1925 Australian federal election
14 November 1925 (1925-11-14)
All 76[lower-alpha 1] seats in the House of Representatives
38 seats were needed for a majority in the House
22 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Registered3,302,016 Increase10.79%
Turnout2,987,200 (91.39%)[lower-alpha 2]
(Increase32.03 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Stanley Bruce Matthew Charlton
Party Nationalist Labor
Alliance Nationalist–Country —
Leader since 9 February 1923 16 May 1922
Leader's seat Flinders (Vic.) Hunter (NSW)
Last election 26 seats[lower-alpha 3] 29 seats
Seats won 51 seats[lower-alpha 4] 23 + NT
Seat change Increase11[lower-alpha 5] Decrease6
Popular vote 1,551,760 1,313,627
Percentage 53.80% 46.20%
Swing Increase2.60% Decrease2.60%
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election

Stanley Bruce
Nationalist/Country coalition

 Subsequent Prime Minister

Stanley Bruce
Nationalist/Country coalition

The 1925 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 14 November 1925. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 22 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist–Country coalition, led by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton in a landslide. This was the first time any party had won a fourth consecutive federal election.

Compulsory voting for federal elections was introduced in 1924 and first used in the 1925 elections, where 91.4% of the electorate cast a vote, compared to 59.4% at the 1922 elections.

Campaign

Prime Minister Stanley Bruce was a supporter of the White Australia Policy, and made it an issue in his campaign for the 1925 Australian Federal election.[1]

It is necessary that we should determine what are the ideals towards which every Australian would desire to strive. I think those ideals might well be stated as being to secure our national safety, and to ensure the maintenance of our White Australia Policy to continue as an integral portion of the British Empire.[1] We intend to keep this country white and not allow its people to be faced with the problems that at present are practically insoluble in many parts of the world.[2]

Results

  Labor: 23 seats
  Nationalist: 37 seats
  Country : 13 seats
  Independent: 2 seats

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) – 1925–28 – Turnout 91.39% (CV) – Informal 2.36%
Party Votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Nationalist–Country coalition 1,551,760 53.20 +5.41 51 +11
  Nationalist  1,238,397 42.46 +7.23 37 +11
  Country  313,363 10.74 –1.82 13 –1
  Labor 1,313,627 45.04 +2.74 24[lower-alpha 6] –6
  Independents 51,251 1.76 –2.80 2 +1
  Total 2,916,638     76
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
  Nationalist–Country coalition Win 53.80 +2.60 51 +11
  Labor 46.20 −2.60 23 –6
Notes
Popular vote
Labor
 
 45.04%
Nationalist
 
 42.46%
Country
 
 10.74%
Others
 
 1.76%
Two-party-preferred vote
Coalition
 
 53.80%
Labor
 
 46.20%
Parliament seats
Coalition
 
 68.00%
Labor
 
 30.67%
Others
 
 2.67%

Senate

Senate (P BV) – 1925–28 – Turnout 91.31% (CV) – Informal 6.96%
Party Votes  % Swing Seats won Seats held Change
  Nationalist–Country coalition 1,537,282 54.81 N/A 22 28 N/A
  Nationalist  1,272,127 45.35 +9.12 18 24 0
  Country  265,155 9.45 –3.53 4 4 +4
  Labor 1,262,912 45.02 –0.67 0 8 –4
  Independents 4,808 0.17 –1.87 0 0 0
  Total 2,805,002     22 36

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1925 Swing Post-1925
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Angas, SA   Labor Moses Gabb 8.0 8.3 0.3 Walter Parsons Nationalist  
Balaclava, Vic   Liberal William Watt 100.0 30.3 19.7 William Watt Nationalist  
Barker, SA   Liberal Malcolm Cameron 2.3 9.3 11.6 Malcolm Cameron Nationalist  
Barton, NSW   Labor Frederick McDonald 7.6 8.6 1.0 Thomas Ley Nationalist  
Darwin, Tas   Country Joshua Whitsitt 0.4 10.9 10.5* George Bell Nationalist  
Denison, Tas   Labor David O'Keefe 0.4 2.6 2.2 John Gellibrand Nationalist  
Gwydir, NSW   Labor Lou Cunningham 0.1 3.2 3.1 Aubrey Abbott Country  
Kennedy, Qld   Labor Charles McDonald N/A 100.0 100.0 Grosvenor Francis Nationalist  
Kooyong, Vic   Liberal John Latham 0.6 18.3 17.7 John Latham Nationalist  
Wakefield, SA   Liberal Richard Foster 5.3 9.5 14.8 Richard Foster Nationalist  
Wannon, Vic   Labor John McNeill 0.8 4.8 4.0 Arthur Rodgers Nationalist  
Wimmera, Vic   Country Percy Stewart 21.2 77.8 27.8 Percy Stewart Independent  
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
  • *Figure is Nationalist versus Labor.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Northern Territory had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.
  2. ↑ Turnout in contested seats
  3. ↑ As there was no formal Coalition between the Nationalist Party and the Country Party before the previous election, the seats were won by individual party. However, post-1922 election the two parties combined could form a majority in Parliament and formally announced a Coalition agreement.
  4. ↑ The Member for Wimmera (Percy Stewart) was represented as an "Independent Country" candidate.
  5. ↑ As Nationalist–Country Coalition. If separate parties, Nationalist: +11, Country –1.
  6. ↑ Including Northern Territory

References

  1. 1 2 "ISSUES OF THE ELECTIONS". The Age. No. 21, 999. Victoria, Australia. 6 October 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 9 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita (2002). The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage. Cambridge University Press. p. 301. ISBN 0-521-82430-3. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  3. ↑ "Kennedy Seat". Brisbane Courier. 14 November 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.