As the dark clouds of war gathered over north-east Asia in 1938, a curious battle took place at home which forever tainted the memory of Liberal Party founder Sir Robert Menzies and that could be a portend of what lies ahead.
Then-Attorney General in the Lyons government, Menzies became embroiled in a fight with waterfront unions in Port Kembla over the loading of a British steamer, the SS Dalfram, with BHP produced pig-iron bound for Japan.
The Lyons government had embargoed iron ore exports to Japan after its brutal invasion of China and the 1937 massacre in Nanking but, inexplicably, had allowed pig-iron — a crude processed form of iron — to be shipped.
Menzies decreed that only the government had the right to decide on relationships with foreign powers and goods to be traded. After a 10-week deadlock, it forced the unions to load the ship.
For the rest of this article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/australian-iron-ore-could-save-taiwan-beijing-verrender/101332312