were policies usually created to keep communism from spreading to Australia by fighting or gaining alliances to fight in the countries the threat was coming from. The policies Robert Menzie's introduced that came under the foreign category related to communism were the treaties he signed, the actions he took to ensure Australia a stronger bond with the USA, and the Forward Defence Policy. Australia became aware of its distance from its...