Английская Википедия:1919 Australian federal election

Материал из Онлайн справочника
Перейти к навигацииПерейти к поиску

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox election 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 1919 election was the first held since the passage of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, which introduced preferential voting for both houses of parliament – instant-runoff voting for the House of Representatives and preferential block voting for the Senate. It was held several months earlier than constitutionally required, so that the government could capitalise on the popularity of Hughes after his return from the Paris Peace Conference. The Nationalists campaigned on the government's war record and appealed to return soldiers. The Australian Labor Party (ALP), in opposition since the 1916 party split, contested a second election under the leadership of Frank Tudor. However, T. J. Ryan was the party's national campaign director and played a key role in the campaign.

The Nationalists won 37 out of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives, including the seat of Ballaarat by a single vote. Labor won 26 seats, a net gain of four. The Nationalists also swept the Senate for a second consecutive election, leaving the ALP with just a single senator, Albert Gardiner. The election was notable for the emergence of the Country Party as a national political force. A referendum was held simultaneous to the election, at which the government unsuccessfully sought approval to amend the constitution for increased government powers over commerce.

Background

Файл:Hughes Welcomehome Parispeaceconference.jpg
Hughes being carried through George Street, Sydney, upon his return from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; he was at the height of his popularity during that time

The Nationalist Party, formed after the 1916 Labor Party split, won a large majority at the 1917 federal election. In April 1918, Prime Minister Billy Hughes left Australia to attend the Imperial War Cabinet. He was overseas for sixteen months, which saw the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the Paris Peace Conference. He was at the height of his popularity during this time, and was widely feted when he returned to Australia in August 1919.Шаблон:Sfn According to Robert Garran, who was both Solicitor-General of Australia and Hughes' personal secretary at the conference, there were three main problems that confronted him upon his return – profiteering, high prices, and industrial unrest.Шаблон:Sfn

At the ALP Federal Conference in early October 1919, a resolution was passed calling on T. J. Ryan, premier of Queensland, to enter federal politics. He agreed to do so, and was appointed to the new position of "national campaign director".[1] Con Wallace, MP for West Sydney, agreed to give up the ALP nomination to allow Ryan to win a safe seat.Шаблон:Sfn Opposition Leader Frank Tudor remained the party's formal leader, but Ryan had a higher public profile and led the ALP's campaign.[1] According to King O'Malley, who met with him in Hobart a few weeks before the election, Ryan believed that he would become prime minister if Labor won the election.Шаблон:Sfn

Electoral reform

The 1919 federal election was the first to use preferential voting.[2] The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 replaced the previous first-past-the-post system used in the House of Representatives, and also re-introduced postal voting. It was amended the following year to also allow preferential voting for the Senate.[3] The new act repealed the existing Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, but did not alter the terms of the Commonwealth Electoral (War-time) Act 1917, under which naturalised British subjects born in enemy countries were disqualified from voting. This provision mainly affected German-Australians.[4] There was a long history of support for preferential voting in Australia, but the immediate trigger for the new legislation was the decision of farmers' organisations to run candidates of their own in opposition to the Nationalist Party. The Swan by-election in October 1918 saw an ALP candidate elected with just over one-third of the vote, after the Nationalist candidate split the vote with a candidate from the Country Party of Western Australia.Шаблон:Sfn The Corangamite by-election in December was the first held under the new system, and resulted in the Victorian Farmers' Union candidate winning from Nationalist preferences.Шаблон:Sfn

Campaign

Файл:T. J. Ryan 1916.jpg
T. J. Ryan, who resigned as premier of Queensland to enter federal politics. He served as the Labor Party's national campaign director at the 1919 election.

Constitutionally, a new election was not due until early 1920, but the Nationalists wished to hold an early election to capitalise on Hughes' popularity.Шаблон:Sfn On 30 September, the party caucus approved an election for 13 December.Шаблон:Sfn The writs were formally issued on 3 November, with the close of nominations on 14 November.[5][6] However, the campaign had begun in earnest after the last sitting day of federal parliament on 24 October.Шаблон:Sfn

Party platforms

Nationalists

Hughes and the Nationalists sought re-election largely on the basis of their record in government. The prime minister's 90-minute policy speech, delivered in Bendigo on 30 November, was "stronger on generalities than on concrete proposals". Hughes promised to appoint royal commissions on profiteering, the living wage, and taxation, and to call a constitutional convention for 1920. He planned to overhaul industrial relations by setting up a system of industrial councils with a Commonwealth Industrial Court at their apex.Шаблон:Sfn The Nationalists also promised government support of industry, primary producers, and immigration.Шаблон:Sfn

Labor

The ALP was ill-prepared for the election – six weeks before the polling date, it had no party manifesto, had preselected few candidates, and the state branches in Victoria and New South Wales were "virtually bankrupt".Шаблон:Sfn The party eventually released its manifesto on 4 November, which was signed by Tudor, Ryan, and Jack Holloway. It "showed much of Ryan's hand in its language and political style", and ended with a quote from Abraham Lincoln.Шаблон:Sfn Tudor's policy speech was delivered in Melbourne the following day. The party promised an expansion of the welfare system, including the introduction of widows' pensions, child endowment for orphans and children of invalids, and a significant increase in old-age and disability pensions. It also promised to establish a national shipping line, national insurance office, and national medical service, which were to be funded through a wealth tax.Шаблон:Sfn

Issues

The campaign primarily focused on Hughes and Ryan and their respective records. The Round Table observed that "the prominence given to them made genuine political discussion impossible". The Nationalists accused Ryan of disloyalty to the war effort and fostering left-wing extremism, while Labor accused Hughes of mismanaging the war and failing to deal with profiteering.Шаблон:Sfn Tudor was "barely considered" in the campaign due to poor health,Шаблон:Sfn and twice had to withdraw from campaigning due to "attacks of hemorrhage".[7] The Nationalists claimed Hughes had safeguarded the White Australia policy at the Paris Peace Conference, while the ALP said he had endangered it by failing to stop the Japanese from acquiring the South Seas Mandate.Шаблон:Sfn Issues relating to returned soldiers were also prominent, and the 1919 election has been classed as a wartime or "khaki" election, despite it taking place over a year after the Armistice.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Returned soldiers

Both parties were keen to secure the votes of returned soldiers, and Hughes in particular cultivated them as a new political base.Шаблон:Efn In 1919, there were about 270,000 returned soldiers out of a total enrolment of 2.85 million; they were viewed as a "vital political constituency".Шаблон:Sfn While Hughes was already popular with the armed forces, he sought an explicit endorsement from the main lobby group for returned soldiers, the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA). Its newly elected president was Gilbert Dyett, a 28-year-old junior officer who was protective of the organisation's independence and political neutrality.Шаблон:Sfn In the lead-up to the election Hughes had five separate meetings with Dyett and other officials.Шаблон:Sfn He was willing to make concessions on repatriation policy and other related issues, but repeatedly stressed that the RSSILA's agenda could only be enacted if the Nationalists won, for which a formal endorsement was necessary.Шаблон:Sfn Dyett was unwilling to compromise his neutrality, and consequently the RSSILA "gained almost every concession they sought, yet maintained their independence by holding out to Hughes the prospect of returned soldier support while never granting it".Шаблон:Sfn

Sectarianism

Sectarianism between Catholics and Protestants became an issue in the campaign. In early November, Ryan chaired an Irish Race Convention in Melbourne, which had been organised by Catholic archbishop Daniel Mannix to support Irish home rule.Шаблон:Sfn Mannix tacitly endorsed Ryan as prime minister, stating that "Ireland and Irish Australia have no reason to be ashamed of him, either as Premier of Queensland or as the prospective Prime Minister of the Commonwealth".Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, the Catholic press in Melbourne and Sydney "unashamedly support[ed] Ryan and his party".Шаблон:Sfn In response, Protestant organisations ran advertisements claiming a Labor government would see Australia controlled by the Catholic Church.Шаблон:Sfn

McDougall incident

One issue in the campaign was the anti-war poem "The White Man's Burden", written by John Keith McDougall in 1900 during the Boer War. It contained lines critical of soldiers, describing them as "sordid killers who murder for a fee", "hog-souled and dirty-handed", and "fools and flunkeys". The poem was republished on a number of occasions during World War I – in January 1915 by the Labor Call, the official ALP newspaper in Victoria, and later by McDougall's opponents at the 1915 Grampians by-election and 1917 federal election.Шаблон:Sfn On 13 November 1919, Melbourne Punch re-published excerpts from the poem, contrasting them with the ALP's election manifesto which praised soldiers.Шаблон:Sfn Pro-government newspapers did likewise, particularly The Argus, and a leaflet containing the poem was widely circulated.Шаблон:Sfn Hughes frequently quoted the poem in his campaign speeches, stating that returned soldiers faced a choice between "those who stood by you, or those who spoke contemptuously of you as 'sordid killers'". Pro-opposition newspapers noted that Hughes had in fact campaigned for McDougall four years later, when he was still a member of the ALP.Шаблон:Sfn The outcry over the poem was directed at the ALP rather than its author, who was often not identified. However, a week before the election, a group of about 20 ex-soldiers kidnapped McDougall from his property in Ararat, before tarring and feathering him and dumping him in the street, bound and blindfolded.Шаблон:Sfn In February 1920, six of the men were convicted of assault and fined £5 each, while receiving sympathy from the magistrate and much of the press.Шаблон:Sfn

Results

House of Representatives

Шаблон:See also Out of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives, 37 were won by the Nationalists and 26 by the Labor Party. In Melbourne Ports and Newcastle, the ALP candidate was elected unopposed. Eleven of the remaining twelve seats were won by candidates endorsed by or aligned with the farmers' organisations in each state; they subsequently formed the Country Party.[8] The remaining seat was won by Frederick Francis, who stood as an "independent Nationalist" in the Melbourne seat of Henty and defeated the sitting Nationalist member.[9]

Government ministers Paddy Glynn and William Webster were among those who lost their seats. The closest margin of victory was in Ballaarat, where Nationalist Edwin Kerby defeated the sitting Labor member Charles McGrath by a single vote. The result was successfully challenged in the Court of Disputed Returns, with Justice Isaac Isaacs criticising the "almost incredible carelessness" of the electoral officers. McGrath won the seat back at the resulting by-election.[10] Mary Grant was the only woman to stand for the House of Representatives, polling 18.1 percent of the vote in Kooyong.[11]

House of Reps (IRV) — 1919–1922—Turnout 71.59% (Non-CV) — Informal 3.47%
Файл:Australian House of Representatives 1919.svg
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change
Шаблон:Australian party style|   Nationalist 870,959 45.62 −8.60 37 −16
Шаблон:Australian party style|   Labor 811,244 42.49 −1.45 26 +4
Шаблон:Australian party style|   CountryШаблон:Efn 166,444 8.72 +8.72 11 +11
Шаблон:Australian party style|   Industrial Socialist Labor 3,637 0.19 +0.19 0 0
Шаблон:Australian party style|   Independents 56,947 2.98 +1.13 1 +1
  Total 1,909,231     75

Шаблон:Bar box Шаблон:Bar box

Senate

In the Senate, the Nationalists won 18 out of the 19 seats up for election.Шаблон:Efn[12] The party had previously won all 18 seats at the 1917 election, leaving them with "an absurdly large majority" – after 1 July 1920, when the new senators began their term, Albert Gardiner was the only non-government senator and the sole representative of the Labor Party in the chamber. The country parties failed to win any seats, but some Nationalist senators were sympathetic to their views.Шаблон:Sfn Mary McMahon was the only woman to stand for the Senate, polling 0.3 percent of the statewide vote in New South Wales.[11]

Senate (P BV) — 1919–22—Turnout 71.33% (Non-CV) — Informal 8.61%
Файл:1919 Australian Senate.svg
Party Votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change
Шаблон:Australian party style |   Nationalist 861,990 46.40 −8.97 18 35 +11
Шаблон:Australian party style |   Labor 795,858 42.84 −0.89 1 1 −11
Шаблон:Australian party style |   CountryШаблон:Efn 163,293 8.79 +8.79 0 0 0
Шаблон:Australian party style |   Socialist Labor 10,508 0.57 +0.06 0 0 0
Шаблон:Australian party style |   Independent 26,374 1.42 +1.03 0 0 0
  TotalШаблон:Pad 1,857,823     19 36

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1919 Swing Post-1919
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Adelaide, SA Шаблон:Australian party style Labor George Edwin Yates 100.0 50.8 0.8 Reginald Blundell Nationalist Шаблон:Australian party style
Angas, SA Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Paddy Glynn 0.8 1.5 0.7 Moses Gabb Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Ballaarat, Vic Шаблон:Australian party style Labor Charles McGrath 100.0 50.0 0.0 Edwin Kerby Nationalist Шаблон:Australian party style
Brisbane, Qld Шаблон:Australian party style Labor William Finlayson 0.0 1.0 1.0 Donald Cameron Nationalist Шаблон:Australian party style
Calare, NSW Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Henry Pigott 1.8 4.1 2.3 Thomas Lavelle Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Cowper, NSW Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist John Thomson 100.0 71.6 21.6 Earle Page Farmers & Settlers Шаблон:Australian party style
Grampians, Vic Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Edmund Jowett 4.8 N/A 8.2 Edmund Jowett Victorian Farmers Шаблон:Australian party style
Gwydir, NSW Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist William Webster 6.5 9.7 3.2 Lou Cunningham Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Henty, Vic Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist James Boyd 20.6 23.2 2.9 Frederick Francis Independent Шаблон:Australian party style
Hindmarsh, SA Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist William Archibald 5.8 7.2 1.4 Norman Makin Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Hume, NSW Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Franc Falkiner 1.9 9.4 7.5 Parker Moloney Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Indi, Vic Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist John Leckie 6.2 6.4 12.6 Robert Cook Victorian Farmers Шаблон:Australian party style
Kalgoorlie, WA Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Edward Heitmann 1.3 3.4 2.1 Hugh Mahon Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Swan, WA Шаблон:Australian party style Labor Edwin Corboy 1.5 N/A 8.0 John Prowse Farmers & Settlers Шаблон:Australian party style
Werriwa, NSW Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist John Lynch 2.8 3.8 1.0 Bert Lazzarini Labor Шаблон:Australian party style
Wimmera, Vic Шаблон:Australian party style Nationalist Sydney Sampson 100.0 59.5 9.5 Percy Stewart Victorian Farmers Шаблон:Australian party style
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Post-election pendulum

Government seats
Nationalist Party
Marginal
Ballaarat (Vic) Edwin Kerby NAT 00.0
Adelaide (SA) Reginald Blundell NAT 00.8
Brisbane (Qld) Donald Cameron NAT 01.0
Eden-Monaro (NSW) Austin Chapman NAT 01.2
Riverina (NSW) John Chanter NAT 01.3
Fawkner (Vic) George Maxwell NAT 01.5
Grey (SA) Alexander Poynton NAT 01.8
Herbert (Qld) Fred Bamford NAT 02.4
Illawarra (NSW) Hector Lamond NAT 03.1
Robertson (NSW) William Fleming NAT 03.5
Oxley (Qld) James Bayley NAT 03.8
Denison (Tas) William Laird Smith NAT 03.9
Darwin (Tas) George Bell NAT 04.0
Wannon (Vic) Arthur Rodgers NAT 04.1
Wide Bay (Qld) Edward Corser NAT 04.3
Bendigo (Vic) Billy Hughes NAT 05.0
Gippsland (Vic) George Wise NAT 05.2 v VFU
Moreton (Qld) Arnold Wienholt NAT 05.2
Bass (Tas) Syd Jackson NAT 05.8
Fairly safe
Nepean (NSW) Eric Bowden NAT 07.1
New England (NSW) Alexander Hay NAT 07.3
Lang (NSW) Elliot Johnson NAT 07.3
Corio (Vic) John Lister NAT 07.5
Darling Downs (Qld) Littleton Groom NAT 07.7
Wakefield (SA) Richard Foster NAT 08.4
Safe
Wilmot (Tas) Llewellyn Atkinson NAT 10.2 v NAT
Fremantle (WA) Reginald Burchell NAT 10.8
Perth (WA) James Fowler NAT 11.0
Parkes (NSW) Walter Marks NAT 11.5
Franklin (Tas) William McWilliams NAT 12.1 v NAT
Lilley (Qld) George Mackay NAT 13.3
Wentworth (NSW) Charles Marr NAT 13.6
Barker (SA) John Livingston NAT 14.1
Kooyong (Vic) Robert Best NAT 14.3 v IND
Dampier (WA) Henry Gregory NAT 14.6
Balaclava (Vic) William Watt NAT 14.9
Flinders (Vic) Stanley Bruce NAT 15.5
Boothby (SA) William Story NAT 16.6
Very safe
Richmond (NSW) Walter Massy-Greene NAT 22.5
Parramatta (NSW) Joseph Cook NAT 22.6
North Sydney (NSW) Granville Ryrie NAT 25.5
Non-government seats
Australian Labor Party and Country Party
Marginal
Angas (SA) Moses Gabb ALP 00.7
Werriwa (NSW) Bert Lazzarini ALP 01.0
Hindmarsh (SA) Norman Makin ALP 01.4
Kalgoorlie (WA) Hugh Mahon ALP 02.1
Maribyrnong (Vic) James Fenton ALP 02.1
Calare (NSW) Thomas Lavelle ALP 02.3
Maranoa (Qld) Jim Page ALP 02.7 v PPU
Capricornia (Qld) William Higgs ALP 02.8
Gwydir (NSW) Lou Cunningham ALP 03.2
Macquarie (NSW) Samuel Nicholls ALP 03.2
Bourke (Vic) Frank Anstey ALP 03.2
Barrier (NSW) Michael Considine ALP 03.8 v IND
Fairly safe
Batman (Vic) Frank Brennan ALP 07.1
Hume (NSW) Parker Moloney ALP 07.5
East Sydney (NSW) John West ALP 07.8
Swan (WA) John Prowse F&SA 08.0 v ALP
Grampians (Vic) Edmund Jowett VFU 08.2 v ALP
Hunter (NSW) Matthew Charlton ALP 08.9
Wimmera (Vic) Percy Stewart VFU 09.5 v NAT
Dalley (NSW) William Mahony ALP 09.7
Safe
Corangamite (Vic) William Gibson VFU 10.4 v ALP
Kennedy (Qld) Charles McDonald ALP 11.7
Darling (NSW) Arthur Blakeley ALP 11.8
Indi (Vic) Robert Cook VFU 12.6 v ALP
Echuca (Vic) William Hill VFU 14.0 v NAT
Melbourne (Vic) William Maloney ALP 15.6
Cook (NSW) James Catts ALP 15.7
South Sydney (NSW) Edward Riley ALP 18.3
Very safe
Yarra (Vic) Frank Tudor ALP 20.3
Cowper (NSW) Earle Page F&SA 21.6 v ALP
West Sydney (NSW) T. J. Ryan ALP 22.2
Melbourne Ports (Vic) James Mathews ALP unopposed
Newcastle (NSW) David Watkins ALP unopposed
Independents
Henty (Vic) Frederick Francis IND 02.9 v NAT

Aftermath and analysis

According to Hughes' biographer L. F. Fitzhardinge, "the result of the election gave no satisfaction to anyone".Шаблон:Sfn The Nationalists were the only party capable of forming a government, but their failure to win an absolute majority weakened the position of Hughes within the party. Neither of the referendum questions carried.Шаблон:Sfn Ryan attributed the ALP's defeat to the new voting system,Шаблон:Sfn while James Catts, the party's campaign director in New South Wales, stated in January 1920 that "the defeat of Labor is due to Labor".Шаблон:Sfn Senior Labor MP William Higgs publicly blamed the election result on interference from the organisational wing, and was expelled from the party in February 1920.Шаблон:Sfn He sat as an independent for a period before joining the Nationalists later in the year.Шаблон:Sfn It has been suggested that anti-Irish sentiment may have played a part in the ALP's failure to win more seats. The result led some within the party to question the wisdom of Archbishop Mannix involving himself in politics.[13]

The new House of Representatives proved much less stable than its immediate predecessors. According to Gavin Souter, the author of an official history of parliament, the most notable result of the 1919 election was the emergence of the Country Party as a force in federal politics.Шаблон:Sfn On 22 January 1920, nine of the crossbench MPs agreed to form a parliamentary party, which they named the Australian Country Party. Two others joined the Country Party in the month before parliament opened on 26 February, leaving it with eleven MPs out of 75. William McWilliams was elected as the party's inaugural leader.[14] Tudor moved a motion of no confidence in the government on 3 March, which was defeated by 45 votes to 22. The Country Party generally supported the government's agenda over the course of the parliament.Шаблон:Sfn

The election greatly increased the number of returned soldiers in parliament, which rose from four to sixteen; all but two were Nationalists.Шаблон:Sfn According to Шаблон:Harvp, the concessions Hughes made in an attempt to gain the returned-soldier vote "ensured two of Australia's major wartime legacies: a powerful, united and well-connected veterans' organisation, and a repatriation system that was perhaps the world's most generous".Шаблон:Sfn

See also

Notes

Шаблон:Notelist

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Шаблон:Australian elections