<P> Billy Hughes, prime minister from October 1915, expanded the government's role in the economy, while dealing with intense debates over the issue of conscription . </P> <P> From a population of five million, 417,000 men enlisted; 330,000 went overseas to fight during the First World War . They were all volunteers, since the political battle for compulsory conscription failed . Some 58,000 died and 156,000 were wounded . Fisher argues that the government aggressively promoted economic, industrial, and social modernization in the war years . However, he says it came through exclusion and repression . He says the war turned a peaceful nation into "one that was violent, aggressive, angst - and conflict - ridden, torn apart by invisible front lines of sectarian division, ethnic conflict and socio - economic and political upheaval ." The nation was fearful of enemy aliens--especially Germans, regardless of how closely they identified with Australia . The government interred 2,900 German - born men (40% of the total) and deported 700 of them after the war . Irish nationalists and labor radicals were under suspicion as well . Racist hostility was high toward nonwhites, including Pacific Islanders, Chinese and Aborigines . The result, Fischer says, was a strengthening of conformity to imperial / British loyalties and an explicit preference for immigrants from the British Isles . </P> <P> The major military event involved sending 40,000 ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand) soldiers in 1915 to seize the Gallipoli peninsula near Constantinople to open an Allied route to Russia and weaken the Ottoman Empire . The campaign was a total failure militarily and 8,100 Australians died . However the memory was all - important, for it transformed the Australian mind and became an iconic element of the Australian identity and the founding moment of nationhood . </P> <P> The War Precautions Act 1914 of 1914 provided the Commonwealth government with wide - ranging powers for a period of up to six months after the duration of the war . It covered: the prevention of trade with hostile nations, issuing loans to pay for the war effort, the introduction of a national taxation scheme, the fixing of the prices of certain goods, the internment of people considered a danger to Australia, the compulsory purchase of strategic goods, and the censorship of the media . </P>

Which statement best describes the political position of great britain during the civil war