1903 Australian federal election – Wikipedia

Election for the 2nd Parliament of Australia

1903 Australian federal election

Registered	1,893,586 91.7%
Turnout	739,401 (39.05%) (31.1 pp)
Results by winning party by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by margin. Results by popular vote by state.

The 1903 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1903. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Protectionist Party minority government led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin retained the most House of Representatives seats of the three parties and retained government with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party led by Chris Watson. The Free Trade Party led by George Reid remained in opposition.

The election outcome saw a finely balanced House of Representatives, with the three parties each holding around a third of seats − the Protectionists on 26, the Free Traders on 24 and Labour on 22. This term of parliament saw no changes in any party leadership but did see very significant and prolonged debates on contentious issues − the Protectionist minority government fell in April 1904 to Labour, while the Labour minority government fell in August 1904 to the Free Traders, while the Free Trader minority government fell in July 1905 back to the Protectionists, which continued until the 1906 election and beyond. The Free Traders remained in opposition throughout this eventful period with the exception of Labour forming the opposition for the first time during the period of the Free Trader minority government. Additionally, the Watson government was the world’s first Labour Party government at a national level.

Despite a break in prime ministerships in 1904-1905 and 1908–1909, this is the first of three consecutive elections in which Deakin was the sitting prime minister.

The wreck of SS Petriana outside Port Phillip Bay in late November prompted the government’s handling of the White Australia policy to become a campaign issue. Shipwrecked Asian sailors were denied entry to Australia and forced to stay on a crowded tugboat for several days, leading The Argus, Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald to accuse the government of cruelty and harming Australia’s international reputation. The Age and The Bulletin sided with the government. The issue was “constantly raised” at election meetings, particularly in Victoria and Tasmania.^[1]

Results[edit]

House of Representatives[edit]

Popular vote Free Trade   34.37% Labour   30.95% Protectionist   29.70% Revenue Tariff   0.49% Others   4.49%

Parliament seats Protectionist   34.67% Free Trade   32.00% Labour   29.33% Revenue Tariff   1.33% Others   2.67%

Senate[edit]

Senate 1903–06 (FPTP BV) – Turnout 46.86% (Non-CV) – Informal N/A

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Free Trade	986,030	34.33	−5.11	4	12	−5
	Labour	784,859	27.33	+13.83	10	14	+6
	Protectionist	503,586	17.53	−27.33	3	8	−3
	Liberal (Qld)	136,727	4.76	+4.76	0	0	0
	Socialist Labor[4]	69,769	2.43	+1.41	0	0	0
	Revenue Tariff	25,310	0.88	+0.88	1	1	+1
	Independent [c]	365,851	12.74		1	1	+1
	Total	2,872,132			19	36

Significance[edit]

The election saw the Labour party make significant gains outside New South Wales and Victoria.

As a result of Labour’s gains, the numbers of the three parties in Parliament were very close to equal, leading to unstable governments: Alfred Deakin would describe it as a parliament of “three elevens” (three cricket teams). Although the Protectionists were able to retain their minority government with the qualified support of the Labour Party, the equal numbers would see a record three changes of government over the course of the Parliamentary term, with each of the three parties holding office at least once during the term of the Parliament.

The three parties that contested the 1901 election also contested the 1903 election, with only the Protectionists changing leaders: Alfred Deakin was chosen as a result of Edmund Barton’s appointment as an inaugural judge of the newly constituted High Court of Australia. The Free Trade Party was again led by George Reid, with the only significant difference in policy between the parties on trade issues: the Protectionists sought to protect Australian industry and agriculture by placing tariffs on imports.

The Free Traders downgraded the view they had last election of having no tariffs to campaigning on minimal tariffs, while the other major party contesting the election was the Labour Party.

This election also saw a minor party, the Tasmanian Revenue Tariff Party, gain an MHR and one Senator. Prior to the 1901 election, the Free Trade Party had been known as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states. However, in 1903 a separate Revenue Tariff Party competed against the FTP in Tasmania. Nevertheless, both of the Revenue Tariff Party members elected joined the Free Trade Party, when the new parliament began sitting.

Like the 1901 election, voting was voluntary and candidates were elected by the first-past-the-post system. The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 gave women the vote and the right to stand for federal Parliament, leading to a significant increase in the number of votes cast in the 1903 federal election. Four women stood at the 1903 election – Selina Anderson (Dalley) in the House of Representatives and Vida Goldstein (Victoria), Nellie Martel (New South Wales), and Mary Moore-Bentley (New South Wales) in the Senate.^[5] All four stood as independents and all were unsuccessful.

Electorates[edit]

Candidates were contesting all 75 House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 Senate seats, a number unchanged from the 1901 election. The House of Representative seats were determined by the population of each state, giving 26 seats to New South Wales, 23 to Victoria, nine to Queensland, seven to South Australia and five to both Western Australia and Tasmania. In 1901, 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. This had since changed and there were now single member electorates in both states. The newly created seats were Adelaide, Angas, Barker, Boothby, Grey, Hindmarsh and Wakefield (South Australia) and Bass, Darwin, Denison, Franklin and Wilmot (Tasmania).

Each state elected six Senators regardless of population. The Senate was elected by bloc voting rather than the current single transferable vote system. Half the Senators retired as their terms expired, and there was one casual vacancy.

Seats changing hands[edit]

Seat	Pre-1903				Swing	Post-1903
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		new division				100.0	Charles Kingston	Protectionist
Angas, SA		new division				100.0	Paddy Glynn	Free Trade
Barker, SA		new division				100.0	Langdon Bonython	Protectionist
Bass, Tas		new division				6.7	David Storrer	Protectionist
Boothby, SA		new division				100.0	Lee Batchelor	Labour
Brisbane, Qld		Protectionist	Thomas Macdonald-Paterson	7.6	9.7	2.1	Millice Culpin	Labour
Capricornia, Qld		Independent	Alexander Paterson	1.0	8.6	9.6	David Thomson	Labour
Corangamite, VIC		Protectionist	Chester Manifold	22.2	35.2	2.2	Gratton Wilson	Free Trade
Cowper, NSW		Protectionist	Francis Clarke	2.4	15.4	13.0	Henry Lee	Free Trade
Darwin, Tas		new division				0.7	King O’Malley	Labour
Denison, Tas		new division				0.2	Philip Fysh	Protectionist
Franklin, Tas		new division				4.6	William McWilliams	Revenue Tariff
Fremantle, WA		Free Trade	Elias Solomon	10.3	21.6	11.3	William Carpenter	Labour
Grey, SA		new division				100.0	Alexander Poynton	Labour
Gwydir, NSW		Protectionist	George Cruickshank	12,9	24.3	11.4	William Webster	Labour
Hindmarsh, SA		new division				16.7	James Hutchison	Labour
Hunter, NSW		Protectionist	Edmund Barton	100.0	59.3	13.3	Frank Liddell	Free Trade
Kalgoorlie, WA		Free Trade	John Kirwan	14.1	30.7	26.6	Charlie Frazer	Labour
New England, NSW		Protectionist	William Sawers	0.6	2.5	1.9	Edmund Lonsdale	Free Trade
Riverina, NSW		Protectionist	John Chanter	3.5	3.5	0.0	Robert Blackwood	Free Trade
Wakefield, SA		new division				100.0	Frederick Holder	Independent
Wilmot, Tas		new division				4.9	Edward Braddon	Free Trade

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

Post-election pendulum[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]