Australian legislative election, 1906

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The Austalian legislative election, 1906 was the third federal election in Australia following the adoption of the federal government. The election was largely important as it would demonstrate which of the parties (if any) could hold together a stable government after the unstable second term of the previous one, which saw four different governments in power. It would also see both of the Anti-Socialist parties could survive the implementation of protectionist policies which differentiated the two. This was also the first election where seats throughout the country were voted for via a First-past-the-post system, and the first time that Tasmania drew electorates.

Parties

There were three main political parties contending for seats, each of which were present at the previous two elections. The Free Trade Party had changed its name under George Reid to the Anti-Socialist Party, in an attempt to differentiate it further from its left-wing rival, the Labour Party and to make its stance clearer to conservative voters. The third party standing for election was the Protectionist Party. However, since its primary platform of government tariffs had been dealt with by previous governments, the Party had become somewhat redundant. Those who remained were largely supporting the Party's leader, Alfred Deakin, rather than its policies. Of the three, the Labour Party, led by Chris Watson, now had the most realistic chance of becoming the dominant party after their gains in the 1903 election and after their leading status in the four minor states they were looking to make the same type of gains in Victoria and New South Wales.

Electorates

Following the recent emancipation of women in Australia, there was significant pressure by various groups for a redistrbution of the electorates. This occurred before the 1906 election. In this redistribution there was a net loss of one electorate in Victoria and a net gain of one electorate in New South Wales. After the redistribution, the national party seats held coming into the election were as follows:

• Protectionist Party: 25
• Anti-Socialist Party: 25
• Labour Party: 22
• Independents: 3.

The result of the redistribution of marginal electorates was a good deal of confusion for the Parties on where best to allocate their resources.

Results

In this election, seven candidates were elected unopposed, 1 Protectionist, 3 Anti-Socialist and 3 Labour. However, the primary issue of the 1906 election was the loss of the Protectionist vote in Victoria, and to a lesser extent the loss of the Anti-Socialist vote in New South Wales. In New South Wales, Labour gained 4 seats – but the outcome in Victoria was a surprise; A group of independents called the "Corner" (Conservatives who refused to support Alfred Deakin and the Protectionist Party) managed to make substantial gains. Outside of these states the Party with the largest gains was the Anti-Socialists, who gained six seats. The Protectionists on the other hand lost a total of four seats, meaning they now held only three seats outside of Victoria and New South Wales.

The distribution of seats following the election was as follows:

• Anti-Socialists: 26
• Labour: 26
• Protectionists: 16
• Independent Conservatives: 6
• Others: 1

The result of this distribution was the creation of a Protectionist-Labour coalition government led by Denkin, which remained in power largely due to the unwillingness of the Anti-Socialists to support a vote of no confidence against it.

 

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