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.
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All 76[b] seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 2,980,424  4.58% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 1,646,863 (59.36%)[a] (  18.94 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Future Prime Minister Frank Forde and future opposition leader John Latham both entered parliament at this election.
At this election, Hughes as the sitting prime minister made his second seat transfer, in this case, from Bendigo to North Sydney. Hughes had held Bendigo since transferring there from West Sydney at the 1917 election also as the sitting prime minister.
Hughes remains the only sitting Prime Minister to transfer to another seat, not once but twice.
Aside from the 1917 and 1922 elections, all other elections have seen the sitting prime minister recontest the seat that they held prior to the election.
Background
editThe 1919 federal election had resulted in a hung parliament, with the newly formed Country Party holding the balance of power. Prime Minister Billy Hughes' Nationalist Party government was reliant on the support of the Country Party to pass legislation. Country Party leader Earle Page used the situation to his advantage, bargaining for concessions and refusing to guarantee support for confidence motions. A vote of confidence held in October 1921 on the government's budget passed by only a single vote, when Country MP Alexander Hay abstained from voting.[1]
ALP leader Frank Tudor died in office in January 1922, after a long period of ill health.[2] He was replaced as party leader and opposition leader by New South Wales MP Matthew Charlton, who had been acting leader for some time, although he was not formally confirmed in the position until May 1922.[3][4]
Campaign
editCharlton and the ALP presented "policies of national development under a unified government with regional devolution of powers, tariff protection and limited immigration". He was briefly hospitalised during the campaign.[5]
Page presented the Country Party platform in October 1922, which included decentralisation, reduction in government expenditure and public debt, tariff and agricultural marketing reforms, and rural credits (a form of government subsidy for primary producers).[6] He also supported placing the Commonwealth Bank under an independent board, tasked with supporting national development projects.[7] His speech was critical of Hughes, alleging broken promises and describing the prime minister as having "total disregard of the financial position of the country".[8]
Results
editHouse of Representatives
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| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 665,145 | 42.30 | −0.19 | 30[d] |  4
| |
| Nationalist | 553,920 | 35.23 | −9.85 | 26 |  11
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| Country | 197,513 | 12.56 | 3.30 | 14 | 3
| |
| Liberal Union | 37,904 | 2.41 | 2.41 | 3 | 3
| |
| Liberal | 32,167 | 2.04 | 2.04 | 2 | 2
| |
| Constitutionalist | 11,812 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0 | 
| |
| Majority Labor | 10,303 | 0.66 | 0.66 | 0 |
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| Industrial Labor | 4,331 | 0.28 | 0.09 | 0 |
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| Protestant Labor | 3,631 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0 |
| |
| NT Representation League | 362 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0 |
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| Independents | 51,538 | 3.28 | 1.86 | 1 |
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| Total | 1,572,514 | 76 | 1
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| Two-party-preferred (estimated) | ||||||
| Nationalist | Win | 51.20 | −2.90 | 40 | 3 | |
| Labor | 48.80 | 2.90 | 29 | 0 | ||
- Notes
- Independents: William Watson (Fremantle, WA)
- Five members were elected unopposed – one Labor, two Nationalist, one Country, and one Liberal.
Senate
edit| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 715,219 | 45.70 | 2.86 | 11 | 12 | 11 | |
| Nationalist | 567,084 | 36.23 | −10.16 | 8 | 24 | −11 | |
| Country | 203,267 | 12.99 | 4.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Liberal Union | 43,706 | 2.79 | 2.79 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Socialist Labor | 8,551 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Majority Labor | 3,813 | 0.24 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Independents | 23,447 | 1.50 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 1,565,087 | 19 | 36 | ||||
Seats changing hands
edit- Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
- *Alexander Hay contested his seat as an independent
Post-election pendulum
editSee also
editNotes
edit- ^ Turnout in contested seats
- ^ The Northern Territory had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.
- ^ Hughes' seat prior to the election was Bendigo (Vic.). He ran for the New South Wales seat of North Sydney and won.
- ^ Including Northern Territory
References
edit- ^ Wilks, Stephen (2020). 'Now is the Psychological Moment': Earle Page and the Imagining of Australia (PDF). ANU Press. p. 79. ISBN 9781760463687.
- ^ McCalman, Janet. "Tudor, Francis Gwynne (Frank) (1866–1922)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
- ^ "Mr. Charlton Leader in the House". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 January 1922.
- ^ "Federal Labour Party". The Argus. Melbourne. 17 May 1922.
- ^ Perks, Murray (1979). "Matthew Charlton (1866–1948)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 7. Melbourne University Press.
- ^ Wilks 2020, p. 77.
- ^ Wilks 2020, p. 98.
- ^ Wilks 2020, p. 79.
External links
edit- University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
- Two-party-preferred vote since 1919