Barton outlined his platform for the first federal election at a speech on 17 January 1901, delivered at the West Maitland Town Hall within his prospective electorate. His plans included the establishment of the federal capital, the High Court and the Inter-State Commission, and a "moderately protectionist tariff" in order to raise the revenue to introduce old-age pensions and a uniform postal system. He also promised to introduce universal suffrage for federal elections, build the Trans-Australian Railway, legislate to allow federal intervention in industrial disputes, and ban immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands.