Editing Alfred Deakin (section)

===Defence and external affairs===
In December 1907, he introduced the first bill to establish compulsory military service, which was also strongly supported by Labour's Watson and [[Billy Hughes]]. He had long opposed the naval agreements to fund Royal Navy protection of Australia although Barton had agreed in 1902 that the Commonwealth would take over such funding from the colonies. In 1906 he announced that Australia would purchase destroyers, and in 1907 travelled to an Imperial Conference in London to discuss the issue, without success. In 1908 he invited [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Great White Fleet]] to visit Australia, in a symbolic act of independence from Britain. The Surplus Revenue Act of 1908 provided £250,000 for naval expenditure, although these funds were first applied by the [[Andrew Fisher]] Labour government, creating the first [[Royal Australian Navy|independent navy]] in the British empire.<ref name=adb/><ref name=apmio/>