How The National Security Act Passed 1939 And Its Effects On Australia

The upsurge of World War Two forced the Australian Government to create and enforce ‘The National Security Act’, passed 1939, to actively defend themselves from the horrors of War. With the passing of the Act came new introduced laws that gave the Federal Government greater powers to respond to the threat of war. These greater powers included censorship and propaganda, the Internment of ‘enemy aliens’ (German, Italians and Japanese) and the banning of societies that opposed the War (these were communist parties of Australia and Jehovah’s witnesses). The Act served well in defending Australia for the time it was implemented, though, with passing time there were impacts causing effects on the Australian citizens during. These impacts varied from

This Act was passed by the Australian Government on the 8th of September, 1939; it allowed the Federal Government greater powers to act and respond to the threat of war. One of Australia’s first steps as part of the Act was censorship and propaganda, forcing newspapers and all forms of media to be censored, protecting all of Australia’s military secrets from the so called ‘enemy aliens’. Another step taken for the security and wellbeing of Australia was transporting the Germans, Italians and Japanese from living freely in Australia to internment facilities around the country. “When Australian Prime Minister, Rubert Menzies committed Australian mainland to war in 1939, the direct threat to the Australian mainland was fairly low. The war was mostly seen as a European conflict. However, when the threat of a Japanese invasion of Australia became a reality in 1941, the Australian war effort had a serious impact on the lives of ordinary Australians at home.” (Conti, L; et al 2016). The implementation of the National Security Act was an absolute needed necessity in protecting Australian borders, confidential information, but ending with many bad effects on Australian

With the implementation of the ‘National Security Act’ it was a necessity to have men back home capable of some of the more labour enforced duties that women were incapable of completing. These reserved occupations were manufacturing and farming, which included the need to construct vital wartime infrastructure and military buildings (such as ports, aerodromes and munitions). Although men played a highly important role on the Second World War, without the help of all the women involved at home, the Australian economy would’ve fallen