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Thursday 26 May 2011

Australia's "Yes or No" Campaign




The "Yes" "No" campaign was a political debate about Australia's involvement in World War One. In two referendums (1916,1917), Prime Minister Billy Hughes offered Australians the chance to vote for conscription .


Yes Badges
 
Strong ideas about the war were being passed around at the time. The Australian Government already had the power to conscript soldiers in defence of Australia; what they couldn't do was conscript men to fight overseas. This is what Hughes was trying to achieve.
The major Australian newspapers, The Argus and The Age, supported the vote for conscription, as did representatives from every political party.

Arguments in favour of conscription included:

  • It was Australia's duty to support Great Britain
  • Australia's good reputation would be maintained
  • Voluntary recruitment had failed
  • Conscription ensured an equal sacrifice from all Australians
  • Other countries, such as New Zealand, Canada and particularly Great Britain already had conscription.


As Australia was a colony of Great Britain, patriotism played a major role in pro-conscription arguments.

Anti-conscription supporters argued that:

  • It was an unjust war and conscription was an unjust policy
  • No one had the right to send someone else to their death
  • An absence of men would see women and non-European men entering the workforce, causing wages to fall and worsening work conditions
  • Too many Australians had already died or been seriously wounded.
Both the 1916 and 1917 referendums were defeated by very close margins. As a result, conscription was not used in World War One.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

^ that name tho

Ben Dover said...

^ that name tho