Editing Alfred Deakin (section)

== Prime Minister, 1903–1904 ==
[[File:Advance Australia.jpg|thumb|right|upright|"Advance Australia" postcard, featuring a portrait of Deakin as the incumbent prime minister]]
After the passage of the ''Judiciary Act'', cabinet began to consider who would fill the newly created seats on the High Court. Encouraged by his colleagues, Barton decided to retire from politics and accept appointment to a [[puisne justice]]ship.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=284}} Deakin was his presumed successor and faced no significant opposition from the government and its supporters. The only obstacle was his own willingness to take on the role, and he expressed doubts about his suitability for the position in diary entries and letters to friends.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=285}} He seriously considered allowing William Lyne to take over the government, but Lyne proved unable or unwilling to do so. After cabinet confirmed Barton's appointment to the High Court, Deakin was sworn in as prime minister on 24 September 1903 at [[Government House, Melbourne]]. He relinquished the attorney-generalship and took on Barton's external affairs portfolio. [[First Deakin Ministry|The new ministry]] was unchanged apart from the additions of [[Austin Chapman]] and [[Thomas Playford II|Thomas Playford]] to replace Barton and [[Richard Edward O'Connor|Richard O'Connor]] (another High Court appointee). Lyne was given second rank in cabinet.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=286}}

===1903 election and the "three elevens"===
Parliament was dissolved a month after Deakin took office, with the [[1903 Australian federal election]] called for mid-December.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=290}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hearn|first=Mark|title=Contesting 'the Ballarat cry': interpreting the unstable narrative of trade and race in the 1903 federal election|journal=History Australia|pages=693–710|year=2018|volume=15|issue=4|doi=10.1080/14490854.2018.1513802|s2cid=150182295}}</ref> He was the first prime minister to call an early election, to catch his opponents off guard and take advantage of a large number of urban educated female voters who could cast a ballot for the first time.<ref>Julian Fitzgerald ''On Message: Political Communications of Australian Prime Ministers 1901–2014'' Clareville Press 2014 p 39</ref>

Deakin outlined the government's platform at a speech in [[Ballarat]] on 29 October 1903.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1903-alfred-deakin|title=1903: Alfred Deakin|work=Australian Federal Election Speeches|publisher=Museum of Australian Democracy|access-date=15 March 2020}}</ref> He called on voters to unite behind "fiscal peace and preferential trade for a White Australia". The "fiscal peace" to which he referred was an end to conflict over the recently enacted tariff, while "preferential trade" referred to the idea of [[Imperial Preference]], which Deakin hoped would bring Australia closer to Britain and the rest of the Empire.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=290}} Reid continued to campaign on unrestricted free trade, while the ALP focused on class issues, particularly the need for compulsory arbitration, and was rewarded with large gains in both houses.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=291}} The final result in the House was an effective three-way tie between Deakin's Liberal Protectionists, Reid's Free Traders, and [[Chris Watson]]'s Labour Party.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=292}}

Inspired by the [[English cricket team in Australia in 1903–04|ongoing Ashes series]], in a January 1904 speech Deakin used an uncharacteristic sporting analogy to call for the establishment of [[majority government]] and a [[two-party system]]:{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=292}}

<blockquote>What kind of a game of cricket could you have, if you had three elevens in the field instead of two, and one sometimes played on one side, sometimes on the other, and sometimes for itself?</blockquote>

He went on to call it "absolutely essential" for the three parties to be reduced to two "as soon as possible", although he stated that he was unsure which parties should merge.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=292}} Deakin's analogy passed into common usage to describe the unstable party system in the first decade after Federation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803104445195|title=Three elevens|work=The Oxford Companion to Australian History|publisher=[[Oxford Reference]]}}</ref> However, according to {{harvp|Brett|2017}} the analogy was imperfect, as realistically the Labour Party and Free Traders would never agree to an alliance; Deakin's party was an obligatory partner in any coalition government.{{sfn|Brett|2017|pp=297–298}}

===Defeat and resignation===
Deakin sought to form an "understanding" with the ALP during the parliamentary recess after the election, but made little progress. When parliament resumed in March 1904, he introduced a modified Conciliation and Arbitration Bill, but ignored Labour's requests for its provisions to be extended to state public servants.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=293}} He believed that the government did not have the constitutional authority to do so, whereas the ALP (and some radicals within his own party) thought the issue should be determined by the High Court. On 22 April, [[Andrew Fisher]] moved for the bill to be amended to cover state public servants. The amendment passed by 38 votes to 29, which Deakin treated as a [[motion of no confidence]] in his government. He tendered his resignation as prime minister on the same day and was formally succeeded by Watson on 27 April.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=294}}

Deakin's motivations for relinquishing office have been debated. He was under no obligation to resign, as the ALP had not intended for the amendment to be treated as a confidence motion. It has been suggested he thought forcing Watson into office unprepared would demonstrate the ALP's weakness as a party of government. However, his diaries also suggest he was under considerable personal strain and could have been "simply courting defeat to relieve himself of the burden of office".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=295}}