In 1931 Jack Lang, the Premier of New South Wales, announced the "Lang Plan". This plan would reduce the effects of the Great Depression. The main feature of the plan was to stop making loan repayments to foreign banks. This was the opposite of the policy of the federal Labor government led by James Scullin. As a result, Lang's supporters, led by Jack Beasley and Eddie Ward, were forced out of the federal Caucus. 