Lyons sent veteran World War I Prime Minister Billy Hughes to represent Australia at the 1932 League of Nations Assembly in Geneva and in 1934 Hughes became Minister for Health and Repatriation. Hughes made a memorable speech in the portfolio in 1935 in which he argued that "Australia must... populate or perish". However Hughes was forced to resign in 1935 after his book Australia and the War Today exposed a lack of preparation in Australia for what Hughes correctly supposed to be a coming war. Soon after, the Lyons government tripled the defence budget. In the book, Hughes described sanctions as "either an empty gesture, or war", contradicting Cabinet's decision to support the League of Nations policy of sanctions after Italy had invaded Abyssinia.
