![]() The Labor opposition leader, Arthur Calwell, and his deputy, Gough Whitlam, had already left Canberra for their home electorates. A formal request was given just before Menzies made his speech in Parliament.īy this time it was late evening on Thursday, April 29. It seemed that the necessary South Vietnamese invitation wasn’t going to be forthcoming.įortunately for Menzies, the South Vietnamese government was persuaded to accept the Australian offer. The South Vietnamese government and the American ambassador in Saigon, Maxwell Taylor, were initially reluctant to receive more foreign troops. They decided to send an Australian battalion to South Vietnam, partly to ensure continued American interest in the region.Ī series of negotiations took place between Australian, American and Vietnamese representatives to secure acceptance of the Australian troops. He did this with the support of his Cold War warrior and minister for external affairs, Paul Hasluck. Having already committed a battalion to Malaysia to support resistance to the Konfrontasi policy of Indonesia’s Sukarno government, the logical next step for Menzies was to look to Vietnam.
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