1917 Australian federal election

1917 Australian federal election

← 1914 5 May 1917 (1917-05-05) 1919 →
All 75 seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
First party Second party   Leader Billy Hughes Frank Tudor Party Nationalist Labor Leader since 17 February 1917 14 November 1916 Leader's seat West Sydney (NSW) won Bendigo (Vic.) Yarra (Vic.) Last election N/A 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 N/A 6.96%
Popular vote by state with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Subsequent Prime Minister Billy Hughes Nationalist

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.

Hughes, at the time a member of the ALP, had become prime minister when Andrew Fisher retired in 1915. The Australian Labor Party split of 1916 over the conscription issue had led Hughes and 24 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 under 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, which had been narrowly defeated. The Nationalists won a decisive victory, securing the largest majority government since Federation. The ALP suffered a large electoral swing against it, losing almost seven percentage points of its vote share compared with 1914. The swing was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party. This election would be the last federal election using the first past the post election system as Australia switched to the preferential voting system in 1919.

This is the first of two elections (the other in 1922 also with Hughes as the sitting Prime Minister), in which the sitting Prime Minister, in Hughes, had successfully transferred to another seat. At this election Hughes had abandoned West Sydney, as he won that seat with 75.3% of the vote as the Labor candidate at the previous election in 1914, and moved to Bendigo instead, winning it as the Nationalist candidate. Unlike 1922, Hughes made his seat transfer in 1917 by ousting that seat’s sitting member in this case, Alfred Hampson. It is the only time that a sitting prime minister has ousted another MP for his seat.

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.

Results[]

House of Representatives[]

House of Reps 1917–1919 (FPTP) – Turnout 78.30% (Non-CV) – Informal 2.64%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Nationalist	1,021,138	54.22	+7.01	53	+21
	Labor	827,541	43.94	–6.96	22	–20
	Independents	34,755	1.85	−0.05	0	–1
	Total	1,883,434			75
	Nationalist	Win			53	+21
	Labor				22	−20

Notes

• Ten members were elected unopposed – seven Nationalist and three Labor.
• The changes recorded for the Nationalist Party are with regard to the Commonwealth Liberal Party's performance in 1914.

Senate[]

Senate 1917–1919 (FPTP BV) – Turnout 77.69% (Non-CV) – Informal N/A

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Nationalist	3,516,354	55.37	+7.60	18	24	+18
	Labor	2,776,648	43.72	−8.42	0	12	−18
	Socialist Labor	32,692	0.51	+0.51	0	0	0
	Independents	24,676	0.39	+0.39	0	0	0
	Total	6,350,370			18	36

Notes

• The changes recorded for the Nationalist Party are with regard to the Commonwealth Liberal Party's performance in 1914.

Seats changing hands[]

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

Post-election pendulum[]

See also[]

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

Notes[]

References[]

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890