Editing Billy Hughes (section)

==Final years==
[[File:BillyHughes1945.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Hughes in 1945 (age 83)]]
In February 1944, the parliamentary UAP voted to withdraw its members from the [[Advisory War Council (Australia)|Advisory War Council]]. Hughes and Menzies resigned, but [[Percy Spender]] chose to remain on the council and was expelled from the UAP. A few months later, Hughes rejoined the War Council at the personal invitation of John Curtin. He was expelled from the UAP on 14 April 1944, and replaced as deputy leader by [[Eric Harrison]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17875657|title=U.A.P. EXPELS MR. HUGHES|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=15 April 1944|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702093228/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17875657|archive-date=2 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Hughes and Spender sat as an independents until 13 September 1945, when they joined the new [[Liberal Party of Australia]] that had been founded earlier in the year. By that point the War Council had been abolished.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17953284|title=Hughes and Spender Join Liberals|date=14 September 1945|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702064526/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17953284|archive-date=2 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

A major redistribution and expansion of the House of Representatives occurred prior to the [[1949 Australian federal election|1949 election]], with much of the northern portion of North Sydney transferred to the new [[Division of Bradfield]]. Hughes faced a [[preselection]] challenge for the first time since 1894, but defeated [[Harry Turner (Australian politician)|Harry Turner]] for Liberal Party endorsement and won a comfortable victory.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=669}} He was elected to the House of Representatives for the 20th and final time at the [[1951 Australian federal election]], with 79 percent of the vote. Hughes's last speech in parliament was an attack on the Menzies government's decision to sell its share in [[Commonwealth Oil Refineries]], one of the state-owned enterprises his government had established over 30 years earlier. According to H.V. Evatt, his speech "seemed at once to grip the attention of all honourable members present ... nobody left the House, and nobody seemed to dare to move".{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=670}}

Hughes celebrated a number of milestones in his last years in parliament. In 1944, a celebratory dinner was held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his election to the Parliament of New South Wales, and 50 consecutive years of service as an MP. Prime Minister John Curtin toasted him as someone who had "fought like hell for what he believed to be right, and for that Australia will honour him".{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=666}} In June 1951, Hughes was the guest of honour at a banquet marking the golden jubilee of the federal parliament.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=670}} The following year, "almost every member of the House of Representatives and Senate" attended his birthday dinner.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18283617|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=26 September 1952|title=Mr. HUGHES GIVEN BIRTHDAY DINNER|access-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920011009/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18283617|archive-date=20 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Prime Minister Robert Menzies observed that Hughes had been a member of every political party at one time or another, at which point Arthur Fadden interjected that he had never joined the Country Party. Hughes then remarked "had to draw the line somewhere, didn't I?".{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=670}}