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Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics,[3] along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been governing federally since being elected at the 2022 election, and with political branches in each state and territory, they are currently in government in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern TerritoryTasmania is the only state or territory where they currently form the opposition. It is the oldest continuous political party in Australia, being established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first federal Parliament.

Australian Labor Party
AbbreviationALP
LeaderAnthony Albanese
Deputy LeaderRichard Marles
Senate LeaderPenny Wong
PresidentWayne Swan[1]
National SecretaryPaul Erickson
Founded
  • Oldest branches:
    1891; 132 years ago (1891)
  • Federal Caucus:
    8 May 1901; 122 years ago (1901-05-08)
HeadquartersBarton, Australian Capital Territory
Think tankChifley Research Centre
Youth wingAustralian Young Labor
Women's wingLabor Women's Network
LGBT wingRainbow Labor
Indigenous wingAboriginal Labor
Multicultural wingMulticultural Labor Network
Membership (2020) 60,085[2]
IdeologySocial democracy
Political positionCentre-left
International affiliation
Union affiliateACTU
Affiliate partiesCountry Labor (2000–2021)
Colours  Red
Slogan"A Better Future"
Governing bodyNational Executive
Parliamentary partyFPLP
Party branches
House of Representatives
78 / 151
Senate
26 / 76
State/territory governments
7 / 8
State/territory lower houses
267 / 455
State upper houses
65 / 155
Website
alp.org.au

The ALP was not founded as a federal party until after the first sitting of the Australian parliament in 1901. It is regarded as descended from labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement in Australia, formally beginning in 1891. Colonial labour parties contested seats from 1891, and federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. The ALP formed the world's first labour party government and the world's first social-democratic government at a national level.[4] At the 1910 federal election, Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian parliament. In every election since 1910 Labor has either served as the governing party or the opposition. There have been 13 Labor Prime Ministers and 10 periods of Federal Labor governments.

At the federal and state/colony level, the Australian Labor Party predates both the British Labour Party and the New Zealand Labour Party in party formation, government, and policy implementation.[5] Internationally, the ALP is a member of the Progressive Alliance, a network of social-democratic parties,[6] having previously been a member of the Socialist International.

Name and spelling

In standard Australian English, the word "labour" is spelt with a u. However, the political party uses the spelling "Labor", without a u. There was originally no standardised spelling of the party's name, with "Labor" and "Labour" both in common usage. According to Ross McMullin, who wrote an official history of the Labor Party, the title page of the proceedings of the Federal Conference used the spelling "Labor" in 1902, "Labour" in 1905 and 1908, and then "Labor" from 1912 onwards.[7] In 1908, James Catts put forward a motion at the Federal Conference that "the name of the party be the Australian Labour Party", which was carried by 22 votes to 2. A separate motion recommending state branches adopt the name was defeated. There was no uniformity of party names until 1918 when the Federal party resolved that state branches should adopt the name "Australian Labor Party", now spelt without a u. Each state branch had previously used a different name, due to their different origins.[8][a]

Although the ALP officially adopted the spelling without a u, it took decades for the official spelling to achieve widespread acceptance.[11][b] According to McMullin, "the way the spelling of 'Labor Party' was consolidated had more to do with the chap who ended up being in charge of printing the federal conference report than any other reason".[15] Some sources have attributed the official choice of "Labor" to influence from King O'Malley, who was born in the United States and was reputedly an advocate of spelling reform; the spelling without a u is the standard form in American English.[16][17] It has been suggested that the adoption of the spelling without a u "signified one of the ALP's earliest attempts at modernisation", and served the purpose of differentiating the party from the Australian labour movement as a whole and distinguishing it from other British Empire labour parties. The decision to include the word "Australian" in the party's name, rather than just "Labour Party" as in the United Kingdom, has been attributed to "the greater importance of nationalism for the founders of the colonial parties".[18]

History

 
Anderson Dawson's ministry leaving Parliament House, Brisbane, after being sworn in on 1 December 1899. His was the first government formed by a Labour party in the world

The Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree (the "Tree of Knowledge") in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The 1891 shearers' strike is credited as being one of the factors for the formation of the Australian Labor Party. On 9 September 1892 the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read out under the well known Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine following the Great Shearers' Strike.[19] The State Library of Queensland now holds the manifesto;[20][21] in 2008 the historic document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Australian Register[22] and, in 2009, the document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register.[23] The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. However, the Scone Branch has a receipt for membership fees for the 'Labour Electoral League' dated April 1891. This predates the Balmain claim. This can be attested in the Centenary of the ALP book. Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia, 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.

The first election contested by Labour candidates was the 1891 New South Wales election, when Labour candidates (then called the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales) won 35 of 141 seats. The major parties were the Protectionist and Free Trade parties and Labour held the balance of power. It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy concessions.[24] The United Labor Party (ULP) of South Australia was founded in 1891, and three candidates were that year elected to the South Australian Legislative Council.[25] The first successful South Australian House of Assembly candidate was John McPherson at the 1892 East Adelaide by-election. Richard Hooper however was elected as an Independent Labor candidate at the 1891 Wallaroo by-election, while he was the first "labor" member of the House of Assembly he was not a member of the newly formed ULP.

At the 1893 South Australian elections the ULP was immediately elevated to balance of power status with 10 of 54 lower house seats. The liberal government of Charles Kingston was formed with the support of the ULP, ousting the conservative government of John Downer. So successful, less than a decade later at the 1905 state election, Thomas Price formed the world's first stable Labor government. John Verran led Labor to form the state's first of many majority governments at the 1910 state election.

In 1899, Anderson Dawson formed a minority Labour government in Queensland, the first in the world, which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split.

The colonial Labour parties and the trade unions were mixed in their support for the Federation of Australia. Some Labour representatives argued against the proposed constitution, claiming that the Senate as proposed was too powerful, similar to the anti-reformist colonial upper houses and the British House of Lords. They feared that federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces. However, the first Labour leader and Prime Minister Chris Watson was a supporter of federation.

Historian Celia Hamilton, examining New South Wales, argues for the central role of Irish Catholics. Before 1890, they opposed Henry Parkes, the main Liberal leader, and of free trade, seeing them both as the ideals of Protestant Englishmen who represented landholding and large business interests. In the strike of 1890 the leading Catholic, Sydney's Archbishop Patrick Francis Moran was sympathetic toward unions, but Catholic newspapers were negative. After 1900, says Hamilton, Irish Catholics were drawn to the Labour Party because its stress on equality and social welfare fitted with their status as manual labourers and small farmers. In the 1910 elections Labour gained in the more Catholic areas and the representation of Catholics increased in Labour's parliamentary ranks.[26]

Early decades at the federal level

 
Group photograph of Federal Labour Party MPs elected to the Australian House of Representatives and Australian Senate at the inaugural 1901 election

The federal parliament in 1901 was contested by each state Labour Party. In total, they won 15 of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives, collectively holding the balance of power, and the Labour members now met as the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party (informally known as the caucus) on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first federal Parliament.[27] The caucus decided to support the incumbent Protectionist Party in minority government, while the Free Trade Party formed the opposition. It was some years before there was any significant structure or organisation at a national level. Labour under Chris Watson doubled its vote at the 1903 federal election and continued to hold the balance of power. In April 1904, however, Watson and Alfred Deakin fell out over the issue of extending the scope of industrial relations laws concerning the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill to cover state public servants, the fallout causing Deakin to resign. Free Trade leader George Reid declined to take office, which saw Watson become the first Labour Prime Minister of Australia, and the world's first Labour head of government at a national level (Anderson Dawson had led a short-lived Labour government in Queensland in December 1899), though his was a minority government that lasted only four months. He was aged only 37, and is still the youngest Prime Minister in Australia's history.[28]

George Reid of the Free Trade Party adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labour vs. non-Labour lines prior to the 1906 federal election and renamed his Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party. Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti-socialist, with the Protectionist Party in the middle. This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the Westminster tradition and regarded a two-party system as very much the norm.[29]

Although Watson further strengthened Labour's position in 1906, he stepped down from the leadership the following year, to be succeeded by Andrew Fisher who formed a minority government lasting seven months from late 1908 to mid 1909. At the 1910 federal election, Fisher led Labor to victory, forming Australia's first elected federal majority government, Australia's first elected Senate majority, the world's first Labour Party majority government at a national level, and after the 1904 Chris Watson minority government the world's second Labour Party government at a national level. It was the first time a Labour Party had controlled any house of a legislature, and the first time the party controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature.[30] The state branches were also successful, except in Victoria, where the strength of Deakinite liberalism inhibited the party's growth. The state branches formed their first majority governments in New South Wales and South Australia in 1910, Western Australia in 1911, Queensland in 1915 and Tasmania in 1925. Such success eluded equivalent social democratic and labour parties in other countries for many years.

Analysis of the early NSW Labor caucus reveals "a band of unhappy amateurs", made up of blue collar workers, a squatter, a doctor, and even a mine owner, indicating that the idea that only the socialist working class formed Labor is untrue. In addition, many members from the working class supported the liberal notion of free trade between the colonies; in the first grouping of state MPs, 17 of the 35 were free-traders.

In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, support for socialism grew in trade union ranks, and at the 1921 All-Australian Trades Union Congress a resolution was passed calling for "the socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange." The 1922 Labor Party National Conference adopted a similarly worded "socialist objective," which remained official policy for many years. The resolution was immediately qualified, however, by the "Blackburn amendment," which said that "socialisation" was desirable only when was necessary to "eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features."[31] In practice the socialist objective was a dead letter. Only once has a federal Labor government attempted to nationalise any industry (Ben Chifley's bank nationalisation of 1947), and that was held by the High Court to be unconstitutional. The commitment to nationalisation was dropped by Gough Whitlam, and Bob Hawke's government carried out many free market reforms including the floating of the dollar and privatisation of state enterprises such as Qantas airways and the Commonwealth Bank.

The Labor Party is commonly described as a social democratic party, and its constitution stipulates that it is a democratic socialist party.[32] The party was created by, and has always been influenced by, the trade unions, and in practice its policy at any given time has usually been the policy of the broader labour movement. Thus at the first federal election 1901 Labor's platform called for a White Australia policy, a citizen army and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes.[33] Labor has at various times supported high tariffs and low tariffs, conscription and pacifism, White Australia and multiculturalism, nationalisation and privatisation, isolationism and internationalism.

Historically, Labor and its affiliated unions were strong defenders of the White Australia policy, which banned all non-European migration to Australia. This policy was partly motivated by 19th century theories about "racial purity" and by fears of economic competition from low-wage overseas workers which was shared by the vast majority of Australians and all major political parties.[citation needed] In practice the Labor party opposed all migration, on the grounds that immigrants competed with Australian workers and drove down wages, until after World War II, when the Chifley government launched a major immigration program. The party's opposition to non-European immigration did not change until after the retirement of Arthur Calwell as leader in 1967. Subsequently, Labor has become an advocate of multiculturalism, although some of its trade union base and some of its members continue to oppose high immigration levels.

World War II and beyond

The Curtin and Chifley governments governed Australia through the latter half of the Second World War and initial stages of transition to peace. Labor leader John Curtin became prime minister in October 1941 when two independents crossed the floor of Parliament. Labor, led by Curtin, then led Australia through the years of the Pacific War. In December 1941, Curtin announced that "Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom", thus helping to establish the Australian-American alliance (later formalised as ANZUS by the Menzies Government). Remembered as a strong war time leader and for a landslide win at the 1943 federal election, Curtin died in office just prior to the end of the war and was succeeded by Ben Chifley.[34] Chifley Labor won the 1946 federal election and oversaw Australia's initial transition to a peacetime economy.

Labor was defeated at the 1949 federal election. At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949, Chifley sought to define the labour movement as follows: "We have a great objective – the light on the hill – which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind. [...] [Labor would] bring something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people."[35]

To a large extent, Chifley saw centralisation of the economy as the means to achieve such ambitions. With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook, after his attempt to nationalise the banks and a strike by the Communist-dominated Miners' Federation, Chifley lost office in 1949 to Robert Menzies' Liberal-National Coalition. Labor commenced a 23-year period in opposition.[36][37] The party was primarily led during this time by H. V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell.

 
Labor Party policy launch before a crowd in the Sydney Domain on 24 November 1975.

Various ideological beliefs were factionalised under reforms to the ALP under Gough Whitlam, resulting in what is now known as the Socialist Left who tend to favour a more interventionist economic policy and more socially progressive ideals, and Labor Right, the now dominant faction that tends to be more economically liberal and focus to a lesser extent on social issues. The Whitlam Labor government, marking a break with Labor's socialist tradition, pursued social-democratic policies rather than democratic socialist policies. In contrast to earlier Labor leaders, Whitlam also cut tariffs by 25 percent.[38] Whitlam led the Federal Labor Party back to office at the 1972 and 1974 federal elections, and passed a large amount of legislation. The Whitlam government lost office following the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis and dismissal by Governor-General John Kerr after the Coalition blocked supply in the Senate after a series of political scandals, and was defeated at the 1975 federal election in the largest landslide of Australian federal history.[39] Whitlam remains the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner. Whitlam also lost the 1977 federal election and subsequently resigned as leader.

Bill Hayden succeeded Whitlam as leader. At the 1980 federal election, the party achieved a big swing, though the unevenness of the swing around the nation prevented an ALP victory. In 1983, Bob Hawke became leader of the party after Hayden resigned to avoid a leadership spill.

Bob Hawke led Labor back to office at the 1983 federal election and the party won four consecutive elections under Hawke. In December 1991 Paul Keating defeated Bob Hawke in a leadership spill. The ALP then won the 1993 federal election. It was in power for five terms over 13 years, until severely defeated by John Howard at the 1996 federal election. This was the longest period the party has ever been in government at the national level.

Kim Beazley led the party to the 1998 federal election, winning 51 percent of the two-party-preferred vote but falling short on seats, and the ALP lost ground at the 2001 federal election. After a brief period when Simon Crean served as ALP leader, Mark Latham led Labor to the 2004 federal election but lost further ground. Beazley replaced Latham in 2005; not long afterwards he in turn was forced out of the leadership by Kevin Rudd.

Rudd went on to defeat John Howard at the 2007 federal election with 52.7 percent of the two-party vote (Howard became the first Prime Minister since Stanley Melbourne Bruce to lose not just the election but his own parliamentary seat). The Rudd government ended prior to the 2010 federal election with the overthrow of Rudd as leader of the Party by deputy leader Julia Gillard. Gillard, who was also the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Australia,[40] remained Prime Minister in a hung parliament following the election. Her government lasted until 2013, when Gillard lost a leadership spill, with Rudd becoming leader once again. Later that year the ALP lost the 2013 election.

After this defeat, Bill Shorten became leader of the party. The party narrowly lost the 2016 election, yet gained 14 seats. It remained in opposition after the 2019 election, despite having been ahead in opinion polls for the preceding two years. The party lost in 2019 some of the seats which it had won back in 2016. After the 2019 defeat, Shorten resigned from the leadership, though he remained in parliament. Anthony Albanese was elected as leader unopposed and led the party to victory in the 2022 election.

Membership of the Australian Labor Party (1948-Present)
     Members[41][42][43]

Between the 2007 federal election and the 2008 Western Australian state election, Labor was in government nationally and in all eight state and territory legislatures. This was the first time any single party or any coalition had achieved this since the ACT and the NT gained self-government.[44] Labor narrowly lost government in Western Australia at the 2008 state election and Victoria at the 2010 state election. These losses were further compounded by landslide defeats in New South Wales in 2011, Queensland in 2012, the Northern Territory in 2012, Federally in 2013 and Tasmania in 2014.[45] Labor secured a good result in the Australian Capital Territory in 2012 and, despite losing its majority, the party retained government in South Australia in 2014.[46]

However, most of these reversals proved only temporary with Labor returning to government in Victoria in 2014 and in Queensland in 2015 after spending only one term in opposition in both states.[47] Furthermore, after winning the 2014 Fisher by-election by nine votes from a 7.3 percent swing, the Labor government in South Australia went from minority to majority government.[48] Labor won landslide victories in the 2016 Northern Territory election, the 2017 Western Australian election and the 2018 Victorian state election. However, Labor lost the 2018 South Australian state election after 16 years in government. In 2022, Labor returned to government after defeating the Liberal Party in the 2022 South Australian state election. Despite favourable polling, the party also did not return to government in the 2019 New South Wales state election or the 2019 federal election. The latter has been considered a historic upset due to Labor's consistent and significant polling lead; the result has been likened to the Coalition's loss in the 1993 federal election, with 2019 retrospectively referred to as the "unloseable election".[49][50] Anthony Albanese later led the party into the 2022 Australian federal election, in which the party once again won a majority government. In 2023, Labor won the 2023 New South Wales state election returning to government for the first time since 2011. This victory marked the first time in 15 years that Labor were in government in all mainland states.

National platform

The policy of the Australian Labor Party is contained in its National Platform, which is approved by delegates to Labor's National Conference, held every three years. According to the Labor Party's website, "The Platform is the result of a rigorous and constructive process of consultation, spanning the nation and including the cooperation and input of state and territory policy committees, local branches, unions, state and territory governments, and individual Party members. The Platform provides the policy foundation from which we can continue to work towards the election of a federal Labor government."[51]

The platform gives a general indication of the policy direction which a future Labor government would follow, but does not commit the party to specific policies. It maintains that "Labor's traditional values will remain a constant on which all Australians can rely." While making it clear that Labor is fully committed to a market economy, it says that: "Labor believes in a strong role for national government – the one institution all Australians truly own and control through our right to vote." Labor "will not allow the benefits of change to be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, or located only in privileged communities. The benefits must be shared by all Australians and all our regions." The platform and Labor "believe that all people are created equal in their entitlement to dignity and respect, and should have an equal chance to achieve their potential." For Labor, "government has a critical role in ensuring fairness by: ensuring equal opportunity; removing unjustifiable discrimination; and achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and status." Further sections of the platform stress Labor's support for equality and human rights, labour rights and democracy.

In practice, the platform provides only general policy guidelines to Labor's federal, state and territory parliamentary leaderships. The policy Labor takes into an election campaign is determined by the Cabinet (if the party is in office) or the Shadow Cabinet (if it is in opposition), in consultation with key interest groups within the party, and is contained in the parliamentary Leader's policy speech delivered during the election campaign. When Labor is in office, the policies it implements are determined by the Cabinet, subject to the platform. Generally, it is accepted that while the platform binds Labor governments, how and when it is implemented remains the prerogative of the parliamentary caucus. It is now rare for the platform to conflict with government policy, as the content of the platform is usually developed in close collaboration with the party's parliamentary leadership as well as the factions. However, where there is a direct contradiction with the platform, Labor governments have sought to change the platform as a prerequisite for a change in policy. For example, privatisation legislation under the Hawke government occurred only after holding a special national conference to debate changing the platform.,

Party structure

National executive and secretariat

The Australian Labor Party National Executive is the party's chief administrative authority, subject only to Labor's national conference. The executive is responsible for organising the triennial national conference; carrying out the decisions of the conference; interpreting the national constitution, the national platform and decisions of the national conference; and directing federal members.[52]

The party holds a national conference every three years, which consists of delegates representing the state and territory branches (many coming from affiliated trade unions, although there is no formal requirement for unions to be represented at the national conference). The national conference decides the party's platform, elects the national executive and appoints office-bearers such as the national secretary, who also serves as national campaign director during elections. The current national secretary is Paul Erickson. The most recent national conference was the 48th conference held in December 2018.[53]

The head office of the ALP, the national secretariat, is managed by the national secretary. It plays a dual role of administration and a national campaign strategy. It acts as a permanent secretariat to the national executive by managing and assisting in all administrative affairs of the party. As the national secretary also serves as national campaign director during elections, it is also responsible for the national campaign strategy and organisation.

Federal Parliamentary Labor Party

The elected members of the Labor party in both houses of the national Parliament meet as the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, also known as the Australian Labor Party Caucus (see also caucus).[54] Besides discussing parliamentary business and tactics, the Caucus also is involved in the election of the federal parliamentary leaders.

Federal parliamentary leaders

Until 2013, the parliamentary leaders were elected by the Caucus from among its members. The leader has historically been a member of the House of Representatives. Since October 2013, a ballot of both the Caucus and by the Labor Party's rank-and-file members determined the party leader and the deputy leader.[55] When the Labor Party is in government, the party leader is the Prime Minister and the deputy leader is the Deputy Prime Minister. If a Labor prime minister resigns or dies in office, the deputy leader acts as prime minister and party leader until a successor is elected. The deputy prime minister also acts as prime minister when the prime minister is on leave or out of the country. Members of the Ministry are also chosen by Caucus, though the leader may allocate portfolios to the ministers.

Anthony Albanese is the leader of the federal Labor party, serving since 30 May 2019. The deputy leader is Richard Marles, also serving since 30 May 2019.

State and territory branches

The Australian Labor Party is a federal party, consisting of eight branches from each state and territory. While the National Executive is responsible for national campaign strategy, each state and territory are an autonomous branch and are responsible for campaigning in their own jurisdictions for federal, state and local elections. State and territory branches consist of both individual members and affiliated trade unions, who between them decide the party's policies, elect its governing bodies and choose its candidates for public office.

Members join a state branch and pay a membership fee, which is graduated according to income. The majority of trade unions in Australia are affiliated to the party at a state level. Union affiliation is direct and not through the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Affiliated unions pay an affiliation fee based on the size of their membership. Union affiliation fees make up a large part of the party's income. Other sources of funds for the party include political donations and public funding.

Members are generally expected to attend at least one meeting of their local branch each year, although there are differences in the rules from state to state. In practice only a dedicated minority regularly attend meetings. Many members are only active during election campaigns.

The members and unions elect delegates to state and territory conferences (usually held annually, although more frequent conferences are often held). These conferences decide policy, and elect state or territory executives, a state or territory president (an honorary position usually held for a one-year term), and a state or territory secretary (a full-time professional position). However, ACT Labor directly elects its president. The larger branches also have full-time assistant secretaries and organisers. In the past the ratio of conference delegates coming from the branches and affiliated unions has varied from state to state, however under recent national reforms at least 50% of delegates at all state and territory conferences must be elected by branches.

In some states it also contests local government elections or endorses local candidates. In others it does not, preferring to allow its members to run as non-endorsed candidates. The process of choosing candidates is called preselection. Candidates are preselected by different methods in the various states and territories. In some they are chosen by ballots of all party members, in others by panels or committees elected by the state conference, in still others by a combination of these two.

The state and territory Labor branches are the following:

Branch Leader Last election Status Federal MPs
Lower House Upper House
Year Votes (%) Seats TPP (%) Votes (%) Seats
New South Wales Labor Chris Minns 2023 37.1
45 / 93
54.3 37.1
15 / 42
Minority government
31 / 59
Victorian Labor Daniel Andrews 2022 36.7
56 / 88
55.0 33.0
15 / 40
Majority government
28 / 51
Queensland Labor Annastacia Palaszczuk 2020 39.5
52 / 93
53.2 [c] Majority government
8 / 42
Western Australian Labor Roger Cook (since 2023) 2021 59.1
53 / 59
69.2 60.3
22 / 36
Majority government
14 / 27
South Australian Labor Peter Malinauskas 2022 40.0
27 / 47
54.6 37.0
9 / 22
Majority government
10 / 22
Tasmanian Labor Rebecca White 2021 28.2
9 / 25
[d] [e]
4 / 15
Opposition
6 / 17
ACT Labor Andrew Barr 2020 37.8
10 / 25
[f] [g] Coalition government (with ACT Greens)
4 / 5
Territory Labor Natasha Fyles (since 2022) 2020 39.4
14 / 25
53.3 [h] Majority government
3 / 4

Country Labor

The Country Labor Party, commonly known as Country Labor, was an affiliated organisation of the Labor Party. Although not expressly defined, Country Labor operated mainly within rural New South Wales, and was mainly seen as an extension of the New South Wales branch that operates in rural electorates.

Country Labor was used as a designation by candidates contesting elections in rural areas. The Country Labor Party was registered as a separate party in New South Wales,[56] and was also registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) for federal elections.[57] It did not have the same status in other states and, consequently, that designation could not be used on the ballot paper.

The creation of a separation designation for rural candidates was first suggested at the June 1999 ALP state conference in New South Wales. In May 2000, following Labor's success at the 2000 Benalla by-election in Victoria, Kim Beazley announced that the ALP intended to register a separate "Country Labor Party" with the AEC;[58] this occurred in October 2000.[57] The Country Labor designation was most frequently used in New South Wales. According to the ALP's financial statements for the 2015–16 financial year, NSW Country Labor had around 2,600 members (around 17 percent of the party total), but almost no assets. It recorded a severe funding shortfall at the 2015 New South Wales election, and had to rely on a $1.68-million loan from the party proper to remain solvent. It had been initially assumed that the party proper could provide the money from its own resources, but the NSW Electoral Commission ruled that this was impermissible because the parties were registered separately. Instead the party proper had to loan Country Labor the required funds at a commercial interest rate.[59]

The Country Labor Party was de-registered by the New South Wales Electoral Commission in 2021.[60]

Australian Young Labor

Australian Young Labor is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party, where all members under age 26 are automatically members. It is the peak youth body within the ALP. Former presidents of AYL have included former NSW Premier Bob Carr, Federal Leader of the House Tony Burke, former Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner, former Australian Workers Union National Secretary, current Member for Maribyrnong and former Federal Labor Leader Bill Shorten as well as dozens of State Ministers and MPs. The current National President is Jason Byrne from South Australia.

Networks

The Australian Labor Party is beginning to formally recognise single interest groups within the party. The national platform currently encourages state branches to formally establish these groups known as policy action caucuses.[61] Examples of such groups include the Labor Environment Action Network,[62] Rainbow Labor,[63] Labor For Choice, Labor Women's Network,[64] Labor for Drug Law Reform[65] Labor for Refugees,[66] Labor for Housing,[67] Labor Teachers Network,[68] Aboriginal Labor Network,[69] and recently, Labor Enabled - the action group for Disability Advocacy[70] The Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Labor Party recently[clarification needed] gave these groups voting and speaking rights at their state conference.

Ideology and factions

Labor's constitution has long stated: "The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields".[71] This "socialist objective" was introduced in 1921, but was later qualified by two further objectives: "maintenance of and support for a competitive non-monopolistic private sector" and "the right to own private property". Labor governments have not attempted the "democratic socialisation" of any industry since the 1940s, when the Chifley government failed to nationalise the private banks, and in fact have privatised several industries such as aviation and banking.[72][73][74][75] Labor's current National Platform describes the party as "a modern social democratic party".[71]

Factions

Parliamentary caucus seats
 
Labor Right
53 / 103
Labor Left
48 / 103

The Labor Party has always had a left wing and a right wing, but since the 1970s it has been organised into formal factions, to which party members may belong and often pay an additional membership fee.[citation needed] The two largest factions are the Labor Left and the Labor Right, led by Anthony Albanese[citation needed] and Bill Shorten[citation needed], respectively. The Labor Right generally supports free-market policies and the US alliance and tends to be conservative on some social issues, whilst the Labor Left favours more state intervention in the economy, is generally less enthusiastic about the US alliance and is often more progressive on social issues. The national factions are themselves divided into sub-factions, primarily state-based such as Centre Unity in New South Wales and Labor Forum in Queensland. Those factions tend to occupy social-liberal,[76] and social democratic positions.[77]

Some trade unions are affiliated with the Labor Party and are also factionally aligned. The largest unions supporting the right faction are the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU).[78] Important unions supporting the left include the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), United Workers Union, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).[78]

Preselections are usually conducted along factional lines, although sometimes a non-factional candidate will be given preferential treatment (this happened with Cheryl Kernot in 1998 and again with Peter Garrett in 2004).[citation needed] Deals between the factions to divide up the safe seats between them often take place.[citation needed] Preselections, particularly for safe Labor seats, can sometimes be strongly contested.[citation needed] A particularly fierce preselection sometimes gives rise to accusations of branch stacking (signing up large numbers of nominal party members to vote in preselection ballots), personation, multiple voting and, on occasions, fraudulent electoral enrolment.[citation needed] Trade unions were in the past accused of giving inflated membership figures to increase their influence over preselections, but party rules changes have stamped out this practice.[citation needed] Preselection results are sometimes challenged, and the National Executive is sometimes called on to arbitrate these disputes.[citation needed]

Federal election results

House of Representatives

Election Leader Votes % Seats ± Status
1901 Chris Watson 79,736 15.76
14 / 75
  14 External support
1903 223,163 30.95
22 / 75
  7 Support (1903–04)
Minority Government (1904)
Opposition (1904–05)
Support (1905–06)
1906 348,711 36.64
26 / 75
  4 Support (1906–08)
Minority Government (1908–09)
Opposition (1909–10)
1910 Andrew Fisher 660,864 49.97
42 / 75
  16 Majority Government
1913 921,099 48.47
37 / 75
  5 Opposition
1914 858,451 50.89
42 / 75
  5 Majority Government
1917 Frank Tudor 827,541 43.94
22 / 75
  20 Opposition
1919 811,244 42.49
26 / 75
  4 Opposition
1922 Matthew Charlton 665,145 42.30
29 / 75
  3 Opposition
1925 1,313,627 45.04
23 / 75
  6 Opposition
1928 James Scullin 1,158,505 44.64
31 / 75
  8 Opposition
1929 1,406,327 48.84
46 / 75
  15 Majority Government
1931 859,513 27.10
14 / 75
  32 Opposition
1934 952,251 26.81
18 / 74
  4 Opposition
1937 John Curtin 1,555,737 43.17
29 / 74
  11 Opposition
1940 1,556,941 40.16
32 / 74
  3 Opposition (1940–41)
Minority Government (1941–43)
1943 2,058,578 49.94
49 / 74
  17 Majority Government
1946 Ben Chifley 2,159,953 49.71
43 / 75
  6 Majority Government
1949 2,117,088 45.98
47 / 121
  4 Opposition
1951 2,174,840 47.63
52 / 121
  5 Opposition
1954 H. V. Evatt 2,280,098 50.03
57 / 121
  5 Opposition
1955 1,961,829 44.63
47 / 122
  10 Opposition
1958 2,137,890 42.81
45 / 122
  2 Opposition
1961 Arthur Calwell 2,512,929 47.90
60 / 122
  15 Opposition
1963 2,489,184 45.47
50 / 122
  10 Opposition
1966 2,282,834 39.98
41 / 124
  9 Opposition
1969 Gough Whitlam 2,870,792 46.95
59 / 125
  18 Opposition
1972 3,273,549 49.59
67 / 125
  8 Majority Government
1974 3,644,110 49.30
66 / 127
  1 Majority Government (1974–75)[i]
Opposition (1975)
1975 3,313,004 42.84
36 / 127
  30 Opposition
1977 3,141,051 39.65
38 / 124
  2 Opposition
1980 Bill Hayden 3,749,565 45.15
51 / 125
  13 Opposition
1983 Bob Hawke 4,297,392 49.48
75 / 125
  24 Majority Government
1984 4,120,130 47.55
82 / 148
  7 Majority Government
1987 4,222,431 45.76
86 / 148
  4 Majority Government
1990 3,904,138 39.44
78 / 148
  8 Majority Government
1993 Paul Keating 4,751,390 44.92
80 / 147
  2 Majority Government
1996 4,217,765 38.69
49 / 148
  31 Opposition
1998 Kim Beazley 4,454,306 40.10
67 / 148
  18 Opposition
2001 4,341,420 37.84
65 / 150
  2 Opposition
2004 Mark Latham 4,408,820 37.63
60 / 150
  5 Opposition
2007 Kevin Rudd 5,388,184 43.38
83 / 150
  23 Majority Government
2010 Julia Gillard 4,711,363 37.99
72 / 150
  11 Minority Government
2013 Kevin Rudd 4,311,365 33.38
55 / 150
  17 Opposition
2016 Bill Shorten 4,702,296 34.73
69 / 150
  14 Opposition
2019 4,752,110 33.34
68 / 151
  1 Opposition
2022 Anthony Albanese 4,776,030 32.58
77 / 151
  9 Majority Government

Donors

For the 2015–2016 financial year, the top ten disclosed donors to the ALP were the Health Services Union NSW ($389,000), Village Roadshow ($257,000), Electrical Trades Union of Australia ($171,000), National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association ($153,000), Westfield Corporation ($150,000), Randazzo C&G Developments ($120,000), Macquarie Telecom ($113,000), Woodside Energy ($110,000), ANZ Bank ($100,000) and Ying Zhou ($100,000),[79][80] all significantly lower than the 2014 donations by a Chinese donor Zi Chun Wang, which at $850,000[81] was the largest donation to any political party in the 2013-2014 financial year.[82] At least one newspaper report queried the identity of this donor stating "news archive searches do not produce results for this name, suggesting Wang operates under another name".[83] Another report mentions that in addition to a hotel and a travel agency, the donor's listed address at the Old Communist Cadres Activity Centre in Shijiazhuang houses several Chinese government entities, stating also that another publisher "tried many times without success" to contact the donor on the phone number listed in the donation return form.[84]

The Labor Party also receives undisclosed funding through several methods, such as "associated entities". John Curtin House, Industry 2020, IR21 and the Happy Wanderers Club are entities which have been used to funnel donations to the Labor Party without disclosing the source.[85][86][87][88]

A 2019 report found that the Labor Party received $33,000 from pro-gun groups during the 2011–2018 periods,[89] however, the Coalition received over $82,000 in donations from pro-gun groups, more than doubling Labor's pro-gun donors.[89]

See also

Further reading

Ormonde, Paul (1982). A Foolish Passionate Man: a biography of Jim Cairns. Ringwood, Vic, Australia: Penguin Books. ISBN 014005975X.

Ormonde, Paul (1972). The Movement. Sydney: Thomas Nelson. SBN 170019683

Charlesworth, M. J. (2000) Ormonde, Paul (Ed). Santamaria : the politics of fear : critical reflections. Richmond, Vic.: Spectrum Publications. ISBN 0867862947

Notes

  1. ^ According to The Australian Worker, in 1918 the state parties comprised the Political Labor League (New South Wales), the Queensland Labor Party, the United Labor Party (South Australia), the Workers' Political Labor League (Tasmania), the Political Labor Council (Victoria), and the Australian Labor Federation (Western Australia).[9] However, according to the South Australian Register, the state parties in New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria had already adopted the standardised name by 1917.[10]
  2. ^ In 1954, Labor MP Ted Johnson complained in the Parliament of Western Australia that both Hansard and the daily newspapers were still using the spelling "Labour".[12] As late as the 1980s, historian Finlay Crisp used the spelling "Labour" in academic works about the party.[13][14]
  3. ^ Queensland has maintained a unicameral legislature since 1922.
  4. ^ Tasmania uses a semi-proportional system and thus TPP is not calculated.
  5. ^ Tasmania elects legislative council representatives on a periodic basis, with elections held almost every year
  6. ^ The ACT uses a semi-proportional system and thus TPP is not calculated.
  7. ^ The ACT has a Unicameral parliament
  8. ^ The Northern Territory has a Unicameral parliament
  9. ^ The Whitlam government became the Opposition after the Governor-General, John Kerr, dismissed it during the 1975 constitutional crisis, despite Labor maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives.

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Bibliography

  • Bramble, Tom, and Rick Kuhn. Labor's Conflict: Big Business, Workers, and the Politics of Class (Cambridge University Press; 2011) 240 pages.
  • Calwell, A. A. (1963). Labor's Role in Modern Society. Melbourne, Lansdowne Press.
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  • McKinlay, Brian (1981). The ALP: A Short History of the Australian Labor Party. Melbourne: Drummond/Heinemann. ISBN 0-85859-254-1.
  • McMullin, Ross (1991). The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia. ISBN 0-19-553451-4.

External links

  • Australian Labor Party Victorian Branch Rules, April 2013
  • Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party, 1892 - UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register
  • 125th anniversary of the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party - John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
  • OM69-18 Charles Seymour Papers 1880-1924 - Collection record, State Library of Queensland
  • Charles Seymour Papers 1880-1924: Treasure collection of the John Oxley Library - John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.

australian, labor, party, this, article, about, federal, labor, party, state, territory, labor, parties, list, state, branches, also, simply, known, labor, major, centre, left, political, party, australia, major, parties, australian, politics, along, with, cen. This article is about the federal Labor Party For state and territory Labor parties see List of state branches of the Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party ALP also simply known as Labor is the major centre left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics 3 along with the centre right Liberal Party of Australia The party has been governing federally since being elected at the 2022 election and with political branches in each state and territory they are currently in government in New South Wales Queensland South Australia Victoria Western Australia the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory Tasmania is the only state or territory where they currently form the opposition It is the oldest continuous political party in Australia being established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House Melbourne the meeting place of the first federal Parliament Australian Labor PartyAbbreviationALPLeaderAnthony AlbaneseDeputy LeaderRichard MarlesSenate LeaderPenny WongPresidentWayne Swan 1 National SecretaryPaul EricksonFoundedOldest branches 1891 132 years ago 1891 Federal Caucus 8 May 1901 122 years ago 1901 05 08 HeadquartersBarton Australian Capital TerritoryThink tankChifley Research CentreYouth wingAustralian Young LaborWomen s wingLabor Women s NetworkLGBT wingRainbow LaborIndigenous wingAboriginal LaborMulticultural wingMulticultural Labor NetworkMembership 2020 60 085 2 IdeologySocial democracyPolitical positionCentre leftInternational affiliationProgressive AllianceUnion affiliateACTUAffiliate partiesCountry Labor 2000 2021 Colours RedSlogan A Better Future Governing bodyNational ExecutiveParliamentary partyFPLPParty branchesACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWAHouse of Representatives78 151Senate26 76State territory governments7 8State territory lower houses267 455State upper houses65 155Websitealp wbr org wbr auPolitics of AustraliaPolitical partiesElectionsThe ALP was not founded as a federal party until after the first sitting of the Australian parliament in 1901 It is regarded as descended from labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement in Australia formally beginning in 1891 Colonial labour parties contested seats from 1891 and federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election The ALP formed the world s first labour party government and the world s first social democratic government at a national level 4 At the 1910 federal election Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian parliament In every election since 1910 Labor has either served as the governing party or the opposition There have been 13 Labor Prime Ministers and 10 periods of Federal Labor governments At the federal and state colony level the Australian Labor Party predates both the British Labour Party and the New Zealand Labour Party in party formation government and policy implementation 5 Internationally the ALP is a member of the Progressive Alliance a network of social democratic parties 6 having previously been a member of the Socialist International Contents 1 Name and spelling 2 History 2 1 Early decades at the federal level 2 2 World War II and beyond 3 National platform 4 Party structure 4 1 National executive and secretariat 4 2 Federal Parliamentary Labor Party 4 3 Federal parliamentary leaders 4 4 State and territory branches 4 5 Country Labor 4 6 Australian Young Labor 4 7 Networks 5 Ideology and factions 5 1 Factions 6 Federal election results 6 1 House of Representatives 7 Donors 8 See also 9 Further reading 10 Notes 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 External linksName and spelling EditIn standard Australian English the word labour is spelt with a u However the political party uses the spelling Labor without a u There was originally no standardised spelling of the party s name with Labor and Labour both in common usage According to Ross McMullin who wrote an official history of the Labor Party the title page of the proceedings of the Federal Conference used the spelling Labor in 1902 Labour in 1905 and 1908 and then Labor from 1912 onwards 7 In 1908 James Catts put forward a motion at the Federal Conference that the name of the party be the Australian Labour Party which was carried by 22 votes to 2 A separate motion recommending state branches adopt the name was defeated There was no uniformity of party names until 1918 when the Federal party resolved that state branches should adopt the name Australian Labor Party now spelt without a u Each state branch had previously used a different name due to their different origins 8 a Although the ALP officially adopted the spelling without a u it took decades for the official spelling to achieve widespread acceptance 11 b According to McMullin the way the spelling of Labor Party was consolidated had more to do with the chap who ended up being in charge of printing the federal conference report than any other reason 15 Some sources have attributed the official choice of Labor to influence from King O Malley who was born in the United States and was reputedly an advocate of spelling reform the spelling without a u is the standard form in American English 16 17 It has been suggested that the adoption of the spelling without a u signified one of the ALP s earliest attempts at modernisation and served the purpose of differentiating the party from the Australian labour movement as a whole and distinguishing it from other British Empire labour parties The decision to include the word Australian in the party s name rather than just Labour Party as in the United Kingdom has been attributed to the greater importance of nationalism for the founders of the colonial parties 18 History EditMain article History of the Australian Labor Party Anderson Dawson s ministry leaving Parliament House Brisbane after being sworn in on 1 December 1899 His was the first government formed by a Labour party in the worldThe Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine Queensland in 1891 The 1891 shearers strike is credited as being one of the factors for the formation of the Australian Labor Party On 9 September 1892 the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read out under the well known Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine following the Great Shearers Strike 19 The State Library of Queensland now holds the manifesto 20 21 in 2008 the historic document was added to UNESCO s Memory of the World Australian Register 22 and in 2009 the document was added to UNESCO s Memory of the World International Register 23 The Balmain New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia However the Scone Branch has a receipt for membership fees for the Labour Electoral League dated April 1891 This predates the Balmain claim This can be attested in the Centenary of the ALP book Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia 1893 in Queensland and later in the other colonies The first election contested by Labour candidates was the 1891 New South Wales election when Labour candidates then called the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales won 35 of 141 seats The major parties were the Protectionist and Free Trade parties and Labour held the balance of power It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy concessions 24 The United Labor Party ULP of South Australia was founded in 1891 and three candidates were that year elected to the South Australian Legislative Council 25 The first successful South Australian House of Assembly candidate was John McPherson at the 1892 East Adelaide by election Richard Hooper however was elected as an Independent Labor candidate at the 1891 Wallaroo by election while he was the first labor member of the House of Assembly he was not a member of the newly formed ULP At the 1893 South Australian elections the ULP was immediately elevated to balance of power status with 10 of 54 lower house seats The liberal government of Charles Kingston was formed with the support of the ULP ousting the conservative government of John Downer So successful less than a decade later at the 1905 state election Thomas Price formed the world s first stable Labor government John Verran led Labor to form the state s first of many majority governments at the 1910 state election In 1899 Anderson Dawson formed a minority Labour government in Queensland the first in the world which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split The colonial Labour parties and the trade unions were mixed in their support for the Federation of Australia Some Labour representatives argued against the proposed constitution claiming that the Senate as proposed was too powerful similar to the anti reformist colonial upper houses and the British House of Lords They feared that federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces However the first Labour leader and Prime Minister Chris Watson was a supporter of federation Historian Celia Hamilton examining New South Wales argues for the central role of Irish Catholics Before 1890 they opposed Henry Parkes the main Liberal leader and of free trade seeing them both as the ideals of Protestant Englishmen who represented landholding and large business interests In the strike of 1890 the leading Catholic Sydney s Archbishop Patrick Francis Moran was sympathetic toward unions but Catholic newspapers were negative After 1900 says Hamilton Irish Catholics were drawn to the Labour Party because its stress on equality and social welfare fitted with their status as manual labourers and small farmers In the 1910 elections Labour gained in the more Catholic areas and the representation of Catholics increased in Labour s parliamentary ranks 26 Early decades at the federal level Edit Group photograph of Federal Labour Party MPs elected to the Australian House of Representatives and Australian Senate at the inaugural 1901 electionThe federal parliament in 1901 was contested by each state Labour Party In total they won 15 of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives collectively holding the balance of power and the Labour members now met as the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party informally known as the caucus on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House Melbourne the meeting place of the first federal Parliament 27 The caucus decided to support the incumbent Protectionist Party in minority government while the Free Trade Party formed the opposition It was some years before there was any significant structure or organisation at a national level Labour under Chris Watson doubled its vote at the 1903 federal election and continued to hold the balance of power In April 1904 however Watson and Alfred Deakin fell out over the issue of extending the scope of industrial relations laws concerning the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill to cover state public servants the fallout causing Deakin to resign Free Trade leader George Reid declined to take office which saw Watson become the first Labour Prime Minister of Australia and the world s first Labour head of government at a national level Anderson Dawson had led a short lived Labour government in Queensland in December 1899 though his was a minority government that lasted only four months He was aged only 37 and is still the youngest Prime Minister in Australia s history 28 George Reid of the Free Trade Party adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labour vs non Labour lines prior to the 1906 federal election and renamed his Free Trade Party to the Anti Socialist Party Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti socialist with the Protectionist Party in the middle This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the Westminster tradition and regarded a two party system as very much the norm 29 Although Watson further strengthened Labour s position in 1906 he stepped down from the leadership the following year to be succeeded by Andrew Fisher who formed a minority government lasting seven months from late 1908 to mid 1909 At the 1910 federal election Fisher led Labor to victory forming Australia s first elected federal majority government Australia s first elected Senate majority the world s first Labour Party majority government at a national level and after the 1904 Chris Watson minority government the world s second Labour Party government at a national level It was the first time a Labour Party had controlled any house of a legislature and the first time the party controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature 30 The state branches were also successful except in Victoria where the strength of Deakinite liberalism inhibited the party s growth The state branches formed their first majority governments in New South Wales and South Australia in 1910 Western Australia in 1911 Queensland in 1915 and Tasmania in 1925 Such success eluded equivalent social democratic and labour parties in other countries for many years Analysis of the early NSW Labor caucus reveals a band of unhappy amateurs made up of blue collar workers a squatter a doctor and even a mine owner indicating that the idea that only the socialist working class formed Labor is untrue In addition many members from the working class supported the liberal notion of free trade between the colonies in the first grouping of state MPs 17 of the 35 were free traders In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917 support for socialism grew in trade union ranks and at the 1921 All Australian Trades Union Congress a resolution was passed calling for the socialisation of industry production distribution and exchange The 1922 Labor Party National Conference adopted a similarly worded socialist objective which remained official policy for many years The resolution was immediately qualified however by the Blackburn amendment which said that socialisation was desirable only when was necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti social features 31 In practice the socialist objective was a dead letter Only once has a federal Labor government attempted to nationalise any industry Ben Chifley s bank nationalisation of 1947 and that was held by the High Court to be unconstitutional The commitment to nationalisation was dropped by Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke s government carried out many free market reforms including the floating of the dollar and privatisation of state enterprises such as Qantas airways and the Commonwealth Bank The Labor Party is commonly described as a social democratic party and its constitution stipulates that it is a democratic socialist party 32 The party was created by and has always been influenced by the trade unions and in practice its policy at any given time has usually been the policy of the broader labour movement Thus at the first federal election 1901 Labor s platform called for a White Australia policy a citizen army and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes 33 Labor has at various times supported high tariffs and low tariffs conscription and pacifism White Australia and multiculturalism nationalisation and privatisation isolationism and internationalism Historically Labor and its affiliated unions were strong defenders of the White Australia policy which banned all non European migration to Australia This policy was partly motivated by 19th century theories about racial purity and by fears of economic competition from low wage overseas workers which was shared by the vast majority of Australians and all major political parties citation needed In practice the Labor party opposed all migration on the grounds that immigrants competed with Australian workers and drove down wages until after World War II when the Chifley government launched a major immigration program The party s opposition to non European immigration did not change until after the retirement of Arthur Calwell as leader in 1967 Subsequently Labor has become an advocate of multiculturalism although some of its trade union base and some of its members continue to oppose high immigration levels World War II and beyond Edit The Curtin and Chifley governments governed Australia through the latter half of the Second World War and initial stages of transition to peace Labor leader John Curtin became prime minister in October 1941 when two independents crossed the floor of Parliament Labor led by Curtin then led Australia through the years of the Pacific War In December 1941 Curtin announced that Australia looks to America free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom thus helping to establish the Australian American alliance later formalised as ANZUS by the Menzies Government Remembered as a strong war time leader and for a landslide win at the 1943 federal election Curtin died in office just prior to the end of the war and was succeeded by Ben Chifley 34 Chifley Labor won the 1946 federal election and oversaw Australia s initial transition to a peacetime economy Labor was defeated at the 1949 federal election At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949 Chifley sought to define the labour movement as follows We have a great objective the light on the hill which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind Labor would bring something better to the people better standards of living greater happiness to the mass of the people 35 To a large extent Chifley saw centralisation of the economy as the means to achieve such ambitions With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook after his attempt to nationalise the banks and a strike by the Communist dominated Miners Federation Chifley lost office in 1949 to Robert Menzies Liberal National Coalition Labor commenced a 23 year period in opposition 36 37 The party was primarily led during this time by H V Evatt and Arthur Calwell Labor Party policy launch before a crowd in the Sydney Domain on 24 November 1975 Various ideological beliefs were factionalised under reforms to the ALP under Gough Whitlam resulting in what is now known as the Socialist Left who tend to favour a more interventionist economic policy and more socially progressive ideals and Labor Right the now dominant faction that tends to be more economically liberal and focus to a lesser extent on social issues The Whitlam Labor government marking a break with Labor s socialist tradition pursued social democratic policies rather than democratic socialist policies In contrast to earlier Labor leaders Whitlam also cut tariffs by 25 percent 38 Whitlam led the Federal Labor Party back to office at the 1972 and 1974 federal elections and passed a large amount of legislation The Whitlam government lost office following the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis and dismissal by Governor General John Kerr after the Coalition blocked supply in the Senate after a series of political scandals and was defeated at the 1975 federal election in the largest landslide of Australian federal history 39 Whitlam remains the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner Whitlam also lost the 1977 federal election and subsequently resigned as leader Bill Hayden succeeded Whitlam as leader At the 1980 federal election the party achieved a big swing though the unevenness of the swing around the nation prevented an ALP victory In 1983 Bob Hawke became leader of the party after Hayden resigned to avoid a leadership spill Bob Hawke led Labor back to office at the 1983 federal election and the party won four consecutive elections under Hawke In December 1991 Paul Keating defeated Bob Hawke in a leadership spill The ALP then won the 1993 federal election It was in power for five terms over 13 years until severely defeated by John Howard at the 1996 federal election This was the longest period the party has ever been in government at the national level Kim Beazley led the party to the 1998 federal election winning 51 percent of the two party preferred vote but falling short on seats and the ALP lost ground at the 2001 federal election After a brief period when Simon Crean served as ALP leader Mark Latham led Labor to the 2004 federal election but lost further ground Beazley replaced Latham in 2005 not long afterwards he in turn was forced out of the leadership by Kevin Rudd Rudd went on to defeat John Howard at the 2007 federal election with 52 7 percent of the two party vote Howard became the first Prime Minister since Stanley Melbourne Bruce to lose not just the election but his own parliamentary seat The Rudd government ended prior to the 2010 federal election with the overthrow of Rudd as leader of the Party by deputy leader Julia Gillard Gillard who was also the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Australia 40 remained Prime Minister in a hung parliament following the election Her government lasted until 2013 when Gillard lost a leadership spill with Rudd becoming leader once again Later that year the ALP lost the 2013 election After this defeat Bill Shorten became leader of the party The party narrowly lost the 2016 election yet gained 14 seats It remained in opposition after the 2019 election despite having been ahead in opinion polls for the preceding two years The party lost in 2019 some of the seats which it had won back in 2016 After the 2019 defeat Shorten resigned from the leadership though he remained in parliament Anthony Albanese was elected as leader unopposed and led the party to victory in the 2022 election Membership of the Australian Labor Party 1948 Present Members 41 42 43 Between the 2007 federal election and the 2008 Western Australian state election Labor was in government nationally and in all eight state and territory legislatures This was the first time any single party or any coalition had achieved this since the ACT and the NT gained self government 44 Labor narrowly lost government in Western Australia at the 2008 state election and Victoria at the 2010 state election These losses were further compounded by landslide defeats in New South Wales in 2011 Queensland in 2012 the Northern Territory in 2012 Federally in 2013 and Tasmania in 2014 45 Labor secured a good result in the Australian Capital Territory in 2012 and despite losing its majority the party retained government in South Australia in 2014 46 However most of these reversals proved only temporary with Labor returning to government in Victoria in 2014 and in Queensland in 2015 after spending only one term in opposition in both states 47 Furthermore after winning the 2014 Fisher by election by nine votes from a 7 3 percent swing the Labor government in South Australia went from minority to majority government 48 Labor won landslide victories in the 2016 Northern Territory election the 2017 Western Australian election and the 2018 Victorian state election However Labor lost the 2018 South Australian state election after 16 years in government In 2022 Labor returned to government after defeating the Liberal Party in the 2022 South Australian state election Despite favourable polling the party also did not return to government in the 2019 New South Wales state election or the 2019 federal election The latter has been considered a historic upset due to Labor s consistent and significant polling lead the result has been likened to the Coalition s loss in the 1993 federal election with 2019 retrospectively referred to as the unloseable election 49 50 Anthony Albanese later led the party into the 2022 Australian federal election in which the party once again won a majority government In 2023 Labor won the 2023 New South Wales state election returning to government for the first time since 2011 This victory marked the first time in 15 years that Labor were in government in all mainland states National platform EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The policy of the Australian Labor Party is contained in its National Platform which is approved by delegates to Labor s National Conference held every three years According to the Labor Party s website The Platform is the result of a rigorous and constructive process of consultation spanning the nation and including the cooperation and input of state and territory policy committees local branches unions state and territory governments and individual Party members The Platform provides the policy foundation from which we can continue to work towards the election of a federal Labor government 51 The platform gives a general indication of the policy direction which a future Labor government would follow but does not commit the party to specific policies It maintains that Labor s traditional values will remain a constant on which all Australians can rely While making it clear that Labor is fully committed to a market economy it says that Labor believes in a strong role for national government the one institution all Australians truly own and control through our right to vote Labor will not allow the benefits of change to be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands or located only in privileged communities The benefits must be shared by all Australians and all our regions The platform and Labor believe that all people are created equal in their entitlement to dignity and respect and should have an equal chance to achieve their potential For Labor government has a critical role in ensuring fairness by ensuring equal opportunity removing unjustifiable discrimination and achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth income and status Further sections of the platform stress Labor s support for equality and human rights labour rights and democracy In practice the platform provides only general policy guidelines to Labor s federal state and territory parliamentary leaderships The policy Labor takes into an election campaign is determined by the Cabinet if the party is in office or the Shadow Cabinet if it is in opposition in consultation with key interest groups within the party and is contained in the parliamentary Leader s policy speech delivered during the election campaign When Labor is in office the policies it implements are determined by the Cabinet subject to the platform Generally it is accepted that while the platform binds Labor governments how and when it is implemented remains the prerogative of the parliamentary caucus It is now rare for the platform to conflict with government policy as the content of the platform is usually developed in close collaboration with the party s parliamentary leadership as well as the factions However where there is a direct contradiction with the platform Labor governments have sought to change the platform as a prerequisite for a change in policy For example privatisation legislation under the Hawke government occurred only after holding a special national conference to debate changing the platform Party structure EditNational executive and secretariat Edit The Australian Labor Party National Executive is the party s chief administrative authority subject only to Labor s national conference The executive is responsible for organising the triennial national conference carrying out the decisions of the conference interpreting the national constitution the national platform and decisions of the national conference and directing federal members 52 The party holds a national conference every three years which consists of delegates representing the state and territory branches many coming from affiliated trade unions although there is no formal requirement for unions to be represented at the national conference The national conference decides the party s platform elects the national executive and appoints office bearers such as the national secretary who also serves as national campaign director during elections The current national secretary is Paul Erickson The most recent national conference was the 48th conference held in December 2018 53 The head office of the ALP the national secretariat is managed by the national secretary It plays a dual role of administration and a national campaign strategy It acts as a permanent secretariat to the national executive by managing and assisting in all administrative affairs of the party As the national secretary also serves as national campaign director during elections it is also responsible for the national campaign strategy and organisation Federal Parliamentary Labor Party Edit The elected members of the Labor party in both houses of the national Parliament meet as the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party also known as the Australian Labor Party Caucus see also caucus 54 Besides discussing parliamentary business and tactics the Caucus also is involved in the election of the federal parliamentary leaders Federal parliamentary leaders Edit Main article Leaders of the Australian Labor Party Until 2013 the parliamentary leaders were elected by the Caucus from among its members The leader has historically been a member of the House of Representatives Since October 2013 a ballot of both the Caucus and by the Labor Party s rank and file members determined the party leader and the deputy leader 55 When the Labor Party is in government the party leader is the Prime Minister and the deputy leader is the Deputy Prime Minister If a Labor prime minister resigns or dies in office the deputy leader acts as prime minister and party leader until a successor is elected The deputy prime minister also acts as prime minister when the prime minister is on leave or out of the country Members of the Ministry are also chosen by Caucus though the leader may allocate portfolios to the ministers Anthony Albanese is the leader of the federal Labor party serving since 30 May 2019 The deputy leader is Richard Marles also serving since 30 May 2019 State and territory branches Edit Main article List of state branches of the Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is a federal party consisting of eight branches from each state and territory While the National Executive is responsible for national campaign strategy each state and territory are an autonomous branch and are responsible for campaigning in their own jurisdictions for federal state and local elections State and territory branches consist of both individual members and affiliated trade unions who between them decide the party s policies elect its governing bodies and choose its candidates for public office Members join a state branch and pay a membership fee which is graduated according to income The majority of trade unions in Australia are affiliated to the party at a state level Union affiliation is direct and not through the Australian Council of Trade Unions Affiliated unions pay an affiliation fee based on the size of their membership Union affiliation fees make up a large part of the party s income Other sources of funds for the party include political donations and public funding Members are generally expected to attend at least one meeting of their local branch each year although there are differences in the rules from state to state In practice only a dedicated minority regularly attend meetings Many members are only active during election campaigns The members and unions elect delegates to state and territory conferences usually held annually although more frequent conferences are often held These conferences decide policy and elect state or territory executives a state or territory president an honorary position usually held for a one year term and a state or territory secretary a full time professional position However ACT Labor directly elects its president The larger branches also have full time assistant secretaries and organisers In the past the ratio of conference delegates coming from the branches and affiliated unions has varied from state to state however under recent national reforms at least 50 of delegates at all state and territory conferences must be elected by branches In some states it also contests local government elections or endorses local candidates In others it does not preferring to allow its members to run as non endorsed candidates The process of choosing candidates is called preselection Candidates are preselected by different methods in the various states and territories In some they are chosen by ballots of all party members in others by panels or committees elected by the state conference in still others by a combination of these two The state and territory Labor branches are the following Branch Leader Last election Status Federal MPsLower House Upper HouseYear Votes Seats TPP Votes SeatsNew South Wales Labor Chris Minns 2023 37 1 45 93 54 3 37 1 15 42 Minority government 31 59Victorian Labor Daniel Andrews 2022 36 7 56 88 55 0 33 0 15 40 Majority government 28 51Queensland Labor Annastacia Palaszczuk 2020 39 5 52 93 53 2 c Majority government 8 42Western Australian Labor Roger Cook since 2023 2021 59 1 53 59 69 2 60 3 22 36 Majority government 14 27South Australian Labor Peter Malinauskas 2022 40 0 27 47 54 6 37 0 9 22 Majority government 10 22Tasmanian Labor Rebecca White 2021 28 2 9 25 d e 4 15 Opposition 6 17ACT Labor Andrew Barr 2020 37 8 10 25 f g Coalition government with ACT Greens 4 5Territory Labor Natasha Fyles since 2022 2020 39 4 14 25 53 3 h Majority government 3 4Country Labor Edit The Country Labor Party commonly known as Country Labor was an affiliated organisation of the Labor Party Although not expressly defined Country Labor operated mainly within rural New South Wales and was mainly seen as an extension of the New South Wales branch that operates in rural electorates Country Labor was used as a designation by candidates contesting elections in rural areas The Country Labor Party was registered as a separate party in New South Wales 56 and was also registered with the Australian Electoral Commission AEC for federal elections 57 It did not have the same status in other states and consequently that designation could not be used on the ballot paper The creation of a separation designation for rural candidates was first suggested at the June 1999 ALP state conference in New South Wales In May 2000 following Labor s success at the 2000 Benalla by election in Victoria Kim Beazley announced that the ALP intended to register a separate Country Labor Party with the AEC 58 this occurred in October 2000 57 The Country Labor designation was most frequently used in New South Wales According to the ALP s financial statements for the 2015 16 financial year NSW Country Labor had around 2 600 members around 17 percent of the party total but almost no assets It recorded a severe funding shortfall at the 2015 New South Wales election and had to rely on a 1 68 million loan from the party proper to remain solvent It had been initially assumed that the party proper could provide the money from its own resources but the NSW Electoral Commission ruled that this was impermissible because the parties were registered separately Instead the party proper had to loan Country Labor the required funds at a commercial interest rate 59 The Country Labor Party was de registered by the New South Wales Electoral Commission in 2021 60 Australian Young Labor Edit Main article Australian Young Labor Australian Young Labor is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party where all members under age 26 are automatically members It is the peak youth body within the ALP Former presidents of AYL have included former NSW Premier Bob Carr Federal Leader of the House Tony Burke former Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner former Australian Workers Union National Secretary current Member for Maribyrnong and former Federal Labor Leader Bill Shorten as well as dozens of State Ministers and MPs The current National President is Jason Byrne from South Australia Networks Edit The Australian Labor Party is beginning to formally recognise single interest groups within the party The national platform currently encourages state branches to formally establish these groups known as policy action caucuses 61 Examples of such groups include the Labor Environment Action Network 62 Rainbow Labor 63 Labor For Choice Labor Women s Network 64 Labor for Drug Law Reform 65 Labor for Refugees 66 Labor for Housing 67 Labor Teachers Network 68 Aboriginal Labor Network 69 and recently Labor Enabled the action group for Disability Advocacy 70 The Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Labor Party recently clarification needed gave these groups voting and speaking rights at their state conference Ideology and factions EditLabor s constitution has long stated The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry production distribution and exchange to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti social features in these fields 71 This socialist objective was introduced in 1921 but was later qualified by two further objectives maintenance of and support for a competitive non monopolistic private sector and the right to own private property Labor governments have not attempted the democratic socialisation of any industry since the 1940s when the Chifley government failed to nationalise the private banks and in fact have privatised several industries such as aviation and banking 72 73 74 75 Labor s current National Platform describes the party as a modern social democratic party 71 Factions Edit Parliamentary caucus seats Labor Right53 103Labor Left48 103The Labor Party has always had a left wing and a right wing but since the 1970s it has been organised into formal factions to which party members may belong and often pay an additional membership fee citation needed The two largest factions are the Labor Left and the Labor Right led by Anthony Albanese citation needed and Bill Shorten citation needed respectively The Labor Right generally supports free market policies and the US alliance and tends to be conservative on some social issues whilst the Labor Left favours more state intervention in the economy is generally less enthusiastic about the US alliance and is often more progressive on social issues The national factions are themselves divided into sub factions primarily state based such as Centre Unity in New South Wales and Labor Forum in Queensland Those factions tend to occupy social liberal 76 and social democratic positions 77 Some trade unions are affiliated with the Labor Party and are also factionally aligned The largest unions supporting the right faction are the Australian Workers Union AWU the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association SDA and the Transport Workers Union TWU 78 Important unions supporting the left include the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union AMWU United Workers Union the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union CFMMEU and the Community and Public Sector Union CPSU 78 Preselections are usually conducted along factional lines although sometimes a non factional candidate will be given preferential treatment this happened with Cheryl Kernot in 1998 and again with Peter Garrett in 2004 citation needed Deals between the factions to divide up the safe seats between them often take place citation needed Preselections particularly for safe Labor seats can sometimes be strongly contested citation needed A particularly fierce preselection sometimes gives rise to accusations of branch stacking signing up large numbers of nominal party members to vote in preselection ballots personation multiple voting and on occasions fraudulent electoral enrolment citation needed Trade unions were in the past accused of giving inflated membership figures to increase their influence over preselections but party rules changes have stamped out this practice citation needed Preselection results are sometimes challenged and the National Executive is sometimes called on to arbitrate these disputes citation needed Federal election results EditHouse of Representatives Edit Election Leader Votes Seats Status1901 Chris Watson 79 736 15 76 14 75 14 External support1903 223 163 30 95 22 75 7 Support 1903 04 Minority Government 1904 Opposition 1904 05 Support 1905 06 1906 348 711 36 64 26 75 4 Support 1906 08 Minority Government 1908 09 Opposition 1909 10 1910 Andrew Fisher 660 864 49 97 42 75 16 Majority Government1913 921 099 48 47 37 75 5 Opposition1914 858 451 50 89 42 75 5 Majority Government1917 Frank Tudor 827 541 43 94 22 75 20 Opposition1919 811 244 42 49 26 75 4 Opposition1922 Matthew Charlton 665 145 42 30 29 75 3 Opposition1925 1 313 627 45 04 23 75 6 Opposition1928 James Scullin 1 158 505 44 64 31 75 8 Opposition1929 1 406 327 48 84 46 75 15 Majority Government1931 859 513 27 10 14 75 32 Opposition1934 952 251 26 81 18 74 4 Opposition1937 John Curtin 1 555 737 43 17 29 74 11 Opposition1940 1 556 941 40 16 32 74 3 Opposition 1940 41 Minority Government 1941 43 1943 2 058 578 49 94 49 74 17 Majority Government1946 Ben Chifley 2 159 953 49 71 43 75 6 Majority Government1949 2 117 088 45 98 47 121 4 Opposition1951 2 174 840 47 63 52 121 5 Opposition1954 H V Evatt 2 280 098 50 03 57 121 5 Opposition1955 1 961 829 44 63 47 122 10 Opposition1958 2 137 890 42 81 45 122 2 Opposition1961 Arthur Calwell 2 512 929 47 90 60 122 15 Opposition1963 2 489 184 45 47 50 122 10 Opposition1966 2 282 834 39 98 41 124 9 Opposition1969 Gough Whitlam 2 870 792 46 95 59 125 18 Opposition1972 3 273 549 49 59 67 125 8 Majority Government1974 3 644 110 49 30 66 127 1 Majority Government 1974 75 i Opposition 1975 1975 3 313 004 42 84 36 127 30 Opposition1977 3 141 051 39 65 38 124 2 Opposition1980 Bill Hayden 3 749 565 45 15 51 125 13 Opposition1983 Bob Hawke 4 297 392 49 48 75 125 24 Majority Government1984 4 120 130 47 55 82 148 7 Majority Government1987 4 222 431 45 76 86 148 4 Majority Government1990 3 904 138 39 44 78 148 8 Majority Government1993 Paul Keating 4 751 390 44 92 80 147 2 Majority Government1996 4 217 765 38 69 49 148 31 Opposition1998 Kim Beazley 4 454 306 40 10 67 148 18 Opposition2001 4 341 420 37 84 65 150 2 Opposition2004 Mark Latham 4 408 820 37 63 60 150 5 Opposition2007 Kevin Rudd 5 388 184 43 38 83 150 23 Majority Government2010 Julia Gillard 4 711 363 37 99 72 150 11 Minority Government2013 Kevin Rudd 4 311 365 33 38 55 150 17 Opposition2016 Bill Shorten 4 702 296 34 73 69 150 14 Opposition2019 4 752 110 33 34 68 151 1 Opposition2022 Anthony Albanese 4 776 030 32 58 77 151 9 Majority GovernmentDonors EditSee also Political funding in Australia For the 2015 2016 financial year the top ten disclosed donors to the ALP were the Health Services Union NSW 389 000 Village Roadshow 257 000 Electrical Trades Union of Australia 171 000 National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association 153 000 Westfield Corporation 150 000 Randazzo C amp G Developments 120 000 Macquarie Telecom 113 000 Woodside Energy 110 000 ANZ Bank 100 000 and Ying Zhou 100 000 79 80 all significantly lower than the 2014 donations by a Chinese donor Zi Chun Wang which at 850 000 81 was the largest donation to any political party in the 2013 2014 financial year 82 At least one newspaper report queried the identity of this donor stating news archive searches do not produce results for this name suggesting Wang operates under another name 83 Another report mentions that in addition to a hotel and a travel agency the donor s listed address at the Old Communist Cadres Activity Centre in Shijiazhuang houses several Chinese government entities stating also that another publisher tried many times without success to contact the donor on the phone number listed in the donation return form 84 The Labor Party also receives undisclosed funding through several methods such as associated entities John Curtin House Industry 2020 IR21 and the Happy Wanderers Club are entities which have been used to funnel donations to the Labor Party without disclosing the source 85 86 87 88 A 2019 report found that the Labor Party received 33 000 from pro gun groups during the 2011 2018 periods 89 however the Coalition received over 82 000 in donations from pro gun groups more than doubling Labor s pro gun donors 89 See also EditSocialism in Australia Australian labour movement Third WayFurther reading EditOrmonde Paul 1982 A Foolish Passionate Man a biography of Jim Cairns Ringwood Vic Australia Penguin Books ISBN 014005975X Ormonde Paul 1972 The Movement Sydney Thomas Nelson SBN 170019683Charlesworth M J 2000 Ormonde Paul Ed Santamaria the politics of fear critical reflections Richmond Vic Spectrum Publications ISBN 0867862947Notes Edit According to The Australian Worker in 1918 the state parties comprised the Political Labor League New South Wales the Queensland Labor Party the United Labor Party South Australia the Workers Political Labor League Tasmania the Political Labor Council Victoria and the Australian Labor Federation Western Australia 9 However according to the South Australian Register the state parties in New South Wales South Australia and Victoria had already adopted the standardised name by 1917 10 In 1954 Labor MP Ted Johnson complained in the Parliament of Western Australia that both Hansard and the daily newspapers were still using the spelling Labour 12 As late as the 1980s historian Finlay Crisp used the spelling Labour in academic works about the party 13 14 Queensland has maintained a unicameral legislature since 1922 Tasmania uses a semi proportional system and thus TPP is not calculated Tasmania elects legislative council representatives on a periodic basis with elections held almost every year The ACT uses a semi proportional system and thus TPP is not calculated The ACT has a Unicameral parliament The Northern Territory has a Unicameral parliament The Whitlam government became the Opposition after the Governor General John Kerr dismissed it during the 1975 constitutional crisis despite Labor maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives References Edit National Executive Australian Labor Party Retrieved 30 September 2021 Davies Anne 13 December 2020 Party hardly why Australia s big political parties are struggling to compete with grassroots campaigns The Guardian Retrieved 13 December 2020 Australian Labor Party Britannica Retrieved 6 November 2021 Rhodes Campbell 27 April 1904 A perfect picture of the statesman John Christian Watson Museum of Australian Democracy Retrieved 19 September 2017 Australian Labor Party AustralianPolitics com 6 October 2013 Retrieved 11 December 2014 Participants Progressive Alliance Archived from the original on 2 March 2015 Retrieved 11 June 2015 McMullin 1991 p ix McMullin 1991 p 116 The Australian Labor Party Labor s Uniform Name The Australian Worker 12 December 1918 What s in a Name South Australian Register 15 September 1917 Crowley Frank 2000 Big John Forrest A Founding Father of the Commonwealth of Australia UWA Press p 394 The Commonwealth conference of the party adopted the spelling Labor in the official title of the Labor Party but the parliamentary debates did not follow suit Thereafter the debates recorded the same proceedings with different spellings and it was many years before the spelling Labor was accepted officially or used consistently in print Australian Labour Party as to spelling of Labour PDF Hansard Parliament of Western Australia 7 July 1954 p 302 Archived from the original PDF on 20 November 2018 Retrieved 20 November 2018 Crisp Finlay 1978 1951 The Australian Federal Labour Party 1901 1951 Crisp Finlay Atkinson Barbara 1981 Australian Labour Party Federal Parliamentarians 1901 1981 McMullin Ross 2006 First in the World Australia s Watson Labor government Papers on Parliament Australian Parliamentary Library 44 Bastian Peter 2009 Andrew Fisher An Underestimated Man UNSW Press p 372 Disemvowelled BBC News 27 June 2013 Retrieved 20 November 2018 Scott Andrew 2000 Running on Empty Modernising the British and Australian Labour Parties PDF Pluto Press p 39 125th anniversary of the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party State Library Of Queensland www slq qld gov au 8 September 2017 Retrieved 23 March 2021 This Wikipedia article incorporates text from Charles Seymour Papers 1880 1924 Treasure collection of the John Oxley Library 8 November 2021 published by the State Library of Queensland under CC BY licence accessed on 2 June 2022 OM69 18 Charles Seymour Papers 1880 1924 State Library of Queensland Archived from the original on 9 November 2021 Retrieved 23 March 2021 Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party 1892 Australian Memory of the World www amw org au Retrieved 23 March 2021 Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party to the people of Queensland dated 9 September 1892 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization www unesco org Retrieved 23 March 2021 McMullen Ross 2004 So Monstrous a Travesty Chris Watson and the World s First National Labour Government Carlton North Victoria Scribe Publications p 4 ISBN 978 1 920769 13 0 Alison Painter 9 May 1891 United Labor Party elected to Legislative Council Celebrating South Australia Retrieved 11 June 2015 Celia Hamilton Irish Catholics of New South Wales and the Labor Party 1890 1910 Historical Studies Australia amp New Zealand 1958 8 31 254 267 Faulkner amp Macintyre 2001 p 3 Nairn Bede 1990 Watson John Christian Chris 1867 1941 Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 12 National Centre of Biography Australian National University ISSN 1833 7538 Retrieved 9 February 2010 Charles Richardson 25 January 2009 Fusion The Party System We Had To Have PDF Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 19 September 2017 Murphy D J 1981 Fisher Andrew 1862 1928 Archived from the original on 19 June 2007 Retrieved 31 May 2007 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help McKinlay 1981 p 53 National Constitution of the ALP Official Website of the Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party 2009 Archived from the original on 30 October 2009 Retrieved 26 December 2009 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry production distribution and exchange to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti social features in these fields McKinlay 1981 p 19 John Curtin Australia s PMs Australia s Prime Ministers Primeministers naa gov au Retrieved 5 July 2013 In office Ben Chifley Australia s PMs Australia s Prime Ministers National Archives of Australia 24 February 2009 Archived from the original on 13 June 2011 Retrieved 13 July 2011 Ben Chifley Australia s PMs Australia s Prime Ministers Primeministers naa gov au 13 June 1951 Retrieved 5 July 2013 Elections Robert Menzies Australia s PMs Australia s Prime Ministers Primeministers naa gov au Retrieved 5 July 2013 Tariff Reduction The Whitlam Collection The Whitlam Institute Archived from the original on 20 July 2005 The dismissal a brief history The Age Melbourne 11 November 2005 About Julia Gillard National Archives of Australia Retrieved 22 May 2022 DATABASE BY COUNTRY Members amp Activists of Political Parties Davies Anne 12 December 2020 Party hardly why Australia s big political parties are struggling to compete with grassroots campaigns The Guardian Mark Butler factions are destroying Labor s capacity to campaign The Guardian 23 January 2018 Retrieved 19 January 2021 In 1969 1970 before the ACT and NT achieved self government the Liberal 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Party Australian Labor Party Victorian Branch Rules April 2013 Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party 1892 UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register 125th anniversary of the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party John Oxley Library Blog State Library of Queensland OM69 18 Charles Seymour Papers 1880 1924 Collection record State Library of Queensland Charles Seymour Papers 1880 1924 Treasure collection of the John Oxley Library John Oxley Library Blog State Library of Queensland Portals Australia Organized labour Politics Socialism Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Australian Labor Party amp oldid 1170152694, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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