1901 Australian federal election
The 1901 Australian federal election for the inaugural Parliament of Australia was held in Australia on Friday 29 March and Saturday 30 March 1901. The elections followed Federation and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. All 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, six of which were uncontested, as well as all 36 seats in the Australian Senate, were up for election.
After the initial confusion of the Hopetoun Blunder, the first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, went into the inaugural 1901 federal election as the appointed head of a Protectionist Party caretaker government. While the Protectionists came first on votes and seats, they fell short of a majority. The incumbent government remained in office with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party, who held the balance of power, while the Free Trade Party formed the opposition. A few months prior to the 1903 election, Barton resigned to become a founding member of the High Court of Australia, and was replaced by Alfred Deakin.
Then Prime Minister Edmund Barton entered parliament at this election, as did six future Prime Ministers - Alfred Deakin, Chris Watson, George Reid, Joseph Cook, Andrew Fisher, and Billy Hughes - and future opposition leader Frank Tudor.
Background
The federation of the colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia came into effect on 1 January 1901 to form the Commonwealth of Australia. An election was held on Friday 29 March in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, and on Saturday 30 March 1901 in South Australia and Queensland, to elect the inaugural members of federal parliament. Floods in Queensland delayed polling in parts of the state until April.The 1901 election was the only one of two occasions in Australia's history that the entire country did not go to the polls on the same day in a general election, the second occasion being the 1993 "supplementary election" in the Division of Dickson. This election was also the only time that an election or any part thereof was held on a day other than a Saturday.
In what would later be known as the Hopetoun Blunder, in December 1900 the Governor-General, the 7th Earl of Hopetoun commissioned William Lyne, the Premier of New South Wales, to form the first Commonwealth Government from 1 January 1901. The government was to conduct itself on a caretaker basis in the absence of a parliament. Lyne was unpopular and was unable to gain support, so he returned his commission. Edmund Barton was then called upon to form the interim government. Barton was sworn in as the inaugural Prime Minister, and his cabinet contested the poll as the incumbent government.
Some candidates were still sitting members of a state parliament. William Lyne was a minister in Barton's interim government and a candidate for the Division of Hume while still Premier of New South Wales, and used his official premier's car during the campaign, resigning on 27 March.
Parties contesting the election
The parties contesting the election were the Protectionist Party, led by Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton, and the Free Trade Party, unofficially led by former New South Wales Premier George Reid. There would not be a federal Labour Party until two months after the election, but in five of the six states local Labour parties contested the elections - in Tasmania, where there was no Labour party, King O'Malley was elected as an independent labour candidate. There were also a number of independents of various political leanings and a New South Wales Senate ticket called the "Socialist Six", comprising Labour members in conflict with the official party.The Protectionists advocated the protection of local industries through the imposition of tariffs on imported goods, the construction of a transcontinental railway, a uniform railway gauge, uniform suffrage, aged pensions and defending the Australian constitution from radicals. The party used the colour red throughout the campaign. In addition to Barton, Protectionist candidates included many of the leading political figures from colonial Australia, including Charles Kingston, Sir John Forrest, and future Prime Minister Alfred Deakin.
The Free Traders advocated the dismantling of the tariff system, a transcontinental railway, and believed that aged pensions should be left to the states. As many of the policies of the Protectionists and Free Traders were similar, the Free Traders campaigned heavily on tariffs, with Reid stating that he wanted the election to be a plebiscite on tariffs. The party used the colour blue throughout the campaign. In addition to Reid, who believed he should have been appointed Prime Minister instead of Barton as he considered himself the bigger political figure, Free Trade candidates included Reid's unofficial deputy Paddy Glynn, William Irvine, and former state Labour leader and future Commonwealth Liberal Party Prime Minister Joseph Cook.
Labour advocated old age pensions, electoral reform, a national army, compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes and a national referendum to decide issues that would otherwise lead to a double dissolution of parliament. Senior Labour candidates included future Prime Ministers Chris Watson, Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes. Labour candidates were elected as individual state-based candidates - they met before the first sitting of Parliament on 8 May 1901 and agreed to form a federal Labour Party. Chris Watson, a Sydney printer and former member of the New South Wales Parliament, was elected the first leader of the Party.
All parties were in support of a White Australia as was the norm at the time, with only a single parliamentarian, Free Trader Bruce Smith, fully opposing the legislation.
Results
House of Representatives
----;Notes
- Independents: Alexander Paterson, James Wilkinson
- Six members were elected unopposed, all Protectionists.
Senate
Voting and enrolment
Voting franchise was according to each state's specific electoral laws. South Australian and Western Australian women were enfranchised, but in the other states, they could not vote. Tasmania retained a small property qualification for voting, but in the other states, all males over 21 were eligible to vote. In several states indigenous Australians were technically allowed to vote, however, they faced voter suppression. In New South Wales for instance, Aboriginal men who voted were arrested by police for "double voting" with very little evidence to back up the case.Voting was voluntary throughout Australia and in most states candidates were elected by a "first past the post" voting system. In South Australia, voters were required to mark the box opposite their preferred candidates, while in other states voters were required to cross out the names of non-preferred candidates.
The following table describes the varying electoral systems.
| State | Divided electorates | Voting system | Women franchise | Chinese franchise | Aboriginal franchise | Non-white franchise | Other |
| New South Wales | First past the post | ||||||
| Victoria | First past the post | ||||||
| Queensland | Contingent vote | If no candidate gained majority, contingent vote was applied. | |||||
| South Australia | First past the post | In Northern Territory, Indians could not vote. | |||||
| Western Australia | First past the post | ||||||
| Tasmania | Hare-clark |
Electorates
All seats were to be filled − 75 in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate. Six House seats were uncontested.There were 75 House of Representative seats to be filled. The initial number of seats for each state were set out in the Australian Constitution. New South Wales was allocated 26, Victoria 23, Queensland 9, South Australia 7, Western Australia 5 and Tasmania 5. The South Australian and Tasmanian colonial parliaments had not legislated for single member electorates, so their House of Representative members were elected from a single statewide electorate. In South Australia, each elector cast seven votes, while in Tasmania, each elector cast one vote.
Each state elected six Senators, in accordance with the Constitution. Senators in each state were elected on a statewide electorate basis by bloc voting rather than the current proportional representation or single transferable vote system.
Campaign
The campaign period officially commenced on 17 January 1901, although some candidates, particularly Reid, had been unofficially campaigning since December the previous year. The campaign was delayed due to the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January, but soon got into full swing again as candidates travelled widely to address lively public meetings. Reid drew the biggest crowds, including 8,000 to a rally in Newcastle and he campaigned widely, travelling to Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, while Paddy Glynn organised the Free Trade campaign in South Australia.The Protectionists were forced to modify their immigration policy following an outcry from Queensland Protectionist candidates who feared that a White Australia policy would impinge on the importation of Kanakas to work on Queensland sugar plantations. Their policy was revised to read that Kanakas would be only be sent back to their country of origin when they were no longer of any use to the sugar industry. On the whole, however, a white Australia was extremely popular with the electorate and most candidates outdid themselves to prove how much they supported it. It was left to Free Trade candidate for Parkes, Bruce Smith, to oppose anti-immigration measures. Andrew Fisher argued that any Kanaka who had converted to Christianity and married should be allowed to remain in Australia. Both were elected comfortably.
The Free Traders also had to modify part of their election platform when they realised that to advocate for the removal of all tariffs protecting Australian industries would be political suicide. Many employees in these industries considered the removal of tariffs as likely to mean the end of their jobs.
The Protectionists enjoyed the support of the powerful Australian Natives' Association throughout the campaign as well as the endorsements of The Age and The Sydney Bulletin, while Free Trade received support from business interests and the endorsements of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Brisbane Courier, Melbourne's The Argus and The Adelaide Register. Labour could only rely on union-owned newspapers, although some of these enjoyed a great level of influence in some electorates.
There were only two cars used in the 1901 election campaign; William Lyne, who was a candidate for the Division of Hume while still Premier of New South Wales, used his official Premier's car to great advantage; the shipping magnate and candidate for Melbourne Sir Malcolm McEacharn, enjoyed the use of his car while travelling around his electorate.
Election day
Complaints were received by polling officials about the earlier than advertised closing of polling booths in some electorates, the poor quality pencils supplied to fill in ballot papers and the Senate ballot paper in New South Wales which listed 50 candidates, confusing many voters and leading to a significant number of informal votes.These complaints aside, the administering of the first federal election was seen as a great success and a credit to the polling officials who, in some cases, were responsible for electorates larger than some European countries.
Analysis
The Free Traders won most of the seats in New South Wales, apart from the border areas where the Protectionists were strong. The Protectionists won most of the seats in their stronghold, Victoria. Labour won some inner urban seats but most of their members represented pastoral and mining areas. In the smaller states many members had no fixed party loyalty and saw themselves as representing the interests of their states. Seven Prime Ministers of Australia were elected at this election, as were a number of influential former state Premiers.With no past to live down, Barton's Protectionist ministry had all the advantages of incumbency with none of the problems, which meant that a Protectionist victory was almost a certainty, and Barton had been confident of obtaining a comfortable majority in parliament. However, while Barton and his ministry were returned, they had to rely on Labour support to pass legislation. Although the Protectionists remained in government, however, many observers saw the result as a moral victory for Free Trade. Labour also performed better than expected, particularly after the post-election recruitment of O'Malley. Labour was the smallest of the three parties in the House but held the balance of power. Chris Watson pursued the same policy as Labour had done in the colonial parliaments. He kept the Protectionist governments of Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin in office, in exchange for legislative concessions including the immensely popular White Australia policy. Such was the overwhelming support for a White Australia by the electorate and the three political parties that the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was the seventeenth piece of legislation passed by the nascent parliament.
The average national voting turnout was 60% of enrolled voters, with the Division of Newcastle gaining the highest turnout on 97%, while the Division of Fremantle recorded the lowest turnout on 30%.
Of the two elected independents, both were from Queensland. James Wilkinson, elected to the seat of Moreton, was a former member of the Labour Party, and rejoined the party in 1903. Alexander Paterson, representing Capricornia, had no political affiliation, and retired in 1903.