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SIR: Paul Ormonde (letters, July-August) accuses the Australia Defence Association of guilt by association with the National Civic Council because of my personal involvement with both. The reality is somewhat more complex.
Val Hancock (in Western Australia) invited me (in Victoria) to expand ADA's work into Victoria. Although I was certainly a full-time official of the NCC, I had at that time never heard of ADA. As an ex-naval officer, I was interested in defence issues and had been writing on defence for both the NCC's News Weekly and the Age, hence Hancock's invitation.
Less than three years later in 1980, I departed from the NCC, taking with me all of ADA's records and funds because they belonged to ADA. As far as I am aware, apart from my somewhat meagre salary, the NCC has never put any money into ADA. Santamaria's response was to instruct all NCC members of ADA to quit. Most did; some did not. Since then, ADA and the NCC have had no contact.
Following the NCC's abandonment of any involvement in ADA, much of ...