Australian federal election, 1917

Australian federal election, 1917

5 May 1917 (1917-05-05)
All 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats in the Australian Senate
First party Second party   Leader Billy Hughes Frank Tudor Party Nationalist Labor Leader since 14 November 1916 14 November 1916 Leader's seat Bendigo Yarra Last election 32 seats 42 seats Seats won 53 seats 22 seats Seat change 21 20 Popular vote 1,021,138 827,541 Percentage 54.22% 43.94% Swing 7.01 6.96
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Resulting Prime Minister Billy Hughes Nationalist

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 of Australia (a result of a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and National Labor Party) led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Frank Tudor.

Hughes, then a member of the ALP, had become Prime Minister when Andrew Fisher retired in 1915. The Australian Labor Party split of 1916 over World War I conscription in Australia had led Hughes 24 and 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, led by 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 in Australia, which had been narrowly defeated. The Nationalists won a decisive victory, securing the largest majority government since Federation. Meanwhile, the ALP suffered a large swing against it, losing almost seven percent of its vote from 1914. The swing was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party.

Results

House of Reps 1917–19 (FPTP) — Turnout 78.30% (Non-CV) — Informal 2.64%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Nationalist Party of Australia	1,021,138	54.22	+7.01	53	+21	(7 elected unopposed)
	Australian Labor Party	827,541	43.94	-6.96	22	-20	(3 elected unopposed)
	Independents	34,755	1.85	−0.05	0	-1
	Total	1,883,434			75
	Nationalist Party of Australia	WIN			53	+21
	Australian Labor Party				22	−20

Popular Vote
Nationalist			54.22%
Labor			43.94%
Independent			1.85%

Parliament Seats
Nationalist			70.67%
Labor			29.33%

Senate 1917–19 (FPTP BV) — Turnout 77.69% (Non-CV) — Informal N/A

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Nationalist Party of Australia	3,516,354	55.37	+7.60	18	24	+19
	Australian Labor Party	2,776,648	43.72	−8.42	0	12	−19
	Other	57,368	0.90		0	0	0
	Total	6,350,370			18	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1917				Swing	Post-1917
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bass, Tas		Labor	Jens Jensen	6.0	15.9	9.9	Jens Jensen	Nationalist
Bendigo, Vic		Labor	Alfred Hampson	0.9	12.5	7.4	Billy Hughes	Nationalist
Boothby, SA		Labor	George Dankel	5.3	19.8	14.5	William Story	Nationalist
Corio, Vic		Labor	Alfred Ozanne	1.2	8.5	7.3	John Lister	Nationalist
Darwin, Tas		Labor	King O'Malley	6.1	14.9	8.8	Charles Howroyd	Nationalist
Denison, Tas		Labor	William Laird Smith	5.9	12.2	6.3	William Laird Smith	Nationalist
Fawkner, Vic		Labor	Joseph Hannan	9.3	10.7	N/A	George Maxwell	Nationalist
Fremantle, WA		Labor	Reginald Burchell	6.3	25.2	18.9	Reginald Burchell	Nationalist
Gippsland, Vic		Independent	George Wise	1.0	24.7	22.7	George Wise	Nationalist
Grey, SA		Labor	Alexander Poynton	4.0	11.7	7.7	Alexander Poynton	Nationalist
Gwydir, NSW		Labor	William Webster	3.8	10.3	6.5	William Webster	Nationalist
Herbert, Qld		Labor	Fred Bamford	14.4	15.7	1.3	Fred Bamford	Nationalist
Hindmarsh, SA		Labor	William Archibald	24.4	30.2	5.8	William Archibald	Nationalist
Illawarra, NSW		Labor	George Burns	4.2	8.5	4.3	Hector Lamond	Nationalist
Indi, Vic		Labor	Parker Moloney	1.0	7.2	6.2	John Leckie	Nationalist
Kalgoorlie, WA		Labor	Hugh Mahon	100.0	51.3	1.3	Edward Heitmann	Nationalist
Oxley, Qld		Labor	James Sharpe	6.8	9.6	2.3	James Bayley	Nationalist
Werriwa, NSW		Labor	John Lynch	0.0	2.8	2.8	John Lynch	Nationalist

• Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1917
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1917–1919
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1917–1920

References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890