My apologies for the delay, but here's the 1928 entry in my election series!
The 1925 election saw a number of firsts -
- Highest ever vote for a conservative party since Federation, with the Nationalists taking 46.4% of the vote. The Nationalists won virtually all of the 1922 Liberal Union vote, a good size of the Labor vote, and some Country votes.
- Labor's lowest percentage of the federal vote, going down to 42.9%. The Country Party took 10.7% of the vote in 1925.
- The first ever majority conservative government, with the Nationalists winning 46 seats out of 76, enough to govern alone. Whilst the Bruce Government could have governed alone in both houses of Parliament, Bruce and Page renewed their agreement from the previous election, to "ensure both city and country men* alike had a voice".
- Labor's worst seat result, down in 15 in the new Parliament, on par with the Country Party.
- The first time a conservative government has been returned with a higher number of seats.
* - Women have had the right to vote since Federation, with the exception of Aboriginal women, as Aboriginals had virtually no rights in this period.
Had the Nationalist and Country Parties not renewed their agreement from when they first formed government, there would have been debate as to who would have been the Official Opposition, considering Labor and the Country Party won the same number of seats. This being said, Labor would have taken that title, by winning a far higher percentage of votes than the Country Party, who only run in rural seats, and are concentrated in these rural seats.
Summary of 1925 election:
Nationalist – 46 (+21)
Labor – 15 (-20)
Country – 15 (nc)
Changes are from dissolution of 1922-25 parliament.
With this massive majority, Bruce did not haste in implementing the rest of his modernisation agenda – A record number of Royal Commissions, 11, were carried out during this term of government, with eight in the previous term of the Bruce Government. The purpose of these Royal Commissions was to determine where to make policy, and to assist in the vast array of research undertaken by the Bruce Government in numerous fields. Major fields this research covered were agriculture, industry and economical matters, along with science, which saw the founding of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, or CSIR for short, in 1926. The CSIR was structured much like the Commonwealth Government, with a central council and state-level committees.
Bruce also significantly amended how Cabinet operated, using experience from his earlier career as a corporate manager and rowing coach alike. Reforms included the Minister for a particular department, for example, Foreign Affairs, would distribute papers to other Cabinet members to bring them up on the latest issues in their department. Cabinet meetings were now conducted in a more formal manner, with all Cabinet members now more informed and more active in their decision making – a Cabinet member who disagreed with the proposal was allowed to abstain, partially to protect the integrity of the decision making process.
On the 9th of May, 1927, Parliament officially moved into the new Parliament House in Canberra, which officially became the national capital with this move. Bruce, along with his wife Ethel, had relocated from Melbourne a few days prior to the Parliament’s move. Departments of the Government took longer to relocate from Melbourne though, and would slowly move to Canberra throughout the remainder of the 1920s.
Over to international affairs, and Bruce, with his support for strong ties to the motherland, yet an independent Australian voice, found Australia wouldn’t have its own way – the British Government signed the Locarno Treaties, agreements between European nations over post-WWI territorial settlement, in October 1925 with no consultation from any Empire dominions. 1926 saw the Imperial Conference in October and November up in London, in which all the Prime Ministers of the Empire met with King George V. The Balfour Declaration, establishing the principle that all dominions in the Empire were of equal, autonomous status within the Empire, was rather crushing to Bruce’s vision of intra-Empire trade, as it was a shift away from greater co-operation, spurred by movements for more independence in Canada, South Africa and the Irish Free State. Other notable aspects of the Imperial Conference were that Governors-General now represented the Monarch, not the British Parliament. Bruce did, however persuade the increase of intra-Empire co-operation in science and technical areas, so the conference was not a total letdown for him and his government.
Back to domestic politics, and the 1920s saw a large number of strikes, particularly from the Seaman’s Union, which crippled Australia’s reliance on imports and exports, based on the sea, for a few months in late 1925. This dispute eventually saw the formation of the Commonwealth Police, allowing British and other foreign shipping personnel not under Australian awards into Australian waters, and powers for the Commonwealth to deport any foreign person who was known for industrial disruption. The Government’s powers over industry, as passed in a referendum by the Fisher government, were being very much used here.
1927 saw a significant turn for the worse regarding Australia’s finances – Treasurer and Deputy PM Page handed down the first deficit budget for the Bruce Government that year, a sign that Australia’s economy was slowing down, with a total debt of over £1,000,000,000, £305 million of which was war debts, the remainder largely spent on developments that did not reach their full potential in benefits to the nation. At the same time, exports and revenues were falling behind government needs, resulting in a change to the state funding formula, equating to the states’ financial needs, as opposed to the previous system of per capita payments. After a year or so of negotiations and hostility, the states reluctantly agreed to the Bruce Government’s plan. 1927 also saw the creation of the Territory of Central Australia, carved out from the southern parts of the Northern Territory, which would retain its MP, unlike Central Australia, which had no representation.
More strikes from other industries occurred in 1927 and 1928, from sugar mill workers and waterfront workers respectively. Things were looking rather dire for the Australian economy, and Bruce used the Commonwealth’s powers in the industrial field to attempt to rein in the industrial action. Late in the term of Parliament, Matthew Charlton, former Prime Minister and Labor leader since Frank Tudor’s death in 1922, stepped down from the Labor leadership on the 8th of March, 1928. Victorian MP James Scullin, who succeeded Tudor in his old seat of Yarra in Victoria, became the new Labor leader. Charlton’s main reason for stepping down from the leadership was to make way for a fresh leader for that year’s election. Charlton also resigned from Parliament at the 1928 election.
An election has been called for the 7th of July, 1928.
Party platforms at this election:
Nationalist Party – PM Bruce and the Nationalists are campaigning on a “red scare” platform, against the powerful trade unions. Bruce has stated “Australians have a choice between getting ahead in these testing times, or falling behind in them. The choice is up to them at the ballot box”.
Country Party – Led by Earle Page, the Country Party’s platform has not changed much since the last election, and Country MPs are for the most part disapproving of the trade union movement, although there is some dissent amongst the ranks, particularly from some union-backing farmers in the grassroots.
Labor Party – James Scullin, the Labor Party’s new leader, aside from the Labor Party’s usual pro-union policies, is running on a pro-rural campaign. This is to try and regain support in the likes of Western Australia and Queensland, where Labor’s support has eroded significantly throughout the 1920s to both the Nationalist and Country Parties.
Voting is open for 72 hours.
Me: Nationalist, although I would have been a critic of the Bruce Government's overspending.
Poll
