Editing Frank Forde (section)

===Curtin government, 1941–1945===
[[File:Frank Forde signing the UN Charter.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Forde signing the [[United Nations Charter]] as Australia's lead delegate to the 1945 [[San Francisco Conference]]]]
Forde was a loyal deputy, and in 1941 when Labor returned to power he became [[Minister for the Army (Australia)|Minister for the Army]], a vital role in wartime.<ref name=naa-before/> He was the ''de facto'' [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|Deputy Prime Minister]], but was disappointed not to be appointed [[Treasurer of Australia|Treasurer]] in the new government; that position was instead awarded to [[Ben Chifley]]. Forde chaired the [[Australian War Cabinet|War Cabinet]] and Advisory War Council when Curtin was ill or absent, and was Acting Prime Minister on a number of occasions.<ref name=naa-before/> He strongly opposed the [[Brisbane Line]] proposal, which would have seen a strategic withdrawal of troops from northern Australia in the event of a [[Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II|Japanese invasion]] (and also included abandoning his own division of [[Division of Capricornia|Capricornia]] to the Japanese).{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=243}}

As army minister, Forde held responsibility for internment of enemy aliens during World War II and administration of the [[List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Australia|prisoner-of-war camps]]. In February 1942, following mounting concerns over a possible Japanese invasion, he authorised a mass round-up of enemy aliens in Queensland – primarily Italians – and imposed a curfew on any enemy aliens in Queensland not interned.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://italianprisonersofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/behind-the-barbed-wire.pdf|title=Behind Barbed Wire: Internment in Australia During World War II|first=Margaret|last=Bevege|publisher=University of Queensland Press|year=1993|isbn=0702224928|page=157}}</ref> In the same month Forde delegated authority to the army's [[Northern Command (Australia)|Northern Command]] to detain all enemy aliens suspected of "anti-British sentiment".{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=171}}  His use of "master warrants" to detain enemy aliens brought him into conflict with attorney-general [[H. V. Evatt]], a civil libertarian, who concluded some internments were "unjustified or frivolous".{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=201}} Forde did begin to release enemy alien internees in 1944 on the grounds they were needed for food production, although many remained in detention until the end of the war.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=217}} He supported the principle that detainees could become naturalised citizens after the war's end,{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=222}} and also opposed suggestions that Japanese prisoners-of-war who died in Australia should not be buried in the same cemeteries as Australians.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=145}}

In March 1942, Forde authorised the internment of twenty people connected with the [[Australia First Movement]], including writer [[Percy Stephensen]] and suffragette [[Adela Pankhurst]], announcing in parliament that the detainees intended to collaborate with the Japanese and had plans to carry out industrial sabotage and political assassinations.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|pp=161-164}} Only four of the Australia First detainees were charged with offences, with the others remaining detained without trial until the end of the war in spite of legal advice received by Evatt that they had not committed crimes or breached any regulations.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=200}} A committee of inquiry appointed by the government concluded in 1945 that the detention of eight of the Australia First detainees was unjustified and recommended compensation payments be made.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=218-219}}