Hughes, at the time a member of the ALP, had become prime minister when Andrew Fisher retired in 1915.

The Nationalists won a decisive victory, securing the largest majority government since Federation.

The ALP suffered a large electoral swing against it, losing almost seven percentage points of its vote share compared with 1914.

The swing was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party.

At this election, Hughes had abandoned West Sydney, which he won with 75.3% of the vote as the Labor candidate at the previous election in 1914, and moved to Bendigo instead, winning it as the Nationalist candidate: unlike 1922, Hughes made his seat transfer in 1917 by defeating that seat’s incumbent member, Alfred Hampson, for re-election, the only time that an incumbent Prime Minister has defeated another MP for his seat.