Australian federal election, 1925

Australian federal election, 1925
All 75 seats in the House of Representatives ; 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 22 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Prime Minister before election; Stanley Bruce ; Nationalist/Country coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister; Stanley Bruce ; Nationalist/Country coalition

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 14 November 1925. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 22 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist–Country coalition, led by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton.

Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, though there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 Senators: 12 are elected from each of the six states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

Compulsory voting is an effect of laws which require eligible citizens to register and vote in elections, and may impose penalties on those who fail to do so. As of August 2013, 22 countries provide for compulsory voting, and 11 democracies — about 5% of all United Nations members — enforce it.

Campaign

Prime Minister Stanley Bruce was a supporter of the White Australia Policy, and made it an issue in his campaign for the 1925 Australian Federal election.^[1]

The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of State, the leader of the Federal Cabinet. The Prime Minister also has the responsibility of administering the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and is the chair of the National Security Committee and the Council of Australian Governments. The office of Prime Minister is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia but exists through Westminster political convention. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia and at the Governor-General's pleasure subject to the Constitution of Australia and constitutional conventions.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, was the eighth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1923 to 1929. He made wide-ranging reforms and mounted a comprehensive nation-building program in government, but his controversial handling of industrial relations led to a dramatic defeat at the polls in 1929. Bruce later pursued a long and influential diplomatic career as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1933–1945) and chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organization (1946–1951).

It is necessary that we should determine what are the ideals towards which every Australian would desire to strive. I think those ideals might well be stated as being to secure our national safety, and to ensure the maintenance of our White Australia Policy to continue as an integral portion of the British Empire.^[1] We intend to keep this country white and not allow its people to be faced with the problems that at present are practically insoluble in many parts of the world.^[2]

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1925–28 — Turnout 91.39% (CV) — Informal 2.36%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Nationalist–Country coalition		1,551,760	53.20	N/A	50	N/A
		Nationalist	1,238,397	42.46	+7.23	37	+11
		Country	313,363	10.74	–1.82	13	–1
	Labor		1,313,627	45.04	+2.74	23	–6
	Independents		51,251	1.76	–2.80	2	+1
	Total		2,916,638			75
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Nationalist–Country coalition		WIN	53.80	N/A	51	N/A
	Labor			46.20	−2.60	23	–6

Notes

Independents: Percy Stewart (Wimmera, Vic.), William Watson (Fremantle, WA).
Labor lost Kennedy, Qld., when the sitting member Charles McDonald died on the day before the election, leading to his opponent Grosvenor Francis being declared elected unopposed.^[3]

Percy Gerald Stewart was an Australian politician. He was an original member of the Victorian Farmers' Union and long a radical campaigner for farming interests. He helped bring down Stanley Bruce's government in 1929, but died soon after.

The Division of Wimmera was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It was named after the Wimmera region in which it was located. It originally encompassed the towns of Mildura, Swan Hill and Warracknabeal, but by the time it was abolished in 1977, it had drifted south and grown smaller to only include Ararat, Horsham and Maryborough. The Division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 75 divisions to be contested at the first Federal election. It was abolished at the redistribution of 31 October 1977.

William Watson was an Australian politician. Born in Campbells Creek, Victoria, he was educated at public schools before becoming a miner, bricklayer and farmer. In 1893, he left Victoria for Western Australia, where he became a bacon manufacturer in Fremantle, and became known as a local benefactor. In 1922, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as an independent, representing the seat of Fremantle. He held the seat until he retired in 1928. He returned to the House in 1931, again as the member for Fremantle, but this time representing the United Australia Party; he retired shortly afterwards in 1934. Watson died in 1938 and was buried in Fremantle Cemetery.

Popular Vote

Labor			45.04%
Nationalist			42.46%
Country			10.74%
Others			1.76%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Coalition			53.80%
Labor			46.20%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			68.00%
Labor			30.67%
Others			2.67%

Senate

Senate (P BV) — 1925–28 — Turnout 91.31% (CV) — Informal 6.96%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Nationalist–Country coalition		1,537,282	54.81	N/A	22	28	N/A
	Nationalist	1,272,127	45.35	+9.12	18	24	0
	Country	265,155	9.45	–3.53	4	4	+4
Labor		1,262,912	45.02	–0.67	0	8	–4
Independents		4,808	0.17	–1.87	0	0	0
Total		2,805,002			22	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1925				Swing	Post-1925
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Angas, SA		Labor	Moses Gabb	8.0	8.3	0.3	Walter Parsons	Nationalist
Balaclava, Vic		Liberal	William Watt	100.0	30.3	19.7	William Watt	Nationalist
Barker, SA		Liberal	Malcolm Cameron	2.3	9.3	11.6	Malcolm Cameron	Nationalist
Barton, NSW		Labor	Frederick McDonald	7.6	8.6	1.0	Thomas Ley	Nationalist
Boothby, SA		Liberal	Jack Duncan-Hughes	4.7	2.9	7.6	Jack Duncan-Hughes	Nationalist
Darwin, Tas		Country	Joshua Whitsitt	0.4	10.9	10.5*	George Bell	Nationalist
Denison, Tas		Labor	David O'Keefe	0.4	2.6	2.2	John Gellibrand	Nationalist
Gwydir, NSW		Labor	Lou Cunningham	0.1	3.2	3.1	Aubrey Abbott	Country
Kennedy, Qld		Labor	Charles McDonald	N/A	100.0	100.0	Grosvenor Francis	Nationalist
Kooyong, Vic		Liberal	John Latham	0.6	18.3	17.7	John Latham	Nationalist
Wakefield, SA		Liberal	Richard Foster	5.3	9.5	14.8	Richard Foster	Nationalist
Wannon, Vic		Labor	John McNeill	0.8	4.8	4.0	Arthur Rodgers	Nationalist
Wimmera, Vic		Country	Percy Stewart	21.2	77.8	27.8	Percy Stewart	Independent

Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
*Figure is Nationalist versus Labor.

Notes

1 2 "ISSUES OF THE ELECTIONS". The Age (21,999). Victoria, Australia. 6 October 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 9 December 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita (2002). The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage. Cambridge University Press. p. 301. ISBN 0-521-82430-3 . Retrieved 24 January 2008.
↑ "Kennedy Seat". Brisbane Courier. 14 November 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 19 July 2010.

Related Research Articles

The Nationalist Party was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth 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 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 UAP was the immediate predecessor to the current Liberal Party of Australia, the main centre-right party in Australia.

The Parliament of Australia is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Crown, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The combination of two elected chambers, in which the members of the Senate represent the states and territories while the members of the House represent electoral divisions according to population, is modelled on the United States Congress. Through both chambers, however, there is a fused executive, drawn from the Westminster system.

The Australian electoral system comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament. The system presently has a number of distinctive features including compulsory enrolment, compulsory voting, majority-preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the House of Representatives, and the use of the single transferable vote proportional representation system to elect the upper house, the Senate.

The 1998 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the 39th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 3 October 1998. All 148 seats of the House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat Senate were up for election. The incumbent centre-right Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister John Howard of the Liberal Party and coalition partner Tim Fischer of the National Party defeated the centre-left Australian Labor Party opposition led by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley.

The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1917, shortly after Federation. The CLP came about as a result of a merger between the two non-Labor parties, the Protectionist Party and the Anti-Socialist Party which most of their MPs accepted. The CLP is the earliest direct ancestor of the current Liberal Party of Australia.

1990 Australian federal election election

Federal elections were held in Australia on 24 March 1990. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Andrew Peacock with coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by Charles Blunt. The election saw the reelection of a Hawke government, the fourth successive term.

The politics of Australia take place within the framework of a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Australians elect parliamentarians to the federal Parliament of Australia, a bicameral body which incorporates elements of the fused executive inherited from the Westminster system, and a strong federalist senate, adopted from the United States Congress. Australia largely operates as a two-party system in which voting is compulsory. The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Australia as a "full democracy" in 2017.

Federal elections were held in Australia on 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. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first term having ended in 1941.

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister John Curtin, defeated the opposition Country–UAP coalition under Arthur Fadden.

Federal elections were held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but there was no Senate election. The election was caused by the defeat of the Bruce-Page Government in the House of Representatives over the Maritime Industries Bill, Bruce having declared that the vote on the bill would constitute a vote of confidence in his government.

Federal elections were held in Australia on 17 November 1928. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist–Country coalition, led by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by James Scullin.

Federal elections were 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.

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1919. 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, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Frank Tudor.

Federal elections were 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.

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1925 Australian federal election. The election was held on 14 November 1925.

This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1929 to 1932. Half of its members were elected at the 14 November 1925 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1926 and finishing on 30 June 1932; the other half were elected at the 17 November 1928 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1929 and finishing on 30 June 1935. The process for filling casual vacancies was complex. While senators were elected for a six year term, people appointed to a casual vacancy only held office until the earlier of the next election for the House of Representatives or the Senate.

A federal election to determine the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by then-Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Australia and Coalition partner the National Party of Australia, led by Warren Truss, defeated the incumbent centre-left Labor Party government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by a 17-seat 3.6 percentage point two-party swing. Labor had been in government since the 2007 election. Abbott was sworn in by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce as Australia's 28th Prime Minister on 18 September 2013 along with the Abbott Ministry and the members of the House of Representatives. The 44th Parliament of Australia opened on 12 November 2013, which is taken to be the commencement of the term of members of the House of Representatives. The new senators were sworn in by the next Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on 7 July 2014, with their six-year terms commencing on 1 July.

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.

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
Two-party-preferred vote since 1919
Compulsory Voting in Australia

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Policy_Launch_Speech-1] 1 2 "ISSUES OF THE ELECTIONS". The Age (21,999). Victoria, Australia. 6 October 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 9 December 2016– via National Library of Australia.

[Bowen-2] Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita (2002). The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage. Cambridge University Press. p. 301. ISBN 0-521-82430-3 . Retrieved 24 January 2008.

[3] "Kennedy Seat". Brisbane Courier. 14 November 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 19 July 2010.

v t e Elections and referendums in Australia
Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 next by-elections
Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999
Surveys	1998 2017
Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia