1917 Australian 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.

1917 Australian federal election

5 May 1917 (1917-05-05)
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
Registered	2,835,327 0.85%
Turnout	1,934,478 (78.30%) (4.77 pp)
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 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% 6.95%
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Subsequent Prime Minister Billy Hughes Nationalist

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 incumbent Prime Minister), in which the incumbent Prime Minister, Hughes, had successfully transferred to another seat.

At this election, Hughes had abandoned West Sydney, which he won 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 defeating that seat’s incumbent member, Alfred Hampson, for re-election, the only time that an incumbent Prime Minister has defeated another MP for his seat.

Except for the 1917 and 1922 elections, all other elections have seen the incumbent Prime Minister recontest the seat that they held prior to the election.

Results

House of Representatives

See also: Results of the 1917 Australian federal election (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.

Popular vote Nationalist   54.22% Labor   43.94% Independent   1.85%

Parliament seats Nationalist   70.67% Labor   29.33%

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

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Notes

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

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

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

External links

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890