1922 Australian federal election

1922 Australian federal election

← 1919 16 December 1922 (1922-12-16) 1925 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 76[b] seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Registered	2,980,424 4.58%
Turnout	1,646,863 (59.36%)[a] (18.94 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Matthew Charlton Billy Hughes Earle Page Party Labor Nationalist Country Leader since 16 May 1922 14 November 1916 5 April 1921 Leader's seat Hunter (NSW) won North Sydney (NSW)[c] Cowper (NSW) Last election 26 seats 37 seats 11 seats Seats won 29 + NT 26 14 seats Seat change 4 11 3 Popular vote 665,145 553,920 197,513 Percentage 48.80% 51.20% Swing 2.90% 2.90%
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Subsequent Prime Minister Stanley Bruce Nationalist/Country coalition

The 1922 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes lost its majority. However, the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton did not take office as the Nationalists sought a coalition with the fledgling Country Party led by Earle Page. The Country Party made Hughes's resignation the price for joining, and Hughes was replaced as Nationalist leader by Stanley Bruce.

Future Prime Minister Frank Forde and future opposition leader John Latham both entered parliament at this election.

At this election, Hughes as the sitting prime minister made his second seat transfer, in this case, from Bendigo to North Sydney. Hughes had held Bendigo since transferring there from West Sydney at the 1917 election also as the sitting prime minister.

Hughes remains the only sitting Prime Minister to transfer to another seat, not once but twice.

Aside from the 1917 and 1922 elections, all other elections have seen the sitting prime minister recontest the seat that they held prior to the election.

The 1919 federal election had resulted in a hung parliament, with the newly formed Country Party holding the balance of power. Prime Minister Billy Hughes' Nationalist Party government was reliant on the support of the Country Party to pass legislation. Country Party leader Earle Page used the situation to his advantage, bargaining for concessions and refusing to guarantee support for confidence motions. A vote of confidence held in October 1921 on the government's budget passed by only a single vote, when Country MP Alexander Hay abstained from voting.^[1]

ALP leader Frank Tudor died in office in January 1922, after a long period of ill health.^[2] He was replaced as party leader and opposition leader by New South Wales MP Matthew Charlton, who had been acting leader for some time, although he was not formally confirmed in the position until May 1922.^[3][4]

Charlton and the ALP presented "policies of national development under a unified government with regional devolution of powers, tariff protection and limited immigration". He was briefly hospitalised during the campaign.^[5]

Page presented the Country Party platform in October 1922, which included decentralisation, reduction in government expenditure and public debt, tariff and agricultural marketing reforms, and rural credits (a form of government subsidy for primary producers).^[6] He also supported placing the Commonwealth Bank under an independent board, tasked with supporting national development projects.^[7] His speech was critical of Hughes, alleging broken promises and describing the prime minister as having "total disregard of the financial position of the country".^[8]

House of Reps (IRV) – 1922–25—Turnout 59.36% (Non-CV) – Informal 4.51%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	665,145	42.30	−0.19	30[d]	4
	Nationalist	553,920	35.23	−9.85	26	11
	Country	197,513	12.56	+3.30	14	3
	Liberal Union	37,904	2.41	+2.41	3	3
	Liberal	32,167	2.04	+2.04	2	2
	Constitutionalist	11,812	0.75	+0.75	0
	Majority Labor	10,303	0.66	+0.66	0
	Industrial Labor	4,331	0.28	+0.09	0
	Protestant Labor	3,631	0.23	+0.23	0
	NT Representation League	362	0.02	+0.02	0
	Independents	51,538	3.28	+1.86	1
	Total	1,572,514			76	1
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Nationalist	Win	51.20	−2.90	40	+3
	Labor		48.80	+2.90	29	0

Notes

• Independents: William Watson (Fremantle, WA)
• Five members were elected unopposed – one Labor, two Nationalist, one Country, and one Liberal.

Senate (P BV) – 1922–1925—Turnout 57.99% (Non-CV) – Informal 9.44%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor	715,219	45.70	+2.86	11	12	+11
	Nationalist	567,084	36.23	−10.16	8	24	−11
	Country	203,267	12.99	+4.20	0	0	0
	Liberal Union	43,706	2.79	+2.79	0	0	0
	Socialist Labor	8,551	0.55	+0.55	0	0	0
	Majority Labor	3,813	0.24	+0.24	0	0	0
	Independents	23,447	1.50	+0.08	0	0	0
	Total	1,565,087			19	36

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
• *Alexander Hay contested his seat as an independent

• Candidates of the 1922 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1922–1925
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1923–1926

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1919