Government Controls
Government Controls
As in World War 1, the Commonwealth Government imposed a large number of new controls over people's lives. They did this through the authority of the National Security Act of 1939.
Censorship images
War Precautions Act
Ration images
Ration Book
Manpower regulations
Manpower regulations
- Reserved Occupations | Australian War Memorial'Labour controls were introduced during the Second World War to meet a crisis in manpower and to administrate between the needs of the armed services and industry...'
- Living with War | ANZAC portal'Men and women were 'manpowered' (ordered) into essential industries with many women entering the work force taking on jobs previously only available to men...'
- More War work | ANZAC portal'Large numbers of women were employed in industry, agriculture and other areas of employment that had previously only been available to men...'
- From wool to wirraways | ANZAC portal'Ordinary Australians were drawn into the war effort on an unprecedented scale. By the middle of 1941, Australia's economy was booming as men, women and even children were urged to put their backs into the war effort...'
Images
Media Censorship
Media Censorship
- Loose Lips Sink Ships|WA Museum'Strict censorship was imposed in Australia at the start of World War II. The Menzies Government formed the Department of Information (DOI) to control publicity...'
- 1939–1949: censorship, the Broadcasting Act, licences and a regulator| Parliament of Australia'Throughout World war 11, both the press and broadcasters were subject to considerable government censorship. This imposition caused great angst...'
- War Precautions Act | National Archives Australia'On 9 September 1939, the National Security Act became law. The Act enabled the Australian Government to invoke compulsory clauses of the Defence Act and to control areas that it was not able to control under the existing Constitution. New laws and regulations were required to help win the war and they affected many areas of the day-to-day life of ordinary Australians lives...'
Propaganda
Boosting Morale
Throughout World War II (1939 - 45) radio and cinema newsreels played vital roles, informing citizens and boosting morale.
Rationing
Rationing
In Australia rationing regulations for food and clothing were strictly introduced in mid 1942 to manage shortages and control civilian consumption.
- Rationing of food and clothing during the Second World War | Australian War Memorial'Rationing regulations for food and clothing were gazetted on 14 May 1942. Rationing was introduced to manage shortages and control civilian consumption...'
- Food shortages & rationing | State Library of Victoria'In Australia, the war did not only affect those men and women who went to fight and serve abroad. Many things also had to change for those who remained at home...'
- Rationing in Australia | QLD Government'To aid the war effort, rationing of essential commodities such as food, clothing, rubber and petrol was instituted in all Allied countries early in World War II. It became patriotic to ‘go without’ luxuries in support of troops overseas and industrial production of equipment and supplies for the forces...'
- Rationing, Austerity and Black Markets | Reserve Bank of Australia Museum'The war effort created immense government demand for resources such as fuel, food, clothing, metals and other products. Unless competition between the government and private consumers for the same scarce resources was effectively managed, inflationary pressures in the economy would emerge...'
- Victory Gardens | Australian War Memorial'In January 1942 the Prime Minister, John Curtin, launched “Dig for Victory”, a publicity campaign urging householders throughout Australia to grow their own vegetables as a contribution to the war effort. The press loved and promoted the idea, as did industry and local community groups...'
Price fixing
Price Fixing
- The Spectre of Inflation | Reserve Bank of Australia Museum'The combination of increased spending power and scarce goods created a very real risk of uncontrolled inflation...'
- Accounting the cost of War | University of Melbourne'To encourage private interests to engage in war production, the Government decreed contractors should be rewarded on a reasonable basis and that the people of Australia should be required to pay fair and reasonable prices for the munitions...'