John Andrew Arthur was an Australian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elected to federal parliament at the 1913 federal election, after a successful career at the Victorian Bar. After the 1914 election, he was appointed Minister for External Affairs in the Fisher government. He died of kidney disease three months later, aged 39.

The 1913 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 31 May 1913. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, was defeated by the opposition Commonwealth Liberal Party under Joseph Cook, marking the second time an Australian Prime Minister was defeated at an election. The new government had a majority of just a single seat, and held a minority of seats in the Senate. It would last only 15 months, suffering defeat at the 1914 election.