Prof. A. L. Burns

At a crowded public seminar at the Australian National University in September 1964, an ANU international relations specialist, Professor A. L. Burns, suggested that either Britain or America should hand over immediately 'for our sovereign disposal' a stockpile of atomic or thermonuclear bombs.He said that any one, or a combination, of three possible situations would justify their use: either a Cuban-type dispersal by Russia or China of nuclear weapons in Indonesia, Soviet or Chinese attempts to blackmail Australia, or direct acquisition of such weapons by Indonesia.

In November 1964, the Australian Financial Review speculated that Indonesia was likely to go nuclear, a claim which prompted the Democratic Labor Party leader, Senator Cole, to assert that Australia must have a nuclear deterrent against both China and Indonesia.In March 1965, the Canberra Times editorialised that the formula earlier suggested by Professor Burns could be improved.