The War Precautions Act 1914 was an Act

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 of the Parliament of Australia

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

 which gave the Government of Australia

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

 special powers for the duration of World War I and for six months afterwards.

Provisions

Under the War Precautions Act, the federal Government could make laws about anything that affected the war effort. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the range of federal regulations. During peacetime, the federal Government's powers under the Constitution

Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...

 were limited to specified subject matters; other matters were within the power of the Australian States. During wartime, the scope of the federal Government's power under the constitution to make laws with respect to the naval and military defence of the Commonwealth expanded to meet the exigencies of wartime. This expansion allowed the federal Government to overcome limits on its other powers and provided constitutional support for the War Precautions Act.

The federal Government also began to exercise powers that it had possessed prior to the war but had chosen not to exercise. For example, it began to levy income tax, which had previously only been levied by the Australian States.

Furthermore, many of the powers available to the federal Government under the Act were exercisable under Regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

. This means that they did not need to be passed by Parliament in order to became law. Any document prepared by the relevant Minister and signed by the Governor-General

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

 became law. Many War Precautions Regulations were made in this way.

Some of the activities carried out under the authority of the War Precautions Act include:

• cancellation of commercial contracts with firms in enemy countries;
• levying of an income tax;
• price fixing
  Price fixing
  Price fixing is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand...
  
  ;
• interning of "enemy aliens"; and
• censorship of publications and letters.

Operation

There were 3,442 prosecutions under the Act, almost all of which were successful. Penalties ranged from cautionary fines to imprisonment for up to six months.

Some of the uses of the War Precautions Act were highly controversial. For example, leading up to the referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

s on conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

, a Regulation that banned statements likely to prejudice recruiting was used to hamper the anti-conscription campaign. Almost any anti-conscriptionist speech could be construed as offending, and a number of prominent anti-conscriptionists were charged, including John Curtin

John Curtin

John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...

.

Another controversial use of the Act was in the settling of labour disputes. When coal-miners in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 went on strike in 1916, the Act was used to empower the Attorney-General

Attorney-General of Australia

The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...

 to order the men back to work. The following year, a nationwide strike of Waterfront workers was defeated by the passing of a regulation that deprived the Waterside Workers Federation

Maritime Union of Australia

The Maritime Union of Australia covers waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. As of 2011 the union has about 13,000 members. It is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation and represents the...

 of preferences in seven of the busiest ports in Australia. Although in many cases the use of the Act in settling labour disputes could be seen as necessary for the war effort, some other uses appeared calculated to suppress the labour movement

Australian labour movement

The Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both trade unions and political activity. At its broadest, the movement can be defined as encompassing the industrial wing, the unions in Australia, and the political wing, the Australian Labor Party and minor...

. For example in September 1918 the War Precautions Act was used to ban the use of the red flag

Red flag

In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...

, a traditional labour emblem.

Following the end of the war, the continued operation of the Act lead to a series of violent demonstrations known as the Red Flag Riots

Red Flag Riots

The Red Flag Riots were a series of violent demonstrations and attacks that occurred in Queensland, Australia over the course of 1918–19. The attacks were largely undertaken by returned soldiers from the First Australian Imperial Force and were focused upon socialists and other elements of society...

.

The War Precautions Act was eventually repealed by the War Precautions Act Repeal Act 1920.