 Throughout World War I the Australian forces deployed overseas were all volunteers, however, on the home front there was considerable debate about the issue of conscription.Conscription had been a contentious issue ever since Federation and when the AIF was initially raised in 1914 it had been decided that it would be an all-volunteer force due to the provisions of the "Defence Act" that precluded sending conscripts overseas.Nevertheless, as the war progressed, casualties amongst the deployed forces began to reach alarming rates and as the flow of reinforcements and recruits for the AIF began to drop in 1916, the issue of conscription rose once more.