Conscription In Ww1

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The Second World War was a time for change in the great nation of Australia. In this time of great change, the government suddenly had new powers to exercise for the protection of the people. The prime minister of the time, Sir Robert Menzies, began censoring the press to prevent nationwide panic. The government began conscription on the general population, and introduced manpower decrees as most of the workingmen had left to fight overseas. As a result of the sudden absence of manpower, Australia had a abrupt shortage of goods, which the government used its powers to introduce rationing so everyone would receive enough to feed themselves and their families. Censorship in the Second World War was used as a method of maintaining internal…show more content…
Especially after the horrors that the Great War inflicted on the soldiers of the time, some people saw conscription as something that should never be forced on innocent men, but others thought that Australia had an obligation to help out the European countries that were under attack. To please both sides of the argument, the Prime Minister at the time, Sir Robert Menzies, made service compulsory in 1942 only in Australian lands or territories, in a branch of the army called the Citizens Military Forces. However, in 1943 when the “conservative” Menzies was kicked out of office, the new Prime Minister, John Curtain, made service compulsory in the South Pacific, as this is where Australia was most vulnerable from attacks, forcing soldiers into work outside of Australia. With tens of thousands of young men being conscripted, this left a massive shortage of manpower for the jobs back home. Just after 100,000 men were called to service in the South Pacific, the Government introduced something called the Manpower Directorate, which had the power to prevent people from enlisting or being conscripted. It included such rules as the “Power to exempt a person from service or prohibit their enlistment, prevent employers from engaging labour not authorised by the directorate, restrict the right of employees to engage in the employment of their choice, prevent employees from leaving their employment, restrict the right of the employer to dismiss his employees, power to direct any person to leave one employment and engage in another, and compel individuals to register and provide information about themselves.” This manpower directorate meant that the government had exercised more power than ever before, obstructing the citizen’s right to free choice of work and controlling an employers right to hire who they
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