a national sin, a national calamity." As opposition leader, Cook had opposed almost no government measures throughout 1916, and Hughes and his faction were becoming increasingly distant from the bulk of the ALP and aligning much more with the conservative opposition. When the second reading of the Military Service Referendum bill was moved, it carried 46 to 10 in the House and 19 to 9 in the Senate. In neither house did any member of the opposition vote against the bill — the opposing vote came entirely from Labor detractors. Upon the second moving of the Referendum Bill, Frank Tudor resigned from Hughes' cabinet. A group of 15 representatives and 12 senators, led by Frank Brennan and Myles Ferricks, opposed the bill at every stage on the grounds that it was a question of conscience on which no majority, no matter how large, had a right to impose its will on the minority. Hughes stared down his enemies within the party and committed himself fully to the campaign: "For myself, I say that I am going into this referendum campaign as if it were the only thing for which I lived." Public debate The debate over whether to introduce conscription had risen in profile with the public, and many sectors of the population were heavily divided on the issue. The highly influential Australian Natives' Association announced in mid-1916 that "[t]he needs of war can no longer be met by voluntary service ... this association pledges itself to support the Government to utilise the services of every citizen." Yet the branches of the ANA were split in response to the executive's announcement, with some branches declaring against conscription (such as Coburn) and others rallying to support (Collingwood). Coming into the conscription debate, organised labour's opposition was not unanimous. The Age published an analysis of the situation on 13 April and came to the conclusion that "if a vote were taken of the rank and file of the entire movement, there would be an undoubted demand for conscription". Some Labor supporters did so only on the proviso of an accompanying 'conscription of wealth'. This had been an issue within the Labor Party for some time – in Australia in 1916, the wealth census revealed that 80% of the assets and wealth tabulated in the nation were held by just 15% of the population. The issue never got off the ground in a