coherent way, and many counter-argued that taxation was exactly a form of wealth conscription, and that fixed assets could hardly be mobilised with sufficient liquidity to help the war effort. Opponents to the bill stood largely behind two different principles. Some of them, with Andrew Fisher being perhaps the best known, fully agreed about the danger threatening Australia if the war was lost, and with the consequent necessity of carrying on the war with the utmost power that could be developed. However, they believed that the best effort that could be mustered would be as a result of voluntary efforts only, and the effort to introduce conscription to a nation that did not feel directly threatened would only cause infighting and actually hamper the war effort. The other group of opponents, led by default by Frank Tudor and T. J. Ryan, argued that whilst it may be justifiable to compel men to do many things, compelling them to take life and risk their own came in a different category. Under no circumstances was it just to force a man to kill another man. The Australian Worker put this popular Labor Party platform thus: "Society may say to the individual: 'you must love this; you must hate that'. But unless the individual feels love or hatred springing from his own convictions and his own feelings, society commands him in vain. He cannot love to order. He cannot hate to order. These passions must find their source within his soul ... the man who is forced to fight is a vilely outraged as the woman who is forced to fondle." Similar sentiments were echoed by the Australian Freedom League, which opposed the bill because it would prevent the expression of freedom of conscience. Trade unionists feared that the bill would open the door for foreign labour to immigrate and take jobs from the fighting men. Frank Anstey proclaimed on the floor of parliament during the introduction of the bill: "The clause provides that this measure may be cited as 'Military Service Referendum act', and I am of the opinion that its objects and purpose should be stated in more explicit language in that title. I therefore move that the words 'Military Service' be left out, with a view to insert in lieu thereof the words 'Coloured Labour'....one of the advantages to be anticipated from the carrying of the proposed referendum is the