Hugh Mahon

Group photograph of all Federal Labour[3] Party MPs elected at the inaugural 1901 election, including Chris Watson, Andrew Fisher, Billy Hughes, Frank Tudor, and King O'Malley. Mahon is middle row standing fourth from left.

In 1897 Mahon stood unsuccessfully for the state seat of North Coolgardie and the following year he was appointed editor of the Kalgoorlie Sun, a salacious newspaper similar to John Norton's Truth, in which he regularly denounced the Forrest government for alleged corrupt practices. Mahon's notoriety as a fighting editor helped him to win the new federal seat of Coolgardie at the 1901 election for Labour.[1]

Upon entry into federal parliament, Mahon gained a reputation for savage wit and bitter sarcasm. He advocated a humanitarian approach to colonial governance, calling for a royal commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people in WA and for an amendment to the Constitution to give the federal parliament power to pass laws relating to Aboriginal people in the states, an amendment not realised until the 1967 referendum. Yet, as historian Jane Lydon notes, Mahon did not see Aboriginal people as equals, advocating "sympathetic but undeviating treatment."[4] He was also a strong supporter of the White Australia Policy. In 1905 Mahon helped shepherd through both houses of parliament resolutions in support of Irish home rule. Thereafter he became increasingly identified as an advocate of Irish nationalism. In 1907 Cardinal Patrick Moran invited him to deliver the St Patrick's Day address in Sydney. In 1909 he was a key player in the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Melbourne, addressed by the Governor General. In July 1910 he moved a resolution in the House of Representatives requesting the new king George V to omit from the coronation oath references offensive to Catholics.

Mahon in 1908

He was Postmaster-General in the Watson government in 1904 and Minister for Home Affairs in the Fisher government of 1908–09. In the latter role he directed the District Surveyor, Charles Scrivener, to examine the Yass-Canberra district to determine the most suitable place for the seat of government.

In 1913, the seat of Coolgardie was abolished and partly replaced by Dampier, for which he stood unsuccessfully. He re-entered Parliament in the seat of Kalgoorlie; following the death of the incumbent, Charlie Frazer, a by-election was called, but at the close of nominations on 22 December 1913 Mahon was the sole candidate and was declared elected unopposed.[5] Appointed an assistant minister after the 1914 elections, Mahon became Minister for External Affairs in December 1914 on the death of John Arthur.

Mahon held that position until the Labor Party split in November 1916 over conscription and he resigned from Prime Minister Billy Hughes' cabinet. Although not opposed in principle to conscription, Mahon believed it was not justified at that particular time. He kept a low profile during the referendum debate, but in the last week of campaigning an article claiming he supported a Yes vote forced him to clarify his position. His refusal to endorse the government’s conscription proposal soured his relations with Hughes. At the 'khaki election' in 1917 Mahon lost his seat, but he won it back in 1919.[6][2]

As the Irish War of Independence, which had begun in 1919, intensified Mahon gradually moved from a position of support for home rule to one of support for Sinn Féin. After the death in October 1920 of the Irish nationalist Terence MacSwiney, who had been on hunger strike, Mahon attacked British policy in Ireland at an open-air meeting in Melbourne on 7 November, claiming that the sobs of MacSwiney's widow would one day shake the foundations of ‘this bloody and accursed Empire’. On 11 November the Prime Minister Billy Hughes moved to expel him and early the following morning the House of Representatives passed a resolution 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".[6][2]

According to Mahon's biographer Jeff Kildea, it is this singular event for which he is mostly remembered "despite his long and eventful career in journalism, business and politics both in Ireland and Australia".[1]

Mahon failed to win back his seat at the December 1920 Kalgoorlie by-election, suffering a 3.5 percent swing.[7]

When the Labor Party returned to government in 1929 Mahon sought to have his expulsion motion rescinded. But there was little interest in the caucus to revisit the matter. In 1984 a joint select committee of the parliament criticised his expulsion as an ‘abuse of power by a partisan vote’ and in 1987 legislation was passed removing the parliament’s power to expel its members.[6] In 2016, Labor MP Graham Perrett moved a private member's motion in Parliament to recognise that Mahon's expulsion was unjust and a misuse of power then invested by the House. The motion lapsed. In 2020, during the centenary year of Mahon's expulsion, a further attempt is being made to have the parliament acknowledge the injustice done to Mahon.[8]

Mahon's expulsion is often referred to in the media when a member of parliament misbehaves and calls are made to expel that person.[9][10]