Editing Joseph Cook (section)

==Hughes government==
After Fisher resigned from parliament in 1915, [[Billy Hughes]] became Labor leader and prime minister. In 1916, Hughes began a determined push for [[World War I conscription in Australia|the introduction of conscription]] for military service, causing a split in the Labor Party over the issue. However, Hughes was able to stay in office after getting parliamentary support from Cook and his party. Cook was initially reluctant to support conscription as it violated his longstanding opposition to compulsion, but eventually he concluded that “manhood suffrage denoted manhood responsibility”.<ref>Gorman (2023), ''Joseph Cook'', p.94.</ref> Later in 1916, the so-called [[National Labor Party]], consisting of those Labor members who supported Hughes, merged with the Commonwealth Liberals to form the [[Nationalist Party of Australia|Nationalist Party]], as Cook decided to sacrifice his party's liberal identity and philosophy in the name of winning the war at any cost.<ref>Gorman (2023), ''Joseph Cook'', p.95.</ref> A Federal Liberal Party would not re-emerge until 1944. Although it was dominated by former Liberals, Hughes was named the new party's leader, with Cook as deputy leader.  Cook became [[Minister for the Navy (Australia)|Minister for the Navy]] and ''de facto'' [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|deputy prime minister]] in Hughes' reconfigured government. The Nationalists had substantial victories over Labor in the [[1917 Australian federal election|1917 election]] and the [[1919 Australian federal election|1919 election]].

Although Cook was a loyal deputy to Hughes, "at no time did he develop any personal affection for him". He thought Hughes was autocratic and prone to taking credit for things that others had accomplished. He did however admire Hughes' strong leadership and "immense energy", which contrasted with his own cautiousness.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=124}} Cook was acting prime minister on a number of occasions when Hughes was overworked or on visits abroad. In parliament, he was effectively the [[Leader of the House (Australia)|Leader of the House]] (a title which did not yet exist), responsible for the passage of government business.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=125}} He campaigned strongly for the "Yes" vote in the [[1917 Australian conscription referendum|second conscription plebiscite]] in 1917, touring three states and giving multiple speeches each day.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=126}} The "No" vote won, and Hughes fulfilled his earlier promise to resign as prime minister, although he remained in office as a caretaker. In determining who should be prime minister, Governor-General [[Ronald Munro Ferguson]] spoke first with Opposition Leader [[Frank Tudor]], who declined to form a government, and then with senior members of the Nationalist Party. Cook's advice that "only Hughes" was suitable proved decisive in Munro Ferguson recommissioning him as prime minister, rather than another Nationalist like [[John Forrest]].{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=127}}

===Overseas activities===
[[File:Treaty of Versailles signatures - Australia, South Africa, New Zealand.jpg|thumb|right|Cook's signature on the [[Treaty of Versailles]], situated after that of Hughes and before those of [[Louis Botha]], [[Jan Smuts]], and [[William Massey]]]]
Cook and Hughes represented Australia at the 1918 [[Imperial War Conference]] in London. They left together on 26 April 1918, with [[William Watt (Australian politician)|William Watt]] as acting prime minister in their absence.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=127}} Cook participated in all fifteen sessions of the conference, but found that the most important work was being undertaken by Hughes behind closed doors; he was generally not consulted.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=128}} After the conference concluded he paid an extended visit to the Western Front, accompanied by his adviser [[John Latham (judge)|John Latham]], author [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], and war correspondent [[Charles Bean]]. They were taken within {{convert|1000|yd|m}} of the [[Hindenburg Line]], near [[Bullecourt]], and at one point a shell exploded less than a minute before they arrived at a meeting point.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=129}} Cook visited Australian Army camps in South England and toured the British dockyards, consulting with Admiral [[John Jellicoe]] about the future of the Royal Australian Navy.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=128}} He also visited his home town of Silverdale for the first time since he left England in 1886, and paid another visit to celebrate the signing of the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]].{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=129}}

Cook was one of the Australian delegates at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919]], which was led by Hughes. Although Australia and the other [[Dominion]]s signed the [[Treaty of Versailles]] separately and became individual members of the [[League of Nations]], for the preceding negotiations their representatives (and those of the United Kingdom) were considered to form one single [[British Empire]] delegation.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=129}} Cook was chosen as the lead British delegate on the Commission on Czechoslovak Affairs, which was tasked with determining the final borders of [[Czechoslovakia]]. He was hampered by his lack of knowledge of European geography and inability to speak French, the contemporary language of diplomacy.{{sfnp|Perman|1962|p=149}} According to [[Charles Seymour]], one of the American delegates, he was "blissfully ignorant of everything European and practically every word of our discussion was Greek to him". [[Harold Nicolson]], the other British delegate, said that he assumed an attitude of "benevolent boredom" during meetings.{{sfnp|Perman|1962|p=149}} Cook was generally in favour of an enlarged Czechoslovakia, believing that the lands of the [[Sudeten Germans]] had to be included in Czechoslovakia for security reasons. He and Nicolson had a difference of opinion over [[Great Schütt]], but French delegation was in agreement with Cook and the island was awarded to Czechoslovakia.{{sfnp|Perman|1962|p=151}}

The [[Treaty of Versailles]] was signed on 23 June 1919 with Cook and Hughes signing on behalf of Australia. Cook had some private misgivings about the final document. Although he believed Germany needed to be punished, he thought some elements of the treaty were too vindictive.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=130}} He was strongly in favour of the creation of the [[League of Nations]], and [[David Lloyd George]] considered him to be the most fervent supporter of the League in the entire British delegation. Lloyd George considered him "a man of calm and balanced judgment".{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=129}} Cook and Hughes arrived back in Australia on 24 August 1919, after an absence of nearly 16 months. They travelled from [[Fremantle]] to [[Melbourne]] via the [[Trans-Australian Railway]], and Cook particularly enjoyed their stop at the small settlement of [[Cook, South Australia]], which had been named in his honour a few years earlier.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=131}} Hughes was feted upon his return, but Cook did not receive similar adulation and returned to Sydney relatively quietly. [[1919 Australian federal election|An early election]] was called to capitalise on the prime minister's popularity, which saw the Nationalists win re-election with a reduced majority.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=132}}

===Treasurer===
[[File:James Guthrie - Sir Joseph Cook.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Cook by [[James Guthrie (artist)|James Guthrie]], c. 1920]]
In March 1920, Cook was appointed Acting Treasurer in the absence of [[William Watt (Australian politician)|William Watt]], who was attending a conference in London. Watt resigned by cable in June after falling out with Hughes. The position of Treasurer was initially offered to [[Stanley Bruce]], who declined it, and then to Cook, who reluctantly accepted.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=132}} He took office at the height of the post-war boom and was faced with high inflation, but also high unemployment as the economy attempted to absorb returned soldiers. Cook was a [[fiscal conservative]] by nature, preferring to limit government spending and keep taxes low. He brought down two [[Australian federal budget|budgets]] during his tenure, for the 1920–21 and 1921–22 financial years; both were primarily concerned with reducing inflation.{{sfnp|Hawkins|2009|p=77}} He was twice faced with significant revenue shortfalls, which he chose to fill primarily with overseas loans and only a small increase in taxation. He found both options distasteful, but preferred lower taxes – the opposite approach to that taken by Canada, which faced a similar situation.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|pp=133–134}}

Cook has been viewed as an orthodox but unimaginative treasurer whose conservatism with regard to government spending may have been unsuited to the needs of post-war reconstruction.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=135}} One notable initiative of his was the transfer of responsibility for issuing banknotes from the [[Department of the Treasury (Australia)|Treasury Department]] to the [[Commonwealth Bank of Australia]]. The bank's governor [[Denison Miller]] regarded this as "the first and most important step in the enlargement [of the Commonwealth Bank] into a national bank in every sense of the word".{{sfnp|Hawkins|2009|p=78}} Cook's final months in parliament were spent as acting prime minister, as Hughes was out of the country for five months attending the [[1921 Imperial Conference]] in London. In November 1921, it was announced that he would be appointed as Australia's [[Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom|High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]] in place of Andrew Fisher, whose term had ended earlier that year.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=132}}