Australian federal election, 1910
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Commonwealth Liberal Party (the result of a merger between the Protectionist Party and the Anti-Socialist Party) led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin was defeated by the opposition Labour Party, led by Andrew Fisher.
The election represented a number of firsts: it was Australia's first elected federal majority government; Australia's first elected Senate majority; the world's first Labour Party majority government at a national level; after the 1904 Chris Watson minority government the world's second Labour Party government at a national level; the first time it controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature and the first time that a prime minister, in this case Deakin, got voted out in an election. It also remains the only election in Australia's federal history to have occurred following expiration of a full three-year parliamentary term by the 'effluxion of time'.[1]
Two referendums to approve proposed amendments to the Constitution were held on the same day. The State Debts referendum was carried, but the Surplus Revenue referendum was not carried.
Future Prime Minister James Scullin and future opposition leader Matthew Charlton both entered parliament at this election. Scullin lost his seat at the subsequent 1913 election and did not re-enter parliament until 1922.
Results
House of Representatives
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 660,864 | 49.97 | +13.33 | 42 | +16 | |
Commonwealth Liberal | 596,350 | 45.09 | N/A | 31 | N/A | |
Independents | 65,368 | 4.94 | +3.36 | 2 | +1 | |
Total | 1,322,582 | 75 | ||||
Labour | WIN | 42 | +1 | |||
Commonwealth Liberal | 31 | +4 |
- Notes
- Independents: William Lyne (Hume, NSW), George Wise (Gippsland, Vic)
- Four members were elected unopposed – two Labour and two Commonwealth Liberal.
Senate
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats Won | Seats Held | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 2,021,090 | 50.30 | +11.57 | 18 | 22 | +7 | |
Commonwealth Liberal | 1,830,353 | 45.55 | N/A | 0 | 14 | -6 | |
Independents | 134,976 | 3.36 | +2.46 | 0 | 0 | −1 | |
Other | 31,700 | 0.79 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 4,018,119 | 18 | 36 |
Seats changing hands
Seat | Pre-1910 | Swing | Post-1910 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Bass, Tas | Commonwealth Liberal | David Storrer | 12.3 | 56.8 | 6.8 | Jens Jensen | Labour | ||
Batman, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | Jabez Coon | 1.3 | 15.3 | 13.6 | Henry Beard | Labour | ||
Bendigo, Vic | Independent | John Quick | 1.7 | 0.4 | 1.3 | John Quick | Commonwealth Liberal | ||
Bourke, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | James Hume Cook | 2.2 | 15.3 | 8.6 | Frank Anstey | Labour | ||
Brisbane, Qld | Commonwealth Liberal | Justin Foxton | 11.3 | 12.5 | 1.2 | William Finlayson | Labour | ||
Capricornia, Qld | Commonwealth Liberal | Edward Archer | 5.6 | 12.4 | 6.8 | William Higgs | Labour | ||
Corangamite, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | Gratton Wilson | 24.7 | 29.4 | 4.7 | James Scullin | Labour | ||
Corio, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | Richard Crouch | 100.0 | 54.4 | 4.4 | Alfred Ozanne | Labour | ||
Dalley, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | William Wilks | 2.7 | 9.3 | 6.6 | Robert Howe | Labour | ||
Denison, Tas | Commonwealth Liberal | Philip Fysh | 6.5 | 18.6 | 8.1 | William Laird Smith | Labour | ||
East Sydney, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | George Reid | 4.9 | 12.0 | 7.1 | John West | Labour | ||
Gippsland, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | George Wise | 100.0 | 62.1 | 12.1 | George Wise | Independent | ||
Hume, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | William Lyne | 100.0 | 66.4 | 16.4 | William Lyne | Independent | ||
Hunter, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | Frank Liddell | 0.8 | 11.7 | 0.9 | Matthew Charlton | Labour | ||
Indi, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | Joseph Brown | 11.0 | 14.1 | 3.1 | Parker Moloney | Labour | ||
Maribyrnong, Vic | Commonwealth Liberal | Samuel Mauger | 6.9 | 17.7 | 10.8 | James Fenton | Labour | ||
Nepean, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | Eric Bowden | 10.6 | 14.8 | 1.5 | George Cann | Labour | ||
Perth, WA | Labour | James Fowler | 2.7 | 13.4 | 10.7 | James Fowler | Commonwealth Liberal | ||
Riverina, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | John Chanter | 100.0 | 57.0 | 7.0 | John Chanter | Labour | ||
Robertson, NSW | Commonwealth Liberal | Henry Willis | 7.0 | 7.9 | 0.9 | William Johnson | Labour | ||
- Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
Post-election pendulum
See also
Notes
References
- University of WA election results in Australia since 1890