1910 Australian federal election

1910 Australian federal election

13 April 1910 (1910-04-13)
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 Andrew Fisher Alfred Deakin Party Labor Commonwealth Liberal Leader since 30 October 1907 26 May 1909 Leader's seat Wide Bay (Qld.) Ballaarat (Vic.) Last election 26 seats 47 seats (before merger) Seats won 42 seats 31 seats Seat change 16 16 (From combined number of seats) Popular vote 660,864 596,350 Percentage 49.97% 45.09% Swing 13.33% N/A
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 Alfred Deakin Commonwealth Liberal Subsequent Prime Minister Andrew Fisher Labor

The 1910 Australian federal election was 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 landmarks: 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'.

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.

Background

After the 1906 election, the House of Representatives first met on 20 February 1907. Prime Minister Alfred Deakin allowed the parliament to run to its maximum permissible length under section 28 of the constitution (three years). Its final meeting ended on 8 December 1909, and it was then prorogued until 19 February 1910 at which point it expired by "effluxion of time". This remains the only occasion where the House has been allowed to "expire" rather than being dissolved earlier by the Governor-General. The writs for the election were issued on 28 February, producing the longest gap between federal elections in Australian history.

Results

House of Representatives

See also: Results of the 1910 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

  Labour: 42 seats

   Liberal: 31 seats

  Independent: 2 seats

House of Reps 1910–13 (FPTP) — Turnout 62.80% (Non-CV) — Informal 2.00%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labour	660,864	49.97	+13.33	42	+16
	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
	Liberal				31	+4

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Notes

• Independents: William Lyne (Hume, NSW), George Wise (Gippsland, Vic)
• Four members were elected unopposed – two Labour and two Liberal.

Popular Vote Labour   49.97% Liberal   45.09% Independent   4.94%

Parliament Seats Labour   56.00% Liberal   41.33% Independent   2.67%

Senate

Senate 1910–13 (FPTP BV) — Turnout 62.16% (Non-CV) — Informal N/A

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Labour	2,021,090	50.30	+11.57	18	22	+7
	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		Liberal	David Storrer	12.3	56.8	6.8	Jens Jensen	Labour
Batman, Vic		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	Liberal
Bourke, Vic		Liberal	James Hume Cook	2.2	15.3	8.6	Frank Anstey	Labour
Brisbane, Qld		Liberal	Justin Foxton	11.3	12.5	1.2	William Finlayson	Labour
Capricornia, Qld		Liberal	Edward Archer	5.6	12.4	6.8	William Higgs	Labour
Corangamite, Vic		Liberal	Gratton Wilson	24.7	29.4	4.7	James Scullin	Labour
Corio, Vic		Liberal	Richard Crouch	100.0	54.4	4.4	Alfred Ozanne	Labour
Dalley, NSW		Liberal	William Wilks	2.7	9.3	6.6	Robert Howe	Labour
Denison, Tas		Liberal	Philip Fysh	6.5	18.6	8.1	William Laird Smith	Labour
East Sydney, NSW		Liberal	George Reid	4.9	12.0	7.1	John West	Labour
Gippsland, Vic		Liberal	George Wise	100.0	62.1	12.1	George Wise	Independent
Hume, NSW		Liberal	William Lyne	100.0	66.4	16.4	William Lyne	Independent
Hunter, NSW		Liberal	Frank Liddell	0.8	11.7	0.9	Matthew Charlton	Labour
Indi, Vic		Liberal	Joseph Brown	11.0	14.1	3.1	Parker Moloney	Labour
Maribyrnong, Vic		Liberal	Samuel Mauger	6.9	17.7	10.8	James Fenton	Labour
Nepean, NSW		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	Liberal
Riverina, NSW		Liberal	John Chanter	100.0	57.0	7.0	John Chanter	Labour
Robertson, NSW		Liberal	Henry Willis	7.0	7.9	0.9	William Johnson	Labour

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

See also

• Candidates of the 1910 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1910–1913
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1910–1913

References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890