Editing History of Australia (section)

=== The home front ===
[[File:Billy_Hughes_1919.jpg|thumb|Prime Minister W. M. Hughes in 1919]]

In October 1914, the Fisher Labor government introduced the ''[[War Precautions Act 1914|War Precautions Act]]'' which gave it the power to make regulations "for securing the public safety and defence of the Commonwealth".<ref>Mcintyre (1993). pp. 142, 161</ref> After [[Billy Hughes]] replaced Fisher as prime minister in October 1915, regulations under the act were increasingly used to censor publications, penalise public speech and suppress organisations that the government considered detrimental to the war effort.<ref name="Garton and Stanley-2013">Garton and Stanley (2013). p. 49</ref><ref>Mcintyre (2020). pp. 172–73</ref> Anti-German leagues were formed and 7,000 Germans and other "enemy aliens" were sent to internment camps during the war.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 155–57</ref><ref name="Garton and Stanley-2013" />

The economy contracted by 10 per cent during the course of hostilities. Inflation rose in the first two years of war and real wages fell.<ref>Garton and Stanley (2013). p. 51</ref><ref>Macintyre (1993). p. 155</ref> Lower wages and perceptions of profiteering by some businesses led, in 1916, to a wave of strikes by miners, waterside workers and shearers.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 161–63</ref>

Enlistments in the military also declined, falling from 35,000 a month at its peak in 1915 to 6,000 a month in 1916.<ref>Garton and Stanley (2013). p. 52</ref> In response, Hughes decided to hold a referendum on conscription for overseas service. Following the narrow defeat of the [[1916 Australian conscription referendum|October 1916 conscription referendum]], Hughes and 23 of his supporters left the parliamentary Labor party and formed a new Nationalist government with the former opposition. The Nationalists comfortably won the [[1917 Australian federal election|May 1917 elections]] and Hughes continued as prime minister.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 162–67</ref>

From August to October 1917 there was a major strike of New South Wales railway, transport, waterside and coal workers which was defeated after the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments arrested strike leaders and organised special constables and non-union labour.<ref>Mcintyre (1993). pp. 170–72</ref> A [[1917 Australian conscription referendum|second referendum on conscription]] was also defeated in December. Enlistments in 1918 were the lowest for the war, leading to the disbandment of 12 battalions and mutinies in the AIF.<ref>Garton and Stanley (2013). p. 47</ref>