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.
William Morris Hughes was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics spanned several decades. He was a member of the federal parliament from the Federation of Australia in 1901 until his death in 1952, and is the only person to have served as a parliamentarian for more than 50 years. He represented six political parties during his career, leading five, outlasting four, and being expelled from three.
Sir Joseph Cook was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the sixth prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party, having previously been leader of the Anti-Socialist Party from 1908 to 1909. His victory at the 1913 election marked the first time that a centre-right party had won a majority at an Australian federal election.
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.
Jens August Jensen was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1910 to 1919. He was a minister in the governments of Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes, serving as Minister for the Navy from 1915 to 1917 and Minister for Trade and Customs from 1917 to 1918.
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.
The Watson ministry (Labour) was the 3rd ministry of the Government of Australia, and the first national Labour government formed in the world. It was led by the country's 3rd Prime Minister, Chris Watson. The Watson ministry succeeded the First Deakin ministry, which dissolved on 27 April 1904 after Labour withdrew their support and Alfred Deakin was forced to resign. The ministry was replaced by the Reid ministry on 17 August 1904 after the Protectionist Party withdrew their support over the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill.
The First Fisher ministry (Labour) was the 6th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 5th Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher. The First Fisher ministry succeeded the Second Deakin ministry, which dissolved on 13 November 1908 after Labour withdrew their support and Alfred Deakin was forced to resign. The ministry was replaced by the Third Deakin ministry on 2 June 1909 after the Protectionist Party and the Anti-Socialist Party merged into the Liberal Party "fusion" and withdrew their support in order to form what became the first majority government in federal Australian history.
The Third Fisher ministry (Labor) was the 10th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 5th Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher. The Third Fisher ministry succeeded the Cook ministry, which dissolved on 17 September 1914 following the federal election that took place on 5 September which saw Labor defeat Joseph Cook's Liberals. The ministry was replaced by the First Hughes ministry on 27 October 1915 following Fisher's retirement from Parliament to become the next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
The Second Hughes ministry was the 12th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 7th Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. The Second Hughes ministry succeeded the First Hughes ministry, which dissolved on 14 November 1916 following the split that took place within the governing Labor Party over the issue of conscription. This led to Hughes and his supporters leaving the party to form the National Labor Party, which swiftly received parliamentary support from Joseph Cook and the Liberal Party. The ministry was replaced by the Third Hughes ministry on 17 February 1917 after National Labor and Commonwealth Liberal merged into the Nationalist Party.
The Fourth Hughes ministry (Nationalist) was the 14th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 7th Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. The Fourth Hughes ministry succeeded the Third Hughes ministry, which dissolved on 8 January 1918 following the resignation of Hughes as prime minister after a vote of no-confidence within the Nationalist Party in the wake of a failed second referendum on conscription. However, due to a lack of alternative leaders, Hughes was immediately re-commissioned as prime minister by Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson. The ministry was replaced by the Fifth Hughes ministry on 3 February 1920 following the 1919 federal election.
The First Hughes ministry (Labor) was the 11th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 7th Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. The First Hughes ministry succeeded the Third Fisher ministry, which dissolved on 27 October 1915 following Andrew Fisher's retirement from Parliament to become the next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. The ministry was replaced by the Second Hughes ministry on 14 November 1916 following the split that took place within Labor over the issue of conscription. This led to Hughes and his supporters leaving the party to form the National Labor Party.
Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1901 to 1938. He began his career in the Labor Party but later joined the National Labor Party, the Nationalist Party, and the United Australia Party; he served as a cabinet minister under prime ministers from all four parties.
Alexander Poynton OBE was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, serving as Treasurer (1916–1917), Minister for Home and Territories (1920–1921), and Postmaster-General (1921–1923).
William Oliver Archibald was an Australian politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1893 to 1910, representing Port Adelaide, and a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1910 to 1919, representing Hindmarsh. Archibald was a Labor member until resigning in the 1916 Labor split; he subsequently served as a Nationalist until his defeat at the 1919 federal election.
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.
This is a list of the members of the Australian House of Representatives in the Sixth Australian Parliament, which was elected at the 1914 election on 5 September 1914.
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 Australian Labor Party split of 1916 occurred following severe disagreement within the Australian Labor Party over the issue of proposed World War I conscription in Australia. Labor Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes had, by 1916, become an enthusiastic supporter of conscription as a means to boost Australia's contribution to the war effort. On 30 August 1916, he announced plans for a referendum on the issue, and introduced enabling legislation into parliament on 15 September, which passed only with the support of the opposition. Six of Hughes's ministers resigned in protest at the move, and the New South Wales state branch of the Labor Party expelled Hughes. The referendum saw an intense campaign in which Labor figures vehemently advocated on each side of the argument, although the "no" campaign narrowly won on 14 November. In the wake of the referendum defeat, the caucus moved to expel Hughes on 14 November; instead, he and 23 supporters resigned and formed the National Labor Party. Frank Tudor was elected leader of the rump party. Hughes was recommissioned as Prime Minister, heading a minority government supported by the opposition Commonwealth Liberal Party; the two parties then merged as the Nationalist Party of Australia and won the 1917 federal election. The Nationalist Party served as the main conservative party of Australia until 1931, and the split resulted in many early Labor figures ending their careers on the political right. Hughes, for instance, sat as a member of the Nationalists and their successors, the United Australia Party and the Liberal Party, with only a few short breaks until his death in 1952.
