Of course, all of this was happening just before the first conscription plebiscite when Prime Minister Billy Hughes was desperate for the soldiers to support the 'Yes' argument before the population at home voted. You received criticism for your role in the conscription debate. Why was that?

Bean wanted to see the introduction of conscription in Australia in order to support the war effort. He wrote a message dictated to him by the commander of the Australian forces. The commander said soldiers should vote by their conscience and not be influenced (.docx 528kB) by him. As a publicly-funded journalist, this put him in a delicate position and his actions were opposed (.docx 529kB) by some.