Brisbane Line The " Brisbane Line " was a controversial defence proposal allegedly formulated during World War II to concede the northern portion of the Australian continent in the event of an invasion by the Japanese . Although a plan to prioritise defence in the vital industrial regions between Brisbane and Melbourne in the event of invasion had been proposed in February 1942 , it was rejected by Labor Prime Minister John Curtin and the Australian War Cabinet . An incomplete understanding of this proposal and other planned responses to invasion led Labor minister Eddie Ward to publicly allege that the previous government ( a United Australia Party - Country Party coalition under Robert Menzies and Arthur Fadden ) had planned to abandon most of northern Australia to the Japanese . Ward continued to promote the idea during late 1942 and early 1943 , and the idea that it was an actual defence strategy gained support after General Douglas MacArthur referred to it during a press conference in March 1943 , where he also coined the term ' Brisbane Line ' . Ward initially offered no evidence to support his claims , but later claimed that the relevant records had been removed from the official files . A Royal Commission concluded that no such documents had existed , and the government under Menzies and Fadden had not approved plans of the type alleged by Ward . The controversy contributed to Labor ' s win in the 1943 federal election , although Ward was assigned to minor portfolios afterward . Ward ' s allegations . In October 1942 , Labor politician Eddie Ward , the Minister for Labour and National Service under Prime Minister John Curtin , alleged at a town hall meeting in Preston that the preceding government under Prime Minister Robert Menzies ( and his successor , Prime Minister Arthur Fadden ) had prepared plans to abandon the majority of the continent as soon as the Japanese invaded , and concentrate defensive efforts on the south - eastern region . Ward had apparently been leaked the information by a Major working in the Secretary for Defence Office . A memorandum had been submitted to the Australian War Cabinet in February 1942 ( after Menzies , Fadden , and the United Australia Party - Country Party coalition had moved to Opposition ) , where the General Officer Commanding - in - Chief of the Home Forces , Lieutenant - General Iven Mackay , had advocated that in the event of an invasion , the majority of available Australian forces be concentrated in the area between Brisbane and Melbourne , where most of the nation ' s industrial capability was located . Mackay had previously been instructed to prioritise the regions around Sydney and Newcastle , with Darwin as a secondary priority , and had to consider the fact that a large portion of Australia ' s military and naval forces were deployed overseas . Ward ' s theory was based on an incomplete understanding of this plan ( which had been submitted to and rejected by Ward ' s own government , catered for the defense of strategic northern locations , including Darwin and Townsville , and instead of simply abandoning the rest of the country to the Japanese , advocated a scorched earth policy and guerrilla warfare to slow invaders until other forces could be deployed ) , along with public knowledge of evacuation plans for regions of Queensland ( which , instead of a total evacuation south , was to clear potential battle sites of civilians ) . Ward did not present any direct evidence of his claims at the time , and Menzies , along with all the ministers that had served under him during the previous government , denied the allegation . At an Advisory War Council meeting in December 1942 , Menzies , among others , expressed concern that a responsible minister was making claims that could only be disproved through the disclosure of secret defence plans . Curtin did little to quell Ward ' s attacks , and Ward continued to claim that Menzies and Fadden were responsible for the " defeatist " and " treacherous " plan . Public awareness of the alleged plan was raised when General Douglas MacArthur referred to it during a press conference in March 1943 , during which he coined the term ' Brisbane Line ' . Ward repeated his assertions over the following months , and when asked to provide proof , claimed that he had been informed of the removal of documents relating to the plan from the official files . Curtin appointed a Royal Commission to determine if such documents had existed , and if the Menzies administration had made such plans . The Commission reported in July 1943 that there was no evidence supporting an official plan to abandon most of Australia to invading forces , and that the files for the time in question were complete . The royal commission and the Brisbane Line controversy contributed to Curtin and the Labor Party winning the 1943 federal election by a significant margin , but Ward was effectively demoted by being assigned the portfolios of Transport ( the assets of which were under direct Army control ) and External Territories ( most of which had been captured by the Japanese ) . A few months after his initial statement of the ' Brisbane Line ' , MacArthur attempted to distance himself from his earlier remarks , as it was coming to light that his time lines and assertions were in fact incorrect . Post - war claims . Proponents of the existence of the Brisbane Line proposal often refer to the existence of concrete tank traps near places such as Tenterfield , which were constructed in the late 1930s , as evidence . However the existence of defences in New South Wales did not suggest any intention of abandoning other parts of Australia . In his memoir " My Fifteen Years with the General " General MacArthur ' s aide Colonel Sydney Huff wrote about a rejected plan to establish a line across the centre of Australia and defend it until help could come from America . MacArthur , in his own memoir " Reminiscences " , stated that if an invasion did occur the Australian military had plans to establish a line of defence following the Darling River from Brisbane to Adelaide .