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After Hughes and the Nationalists scored a convincing victory at the 1917 election, Hughes announced that a second plebiscite on the question of conscription would be held on 20 December 1917. [ 3 ] During the course of World War 1, 38.7% of eligible Australian men enlisted for service — around 420,000 out of an eligible population of a ...
Hughes, however, knew that he did not need to create a new law but could just amend the old one to include conscription via a democratic referendum. As a result, on 28 October 1916, an advisory referendum was held to decide whether the community of Australia supported conscription. The vote was rejected, and Hughes was sacked from the Labor Party.
After a particularly bitter campaign, a majority of Australians voted against the proposal, the issue splitting the Federal Labor Party. After joining with the conservative Opposition to form a nationalist government in February 1917, Hughes resolved to hold a second conscription referendum the following December. [2]
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Under Labor Prime Minister Billy Hughes, full conscription for overseas service was attempted during the First World War in two referendums. The first referendum was held on 28 October 1916 and narrowly rejected conscription with a margin of 49% for and 51% against. [4] The referendum of 28 October 1916 asked Australians:
They were typically branded as "shirkers", "traitors" and "pro-German". State, social and moral pressure was applied. In the wake of the conscription referendum in 1916 these accusations became more malicious. The social divisions produced by conscription and the pressure to enlist cut particularly deeply into rural communities.
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In October, Hughes held a national plebiscite for conscription, but it was narrowly defeated. [30] The enabling legislation was the Military Service Referendum Act 1916 and the outcome was advisory only. The narrow defeat (1,087,557 Yes and 1,160,033 No), however, did not deter Hughes, who continued to argue vigorously in favour of conscription.