About this record

This document is a memorandum that explains the purpose and scope of the War Precautions Bill, which was introduced to the Australian parliament just weeks after the outbreak of the First World War (WW1). By this time the need to take immediate steps to protect the public and secure the nation’s defence was widely recognised. All political parties supported the Bill, and the War Precautions Act 1914 was passed unanimously in October 1914. The handwritten note in the margin of the first page says, ‘This power appears to cover everything required.’ This comment, together with the other handwritten annotations, suggests that the document is a draft rather than the final version of the memorandum.

Educational value

• The War Precautions Act 1914 was intended to ensure ‘the safety of the Commonwealth during the present state of war’. The memorandum states that the proposed law will place restrictions on people communicating with the enemy and on the movement of ‘aliens’ (people who were not British subjects). The Act also introduced special powers to protect sites that were significant for transport and communication within Australia.
• A memorandum is prepared to allow members of parliament, public servants and members of the public to understand what a parliamentary bill aims to achieve and how the new law will operate. The language used in a memorandum is often less legal and easier to understand than the language which is required for a law. However, even here some archaic legal language is used: for example, the word ‘intituled’, which is simply a very old-fashioned way of saying ‘titled’.
• The memorandum notes that the proposed law would give the Australian Governor-General special powers ‘for securing the public safety and defence of the Commonwealth’. In 1914 the Governor-General, as the British monarch’s representative, was responsible for ensuring that Britain’s imperial policies were carried out in Australia; he was also the official channel of communication between the British and Australian governments.
• The War Precautions Act 1914 provided for special penalties to be applied to people who communicated with the enemy or undertook other actions undermining public safety. During the war, there were more than 3,000 prosecutions under the Act – most of which were successful. Those charged could be subject to trial by court martial and penalties ranged from fines to imprisonment. (A court martial is a form of military trial for various offences, usually applied only to military personnel.)
• A similar piece of legislation had already been enacted by the British Parliament, as the first sentence of this memorandum makes clear: ‘This Bill is based upon an Imperial Act intituled the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 – a measure recently passed by the Imperial Parliament’. In 1914 the British Parliament had responsibility for the foreign policy of all countries that were members of the British Empire.
• The Australian Constitution specifies which matters the federal government has power to make laws about, while the states have power to make laws about all remaining matters in Australia. After the outbreak of war in 1914, the powers of the federal government expanded to include decisions relating to ‘the naval and military defence of the Commonwealth’. This allowed the government to make laws, such as the War Precautions Act 1914, which had wide-ranging powers. The powers conferred by that Act were to operate ‘for the period of the present state of war and no longer’, and the War Precautions Act Repeal Act was also passed in 1914.