AK's Australian Election Series - 1901

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Following in the footsteps of Hashemite, Antonio V and Peter the Lefty, I have decided to start an election series, set in none other than the Land Down Under! Thought I'd fittingly kick it off on Australia Day too

After a long process in the 1890s, consisting largely of deciding on the constitution to be used, and amidst concerns from the colonial governments, Queensland sugar cane farmers and the labour movement, Australia finally became a unified nation on the 1st of January 1901. It would take three years (1898-1900) however, for all 6 colonies to agree to Federation in referenda.

Caretaker Prime-Minister Edmund Barton of the Protectionist Party has called an election for the 29th  (NSW, VIC, TAS, WA) and 30th (SA, QLD) of March, 1901, the first Australia-wide election.

Parties at this election:

Protectionist Party – Led by incumbent Prime Minister Edmund Barton, the Protectionists, as their name implies, back protection of local industry by tariffs on imported goods,  a trans-continental railway uniform suffrage and railway gauge, aged pensions, and defense of the Constitution from radicals.

Labour Party – While there is no national Labour party, 5 of the 6 states have Labour parties, and Tasmania has independent candidates backed by the labour movement. Labourites back a national army, electoral reforms, referenda to decide issues that would cause a double dissolution of Parliament, old age pensions, and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes. No leader per se, although Andrew Fisher, Billy Hughes and Chris Watson, IRL PMs of Australia, are all prominent Labour candidates.

Free Trade Party – Led by George Reid, ex-Premier of New South Wales, the Free Traders believe in devolving aged pensions to the states, dismantling the tariff system, and a trans-continental railway.

All parties, and all MPs elected IRL in 1901, barring 1 MP, support the White Australia Policy, which restricted immigration to those who could pass an incredibly difficult dictation test, and essentially blocked the immigration of people from most of the world into Australia.

Me: Free Trade Party

EDIT: Voting will be open for 3 days.

[Goldwater]

Free Trade Party.

[TNF]

Labour!

[RogueBeaver]

Free Trade Party.

[morgieb]

Labor, like all elections up until 1990 or something.

[H. Ross Peron]

Went with the Free Traders

[Peter the Lefty]

Labour!

[PJ]

Labour, although I'm not sure how I feel about the army. Does any party take a stance on conscription?

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Labour, although I'm not sure how I feel about the army. Does any party take a stance on conscription?

Conscription wasn't much of an issue in 1901, the Labour Party split on the issue IRL during World War I.

[Comrade Funk]

The Labour Party will win every election, but I vote Free-Trade.

[PJ]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'll probably vote Labor until the Aussie Democrats and Greens come along.

[ElectionsGuy]

Free Trade Party.

[morgieb]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

In the 30's there was a split in the ALP, and from the 80's onwards it could get interesting.,

[Deus Naturae]

Free Trade Party.

[Supersonic]

Protectionist and the result surprises me, not, one, bit.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Was surprised at the lack of support for the Protectionist Party - it was exactly the sort of middle class liberal wet blanket of a party that people here love because they're boring - and then I read the description.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

Interesting translating roughly into 'lolatlas', right? Because that's what's happened with all the others so far...

[Yeahsayyeah]

Will the party system and the events of this timelime evolve differently from IRL according to our voting behaviour or will we vote the elections as they ocurred?

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Will the party system and the events of this timelime evolve differently from IRL according to our voting behaviour or will we vote the elections as they ocurred?

The elections and events will unfold as to how we vote them.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

In the 30's there was a split in the ALP, and from the 80's onwards it could get interesting.,

There was also a split in the ALP in the 1950s, when the ALP split on communism.

[morgieb]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

In the 30's there was a split in the ALP, and from the 80's onwards it could get interesting.,

There was also a split in the ALP in the 1950s, when the ALP split on communism.

Can't see many of our lefties voting DLP though.

[Cassius]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

In the 30's there was a split in the ALP, and from the 80's onwards it could get interesting.,

There was also a split in the ALP in the 1950s, when the ALP split on communism.

Can't see many of our lefties voting DLP though.

Hifly, Windjammer and National Progressuve (he did vote for the CDU a lot in the German thread)?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Protectionist.

[DC Al Fine]

The Labour Party will win every election

This is true. There will have to be multiple left wing parties to make it interesting.

In the 30's there was a split in the ALP, and from the 80's onwards it could get interesting.,

There was also a split in the ALP in the 1950s, when the ALP split on communism.

Can't see many of our lefties voting DLP though.

Hifly, Windjammer and National Progressuve (he did vote for the CDU a lot in the German thread)?

Yes he did.