A
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
was held for the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
seat of
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
on 18 December 1920. It was triggered by the expulsion from the House of
Labor Party MP
Hugh Mahon.
The subsequent by-election was won by
Nationalist Party candidate
George Foley
George James Foley (28 November 1872 – 27 October 1945) was an Australian politician from Western Australia. He was the member for the Western Australian seat of Electoral district of Mount Leonora, Mount Leonora from 1911 until 1920, initial ...
. It is the only federal by-election in Australian history at which the government has won a seat from the opposition. Voting was not compulsory in 1920.
Background
After the death of the
Irish nationalist Terence McSwiney
Terence James MacSwiney (; ga, Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He ...
as the result of a hunger strike in October 1920, Mahon attacked British policy in Ireland and the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
as a whole, referring to it as "this bloody and accursed despotism", at an open-air meeting in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
on 7 November. Subsequently,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
moved to expel him from the House of Representatives and on 12 November, the House passed a resolution stating that Mahon had made "seditious and disloyal utterances at a public meeting" and was "guilty of conduct unfitting him to remain a member of this House and inconsistent with the oath of allegiance which he has taken as a member of this House." Mahon therefore became the only MP to be expelled from the Federal Parliament.
Under Section 8 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1987
neither house of the Australian Parliament now has the power to expel someone from membership of the Parliament.
Results
See also
*
List of Australian federal by-elections
References
{{Aus by-elections 8th parl
1920 elections in Australia
Western Australian federal by-elections
1920s in Western Australia