John Forrest, a minister in Alfred Deakin's government, accepted the leadership of the party.
[1][2][3][4] Forrest and Hedges did not sit together in federal parliament; Forrest continued to serve as a minister in the Protectionist government of Alfred Deakin while Hedges sat on the opposition benches as an Anti-Socialist.
[5] The 1903 federal election saw the Australian Labor Party (ALP) win all three Senate seats in Western Australia and every House of Representatives seat except that held by federal government minister and former premier John Forrest.
In September 1906, the Senate rejected a bill authorising a survey of the route for the planned Trans-Australian Railway, which would connect Western Australia to the eastern states and had been a major reason for Western Australians voting to federate in 1901.
The rejection of the bill prompted "a wave of anti-federal feeling" in Western Australia,[6] with liberals seeking to capitalise on this sentiment to organise a new anti-Labor party.