1925 Australian federal election

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.

1925 Australian federal election

← 1922 14 November 1925 (1925-11-14) 1928 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 76[a] seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 22 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Registered	3,302,016 10.79%
Turnout	2,987,200 (91.39%)[b] (32.03 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Stanley Bruce Matthew Charlton Earle Page Party Nationalist Labor Country Leader since 9 February 1923 16 May 1922 5 April 1921 Leader's seat Flinders (Vic.) Hunter (NSW) Cowper (NSW) Last election 26 seats 29 seats 14 seats Seats won 37 seats 23 seats + NT 13 seats Seat change 11 6 1 Primary vote 1,238,397 1,313,627 313,363 Percentage 42.46% 45.04% 10.74% Swing 7.23% 2.74% 1.82%
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

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.

Background

Anti-Labor electoral pact

In 1924, Bruce and Page formulated an electoral pact between the Nationalist Party and Country Party, whereby each party agreed not to oppose incumbent candidates from the other party and to co-operate to choose the strongest candidate in seats held by the ALP. Both parties agreed to accept the pact, although only after both Bruce and Page made clear they would resign as party leaders if the pact was rejected. The pact proved particularly controversial within the Country Party, with cabinet minister Percy Stewart resigning in protest and some members of the organisational wing seeing it as an attack on the party's independence.^[1]

Introduction of compulsory voting

The 1925 federal election was the first at which compulsory voting applied, following the passage of a private senator's bill introduced by Herbert Payne in 1924. Both the government and opposition supported Payne's bill, which had been introduced in response to a substantial decrease in voter turnout at the 1922 election.^[2]

Campaign issues

The government made industrial relations and law and order central issues in the election campaign, largely in response to industrial unrest in the maritime industry. In June 1925, the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration had deregistered the Seamen's Union of Australia, in response to what it viewed as illegal industrial action that had disrupted Australia's trade-reliant economy. The union subsequently called a seven-week strike. In response, the government rapidly passed the Immigration Act 1925 and Navigation Act 1925, allowing it to deport foreign-born union leaders and to use foreign seamen as strikebreakers.^[3]

Bruce and the Nationalists also made Red Scare tactics a key part of their campaign for the first time, attributing the strikes to "militant union leaders intent on spreading revolutionary, Bolshevik or communist ideas" rather than merely workers intent on improving their employment campaigns. He presented the government as a bulwark against communism and appealed in campaign speeches to the "men and women of moderate sane views", promising a "moderate, sensible, middle way" in response to what he saw as the ALP's political extremism.^[4]

Both Bruce and opposition leader Matthew Charlton reaffirmed their support for the White Australia policy during the election campaign. Bruce stated that "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".^[5] Charlton called for "the development of our race in body, in mind and social status" and pledged "a continuance of the present embargo against the introduction of black grown sugar in Australia" to protect the status of Australia as "the only country in the world where cane sugar is produced by white labour".^[6]

Results

  Labor: 23 seats

  Nationalist: 37 seats

  Country : 13 seats

  Independent: 2 seats

For the first time since the inaugural federal election in 1901, no female candidates stood for either house of parliament.^[7]

House of Representatives

See also: Results of the Australian federal election, 1925 (House of Representatives)

House of Reps (IRV) – 1925–28 – Turnout 91.39% (CV) – Informal 2.36%

Party			First preference 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[c]	–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

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Notes

• Independents: Percy Stewart (Wimmera, Vic.), William Watson (Fremantle, WA).
• Labor lost Kennedy, Qld., when the sitting member Charles McDonald died on the day before the election, leading to his opponent Grosvenor Francis being declared elected unopposed.^[8]

First preference 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

See also: Results of the 1925 Australian federal election (Senate)

Senate (P BV) – 1925–28 – Turnout 91.31% (CV) – Informal 6.96%

Party			First preference 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
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
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

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1925
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1925–1928
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1926–1929

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. Including Northern Territory