1914 Australian federal election

The 1914 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 5 September 1914. The election had been called before the declaration of war in August 1914. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election, as a result of a double dissolution being granted, the first in Australian history. The incumbent Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Joseph Cook, was defeated by the opposition Labor Party under Andrew Fisher, who returned for a third term as prime minister.

The Cook government is one of only two non-Labor governments in Australian history that did not last longer than the Labor government it had replaced; the other was the Howard government, which was defeated in 2007.

This election also marks the only time that three consecutive elections resulted in changes of government. Indeed, even two consecutive elections resulting in changes of government has only occurred on one instance since this election – in 1929 and 1931.

Fisher is one of only two Labor leaders who took the party from Opposition to Government and also had previous experience as a minister, the other being Anthony Albanese. This election was the second time he accomplished this, the first being in 1910.

This election resulted in the highest ever primary vote percentage for the Labor Party, at 50.89%, and was the first time that Labor achieved more than 50% of the primary vote. The only other time this happened was in 1954.