Hugh Mahon (6 January 1857 – 28 August 1931) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and held ministerial office in the party's earliest governments. He served terms as Postmaster-General (1904), Minister for Home Affairs (1908–1909), and Minister for External Affairs (1914–1916). However, Mahon is chiefly known as the only person to be expelled from the Parliament of Australia, for making "seditious and disloyal utterances" about the British Empire. He failed to win his seat back at the by-election.
Early life
Mahon was born at Killurin, near Tullamore (at that time in King's County, now in County Offaly, Ireland) and migrated in 1869 with his family to Canada and the United States, where he learned the printing trade. He returned to Ireland in about 1880 and worked as editor of the New Ross Standard, reporting on the infamous Shanbogh killing as well as helping to organise the defence of the two accused. He was actively involved in the boycotting campaign of the Irish National Land League and was imprisoned in 1881, in Kilmainham Gaol, along with other Irish National Land League leaders, including Charles Stewart Parnell, but was released due to ill-health. He emigrated to Australia in 1882 to avoid re-arrest and helped to organise the Australian tour of the Irish nationalist leaders John and William Redmond in 1883. He then worked for newspapers in Goulburn and Sydney, before acquiring a newspaper in Gosford. In 1888 he married Mary Alice L'Estrange of Melbourne. After failing to be elected to the seat of Wollombi at the 1891 NSW parliamentary elections, Mahon sold his newspaper and moved to Melbourne, where he worked for the Australian Mining Standard. In 1895, he moved to the Western Australian goldfields and started a newspaper, The Menzies Miner, at the mining town of Menzies.
Political career
Colonial politics
left|thumb|200px|Group photograph of all Federal Labour Party MPs elected at the inaugural [[1901 Australian federal election|1901 election, including Chris Watson, Andrew Fisher, Billy Hughes, Frank Tudor, and King O'Malley. Mahon is in the 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. 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.
thumb|right|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. 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 that 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.
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.
Mahon's expulsion is often referred to in the media when a member of parliament misbehaves and calls are made to expel that person.
Later life
After leaving parliament, Mahon continued to work as the managing director of the Catholic Church Property Insurance Co., the insurance company he had established in 1912 at the request of the Catholic bishops. In December 1921 he sailed to Europe for the Irish Race Convention in Paris. However, struck down by illness, he missed the conference. After recovering, he went to Rome and had an audience with Pope Pius XI before visiting Ireland. This was the only time he returned to his native land after leaving it forty years earlier. While in Ireland, Mahon attended a large family reunion near Tullamore, and gave a controversial interview to the Irish press in support of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in which he criticised the Irish Labour Party. On returning to Australia in June 1922, Mahon expected to be appointed Consul General for Ireland, but the Civil War put an end to that.