Australian federal election, 1919
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All 75 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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Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1919. 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, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Frank Tudor.
The government changed the lower-house voting system from first-past-the-post to full-preference preferential voting after the 1918 Swan by-election saw a split in the vote between Nationalist and Country Party candidates, causing Labor with the largest primary vote to unexpectedly win the by-election. Full-preference preferential voting has remained in place since, allowing the non-Labor parties to safely contest the same seats.[1]
The election was held in conjunction with two referendum questions, neither of which was carried.
Future Prime Minister Earle Page entered parliament at this election. This was the first federal election that future Prime Minister Stanley Bruce contested as a member of parliament, having entered parliament at the 1918 Flinders by-election.
Results
House of Representatives
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationalist | 860,519 | 45.07 | −9.15 | 37 | −16 | |
Labor | 811,244 | 42.49 | −1.45 | 25 | +3 | |
Country Party (state-based) | 176,884 | 9.26 | +9.26 | 11 | +11 | |
Industrial Socialist Labor | 3,637 | 0.19 | +0.19 | 0 | 0 | |
Independents | 56,947 | 2.98 | +1.13 | 2 | +2 | |
Total | 1,909,231 | 75 | ||||
Two-party-preferred (estimated) | ||||||
Nationalist | WIN | 54.10 | N/A | 37 | −16 | |
Labor | 45.90 | N/A | 26 | +4 |
- Notes
- Independents: Michael Considine (Barrier, NSW), Frederick Francis (Henty, Vic.)
- Two members were elected unopposed, both Labor.
Senate
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats Won | Seats Held | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationalist | 861,990 | 46.40 | −8.97 | 18 | 35 | +11 | |
Labor | 795,858 | 42.84 | −0.89 | 1 | 1 | −11 | |
Country (state-based) | 163,293 | 8.79 | +8.79 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Socialist | 10,508 | 0.57 | +0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent | 26,374 | 1.42 | +1.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 1,857,823 | 19 | 36 |
Seats changing hands
Seat | Pre-1919 | Swing | Post-1919 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Adelaide, SA | Labor | George Edwin Yates | 100.0 | 50.8 | 0.8 | Reginald Blundell | Nationalist | ||
Angas, SA | Nationalist | Paddy Glynn | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | Moses Gabb | Labor | ||
Ballaarat, Vic | Labor | Charles McGrath | 100.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | Edwin Kerby | Nationalist | ||
Barrier, NSW | Labor | Michael Considine | N/A | 53.8 | 3.8 | Michael Considine | Independent | ||
Brisbane, Qld | Labor | William Finlayson | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | Donald Charles Cameron | Nationalist | ||
Calare, NSW | Nationalist | Henry Pigott | 1.8 | 4.1 | 2.3 | Thomas Lavelle | Labor | ||
Cowper, NSW | Nationalist | John Thomson | 100.0 | 71.6 | 21.6 | Earle Page | Farmers & Settlers | ||
Grampians, Vic | Nationalist | Edmund Jowett | 4.8 | N/A | 8.2 | Edmund Jowett | Victorian Farmers | ||
Gwydir, NSW | Nationalist | William Webster | 6.5 | 9.7 | 3.2 | Lou Cunningham | Labor | ||
Henty, Vic | Nationalist | James Boyd | 20.6 | 23.2 | 2.9 | Frederick Francis | Independent | ||
Hindmarsh, SA | Nationalist | William Archibald | 5.8 | 7.2 | 1.4 | Norman Makin | Labor | ||
Hume, NSW | Nationalist | Franc Falkiner | 1.9 | 9.4 | 7.5 | Parker Moloney | Labor | ||
Indi, Vic | Nationalist | John Leckie | 6.2 | 6.4 | 12.6 | Robert Cook | Victorian Farmers | ||
Kalgoorlie, WA | Nationalist | Edward Heitmann | 1.3 | 3.4 | 2.1 | Hugh Mahon | Labor | ||
Swan, WA | Labor | Edwin Corboy | 1.5 | N/A | 8.0 | John Prowse | Farmers & Settlers | ||
Werriwa, NSW | Nationalist | John Lynch | 2.8 | 3.8 | 1.0 | Bert Lazzarini | Labor | ||
Wimmera, Vic | Nationalist | Sydney Sampson | 100.0 | 59.5 | 9.5 | Percy Stewart | Victorian Farmers | ||
- 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
- Two-party-preferred vote since 1919