Australian Labor Party

This article is about the federal Labor Party. For state and territory Labor parties, see List of state branches of the Australian Labor Party.

Australian Labor Party
AbbreviationALP
LeaderAnthony Albanese
Deputy LeaderRichard Marles
Senate LeaderPenny Wong
PresidentWayne Swan[1]
National SecretaryPaul Erickson
Founded
  • Oldest branches:
    1891; 133 years ago (1891)
  • Federal Caucus:
    8 May 1901; 123 years ago (1901-05-08)
Headquarters5/9 Sydney Avenue, Barton, Australian Capital Territory
Think tankChifley Research Centre
Youth wingAustralian Young Labor
Women's wingLabor Women's Network
LGBT wingRainbow Labor
Overseas wingALP Abroad[2]
Membership (2020)Increase 60,085[3]
IdeologySocial democracy[4]
Political positionCentre-left
International affiliation
Union affiliateACTU
Colours  Red
SloganA Better Future
Governing bodyNational Executive
Parliamentary partyCaucus
Party branches
House of Representatives
78 / 151
Senate
25 / 76
State/territory governments
5 / 8
State/territory lower houses
267 / 465
State upper houses
65 / 155
Website
alp.org.au

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known simply as Labor or the Labor Party, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics,[5] along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 federal election, and with political branches active in all the Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2024, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuous political party in Australian history, having been established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne; the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.

The ALP is descended from the labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement. Colonial Labour parties contested seats from 1891, and began contesting federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. In 1904, the ALP briefly formed the world's first labour party government and the world's first democratic socialist or social democratic government at a national level.[6] 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, including under Billy Hughes from 1915 to 1916, James Scullin from 1929 to 1932, John Curtin from 1941 to 1945, Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949, Gough Whitlam from 1972 to 1975, Bob Hawke from 1983 to 1991, Paul Keating from 1991 to 1996, Kevin Rudd from 2007 to 2010 and 2013, and Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013. Under Hawke and Keating, the ALP embarked on Third Way reforms similar to those later adopted by New Labour in the United Kingdom.

The Labor party is often called the party of unions due to its close ties to the labour movement in Australia, with the majority of trade unions being affiliated with the Labor party. The party is equally controlled by unions and rank-and-file party members through affiliated unions being granted 50% of delegates at each state and national conference.[7] 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.[8] Internationally, the ALP is a member of the Progressive Alliance, a network of progressive, democratic socialist and social democratic parties,[9] having previously been a member of the Socialist International.

  1. ^ "National Executive". Australian Labor Party. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  2. ^ "ALP Abroad". alpabroad.org. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  3. ^ Davies, Anne (13 December 2020). "Party hardly: why Australia's big political parties are struggling to compete with grassroots campaigns". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  4. ^ McAllister, Ian (February 1991). "Party Adaptation and Factionalism within the Australian Party System". American Journal of Political Science. 35 (1): 206–227. doi:10.2307/2111444. JSTOR 2111444. Retrieved 4 September 2024 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ "Australian Labor Party". Britannica. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  6. ^ Rhodes, Campbell (27 April 1904). "A perfect picture of the statesman: John Christian Watson". Museum of Australian Democracy. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. ^ Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd; Bale, Tim, eds. (2017). Left-of-centre parties and trade unions in the twenty-first century (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-19-879047-1. OCLC 953976806.
  8. ^ "Australian Labor Party". AustralianPolitics.com. 6 October 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  9. ^ "Participants". Progressive Alliance. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.