| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 75 seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats in the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Registered | 2,835,327 0.85% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 1,934,478 (78.30%) [a] (4.77 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The 1917 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 5 May 1917. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Frank Tudor in a landslide.
Hughes, at the time a member of the ALP, had become prime minister when Andrew Fisher retired in 1915. The Australian Labor Party split of 1916 over the conscription issue had led Hughes and 24 other pro-conscription Labor MPs to split off as the National Labor Party, which was able to form a minority government supported by the Commonwealth Liberal Party under Joseph Cook. Later that year, National Labor and the Liberals merged to form the Nationalist Party, with Hughes as leader and Cook as deputy leader. The election was fought in the aftermath of the 1916 plebiscite on conscription, which had been narrowly defeated. The Nationalists won a decisive victory, securing the largest majority government since Federation. The ALP suffered a large electoral swing against it, losing almost seven percentage points of its vote share compared with 1914. The swing was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party. This election would be the last federal election using the first past the post election system as Australia switched to the preferential voting system in 1919.
This is the first of two elections (the other in 1922 also with Hughes as the incumbent Prime Minister), in which the incumbent Prime Minister, Hughes, had successfully transferred to another seat.
At this election, Hughes had abandoned West Sydney, which he won with 75.3% of the vote as the Labor candidate at the previous election in 1914, and moved to Bendigo instead, winning it as the Nationalist candidate: unlike 1922, Hughes made his seat transfer in 1917 by defeating that seat’s incumbent member, Alfred Hampson, for re-election, the only time that an incumbent Prime Minister has defeated another MP for his seat.
Except for the 1917 and 1922 elections, all other elections have seen the incumbent Prime Minister recontest the seat that they held prior to the election.
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationalist | 1,021,138 | 54.22 | +7.01 | 53 | +21 | |
Labor | 827,541 | 43.94 | –6.96 | 22 | –20 | |
Independents | 34,755 | 1.85 | −0.05 | 0 | –1 | |
Total | 1,883,434 | 75 | ||||
Nationalist | Win | 53 | +21 | |||
Labor | 22 | −20 |
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationalist | 3,516,354 | 55.37 | +7.60 | 18 | 24 | +18 | |
Labor | 2,776,648 | 43.72 | −8.42 | 0 | 12 | −18 | |
Socialist Labor | 32,692 | 0.51 | +0.51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Independents | 24,676 | 0.39 | +0.39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 6,350,370 | 18 | 36 |
Non-government seats | |||
Australian Labor Party | |||
Marginal | |||
Macquarie (NSW) | Samuel Nicholls | ALP | 00.0 |
Brisbane (Qld) | William Finlayson | ALP | 00.0 |
Maribyrnong (Vic) | James Fenton | ALP | 02.2 |
Capricornia (Qld) | William Higgs | ALP | 02.3 |
Barrier (NSW) | Michael Considine | ALP | 02.5 vs IND |
Darling (NSW) | Arthur Blakeley | ALP | 03.3 |
Hunter (NSW) | Matthew Charlton | ALP | 03.4 |
Dalley (NSW) | William Mahony | ALP | 04.0 |
Bourke (Vic) | Frank Anstey | ALP | 04.5 |
Maranoa (Qld) | Jim Page | ALP | 04.8 |
Fairly safe | |||
Newcastle (NSW) | David Watkins | ALP | 08.0 |
Safe | |||
Melbourne (Vic) | William Maloney | ALP | 10.3 |
Batman (Vic) | Frank Brennan | ALP | 10.9 |
Kennedy (Qld) | Charles McDonald | ALP | 12.8 |
South Sydney (NSW) | Edward Riley | ALP | 13.3 |
Cook (NSW) | James Catts | ALP | 14.4 |
Melbourne Ports (Vic) | James Mathews | ALP | 16.3 |
West Sydney (NSW) | Con Wallace | ALP | 16.5 |
Very safe | |||
Yarra (Vic) | Frank Tudor | ALP | 21.3 |
Adelaide (SA) | George Edwin Yates | ALP | unopposed |
Ballaarat (Vic) | Charles McGrath | ALP | unopposed |
East Sydney (NSW) | John West | ALP | unopposed |
The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed in February 1917 from a merger between the Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Minister Billy Hughes and his supporters after the 1916 Labor Party split over World War I conscription. The Nationalist Party was established as a 'united' non-Labor opposition that had remained a political trend once the Labor party established itself in federal politics. The party was in government until electoral defeat in 1929. From that time it was the main opposition to the Labor Party until it merged with pro-Joseph Lyons Labor defectors to form the United Australia Party (UAP) in 1931. The party is a direct ancestor of the Liberal Party of Australia, the main centre-right party in Australia.
Francis Michael Forde was an Australian politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Australia from 6 to 13 July 1945, in a caretaker capacity following the death of John Curtin. He was deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1932 to 1946 and is the shortest-serving prime minister in Australia's history.
Francis Gwynne Tudor was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1916 until his death. He had previously been a government minister under Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes.
The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fusion.
The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as the Coalition or the LNP, is an alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. The two partners in the Coalition are the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia. Its main opponent is the Australian Labor Party (ALP); the two forces are often regarded as operating in a two-party system. The Coalition was last in government from 2013 to 2022. The group is led by Peter Dutton, who succeeded Scott Morrison after the 2022 federal election.
The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Prime Minister of Australia when anti-conscriptionist Andrew Fisher resigned in 1915. He formed the new party for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the ALP a month after the 1916 plebiscite on conscription in Australia. Hughes held a pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I.
William Arthur Holman was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split of 1916. He subsequently became the inaugural leader of the NSW branch of the Nationalist Party.
William Alexander Watt was an Australian politician. He served two terms as Premier of Victoria before entering federal politics in 1914. He then served as a minister in the government of Billy Hughes from 1917 to 1920, including as acting prime minister during World War I, and finally as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1923 to 1926.
The 1949 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 10 December, 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was defeated by the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Robert Menzies in a landslide. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first period having ended in 1941. This election marked the end of the 8-year Curtin-Chifley Labor government that had been in power since 1941 and started the 23-year Liberal/Country Coalition government. This was the first time the Liberal party won government at the federal level.
The 1922 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes lost its majority. However, the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton did not take office as the Nationalists sought a coalition with the fledgling Country Party led by Earle Page. The Country Party made Hughes's resignation the price for joining, and Hughes was replaced as Nationalist leader by Stanley Bruce.
The 1919 Australian federal election was held on 13 December 1919 to elect members to the Parliament of Australia. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party government won re-election, with Prime Minister Billy Hughes continuing in office.
The 1918 Swan by-election was a by-election for the Division of Swan in the Australian House of Representatives, following the death of the sitting member Sir John Forrest. Held on 26 October 1918, the by-election led to the election of the youngest person to be elected until 2010 to the Parliament of Australia, Edwin Corboy. It saw the conservative vote split between the Country Party and the Nationalist Party, which directly prompted the introduction of preferential voting in Australia.
William Harrison Story was an Australian builder, trade unionist and politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 1904 to 1917 and then represented the seat of Bootby in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922. He was one of the founders of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in South Australia, but left the party during the 1916 split over conscription and subsequently joined the new Nationalist Party. He was a bricklayer and mason by profession, later starting his own building and contracting firm. He also served as mayor of Kensington and Norwood from 1901 to 1903.
This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between the 1914 election and the 1917 election, together known as the Ninth Parliament. The re-election of Premier John Scaddan's Labor Government with a 26-24 majority in 1914 was tempered when, a year later, Labor member Joseph Gardiner's seat was declared vacant on account of his non-attendance and a Liberal was elected in his stead, and Labor became a minority government when on 18 December 1915, Edward Johnston resigned from the Labor Party and became an independent. On 27 July 1916, the Scaddan Ministry was defeated and the Liberals' Frank Wilson became the new premier.
Walter Leslie Duncan was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1920 to 1931.
This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1917 Australian federal election. The election was held on 5 May 1917.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1914 to 1917. The 5 September 1914 election was a double dissolution called by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Cook in an attempt to gain control of the Senate. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Commonwealth Liberal Party was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Andrew Fisher, who announced with the outbreak of World War I during the campaign that under a Labor government, Australia would "stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to the last man and the last shilling."
During the second half of World War I, the First Australian Imperial Force experienced a shortage of men as the number of men volunteering to fight overseas declined and the casualty rate increased. At the time, military service within the Commonwealth of Australia and its territories was compulsory for Australian men, but that requirement did not extend to conflict outside of Australia. In 1916, Prime Minister Billy Hughes called a plebiscite to determine public support for extending conscription to include military service outside the Commonwealth for the duration of the war. The referendum, held on 28 October 1916, narrowly rejected the proposal. A second plebiscite, held a year later on 20 December 1917, also failed to gain a majority.
The history of the Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia, 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.
The 1917 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday 15 November 1917 for the state's Legislative Assembly. 51 of the 65 Legislative Assembly seats were contested.