On 9 March 1942 four people were arrested in Perth on suspicion of a plot to contact the Japanese armed forces to help with a Japanese invasion and to assassinate public officials. They had formed an organisation called the Australia-First Group. A few days later 16 people, members of the Australia First Movement, were arrested in Sydney. In Parliament they were all denounced as traitors – because WWII was underway and Australia was in fear of a Japanese invasion. Two were sentenced to prison and most of the others were secretly interned for the duration of the war.