Farmers complained to the government about the birds destroying their crops. A group of veteran settler-farmers went to meet with the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce. The settler-farmers had been soldiers in World War I. They knew how powerful machine guns were. They asked the government to send machine guns. The minister agreed. But, he had some requests of his own: soldiers must use the guns, not the settler-farmers; the Western Australian government would pay to transport the soldiers; and, the farmers would give food and housing, and pay for the bullets. Pearce also wanted to send the guns because the birds would make good target practice. Some in the government may have thought the military operation was a good way to be seen helping the Western Australian farmers, to stop the secession movement that was starting. A cinematographer(a person who films motion pictures) from Fox Movietone was also joined the military campaign.