The history of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
(federally spel
Labour prior to 1912) 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 (Australia), Tree of Knowledge") in
Barcaldine, Queensland
Barcaldine () is a rural town and suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Barcaldine Region in Queensland, Australia. This is the administrative centre of the Barcaldine Region. Barcaldine played a major role in the Australian labou ...
in 1891. The
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Inner West Council.
It is locate ...
branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. 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 general election contested by Labour candidates was the
1891 New South Wales election, where Labour candidates (then called the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales) won 35 of 141 seats. The major parties were the
Protectionist
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
and
Free Trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
parties and Labour held the
balance of power. It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy enactment. Also in 1891, three
United Labor Party (ULP) of South Australia candidates were elected to the
South Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Parli ...
.
At the
1893 South Australian election the United Labor Party led by
John McPherson won 10 of the 54 seats and the balance of power in the
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level.
Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...
, allowing the liberal government of
Charles Kingston
Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly wa ...
to be formed, ousting the conservative government of
John Downer
Sir John William Downer, KCMG, KC (6 July 1843 – 2 August 1915) was an Australian politician who served two terms as Premier of South Australia, from 1885 to 1887 and again from 1892 to 1893. He later entered federal politics and served as ...
. By the
1905 South Australian election Thomas Price became the first Labor
Premier of South Australia
The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...
. Re-elected at the
1906 double dissolution election serving until his death in 1909, it was the world's first stable
Labour Party government. So successful,
John Verran
John Verran (9 July 1856 – 7 June 1932) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He served as premier of South Australia from 1910 to 1912, the second member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position.
Verran was b ...
led Labor to form the state's first of many
majority government
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...
s at the
1910 South Australian election. In 1899,
Anderson Dawson
Andrew Dawson (16 July 1863 – 20 July 1910), usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician, the Premier of Queensland for one week (1–7 December) in 1899. This short-lived premiership was the first Australian Labor Party go ...
formed a Labour
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, the first Labour Party government in the world, which lasted one week while the
conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
regrouped after a split.
The colonial Labour parties and the trade unions were mixed in their support for the
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
. Some Labour representatives argued against the proposed constitution, claiming the Senate as proposed was too powerful, similar to the anti-reformist colonial upper houses and the
British House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...
. They feared federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces. The first Labour leader following the inaugural
1901 federal election and later Prime Minister,
Chris Watson
John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...
, however, was a supporter of federation.
Following the
1903 federal election, the four-month 1904
Chris Watson
John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...
minority government was the world's first
Labour Party government at a national level. Then led by
Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...
, Labour success at the
1910 federal election represented a number of firsts: it was Australia's first elected federal
majority government
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...
; Australia's first elected
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
majority; the world's first Labour Party majority government at a national level.
Overview
The Labor Party is commonly described as a
social democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
party, and its constitution stipulates that it is a
democratic socialist
Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...
party. The party was created by, and has always been influenced by, the trade unions, and in practice Labor politicians regard themselves as part of the broader labour movement and tradition. At the first federal election in 1901 Labor's platform called for a
White Australia Policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
, a citizen army and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes. Labor has historically been a pragmatic party, and has at various times supported high
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s and low tariffs,
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
and
pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
, White Australia and
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
,
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
and
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
,
isolationism
Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...
and internationalism.
Historically, Labor and its affiliated unions were strong opponents of non-British immigration, expressed as the
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
which barred all non-European migration to Australia. Besides the 19th century
pseudo-scientific
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
theories about "racial purity", the main labour concern was the fear of economic competition from immigrants prepared to accept low-wage, views which were shared by the vast majority of Australians and all major political parties. In practice the labour movement opposed all migration, on the grounds that immigrants competed with Australian workers and drove down wages. This objection continued until after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 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
Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections.
Calwell grew up in Melbourne and attended St J ...
as leader in 1967. Subsequently, Labor has become an advocate of multiculturalism, although some of its trade union base and some of its members continued to oppose high immigration levels.
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
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, support for
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
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." As a result, Labor's Federal Conference in 1922 adopted a similarly worded "socialist objective," which remained official policy for many years. The resolution was immediately qualified, however, by the "
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
amendment," which said that "socialisation" was desirable only when was necessary to "eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features."
The Labour years
![Billy Hughes 1915](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Billy_Hughes_1915.jpg)
Celia Hamilton, examining New South Wales, argues for the central role of Irish Catholics. Before 1890, they opposed
Henry Parkes
Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...
, the main Liberal leader, and free trade, seeing them as representative of Protestant Englishmen who represented landholding and large business interests. In the strike of 1890 the leading Catholic Sydney's Archbishop
Patrick Francis Moran
Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran (16 September 183016 August 1911) was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and the first cardinal appointed from Australia.
Early life
Moran was born at Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, on 16 ...
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 laborers 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.
At Federation, the Labour Party did not have any national organisation. It was some years before the party would have any significant structure or organisation at the federal level. The first election to the
federal Parliament in 1901 was contested by state Labour parties in five of the six states – in Tasmania, where there was no Labour party,
King O'Malley
King O'Malley (2 July 1858? – 20 December 1953) was an American-born Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917, and served two terms as Minister for Home Affairs (1910–1913; 1915–16). He is remember ...
was elected as an independent labour candidate. In total, they won 15% of the vote and 14 of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives and eight Senate places, and two Independents joined the party. The 24 Labour members met as the federal parliamentary Labour Party (informally known as the
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
, comprising members of the House of Representatives and the Senate) on 8 May 1901 at
Parliament House, Melbourne
Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Victoria, one of the parliaments of the Australian states and territories.
Located on Spring Street on the edge of the Hoddle Grid, the grand colonnaded front dominates the vista up ...
, the meeting place of the first federal Parliament. Caucus elected
Chris Watson
John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...
leader, decided to call the party Federal Labour Party and to support the
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...
minority government against the
Free Trade Party
The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...
. Federal Labour under Watson increased its numbers to 23 in the House and 8 in the Senate at the
1903 federal election and continued to hold the balance of power and support the Protectionist Party. In April 1904, however, Watson and Deakin fell out over the issue of extending the scope of industrial relations laws concerning the
Conciliation
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process whereby the parties to a dispute use a conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences. They do this by lowering te ...
and
Arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
Bill to cover state public servants, the fallout causing Deakin to resign. Free Trade leader
George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales f ...
declined to take office, which saw Watson become the first Labour
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, and the world's first Labour head of government at a national level (
Anderson Dawson
Andrew Dawson (16 July 1863 – 20 July 1910), usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician, the Premier of Queensland for one week (1–7 December) in 1899. This short-lived premiership was the first Australian Labor Party go ...
had led a short-lived Labour government in Queensland in December 1899), though his was a
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
that lasted only four months. He was aged only 37, and is still the youngest Prime Minister in Australia's history.
After Watson's government fell, Deakin became prime minister again for a short period, to be followed by the Free Trade Party's Reid, who had Labour's ''
Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
The ''Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904'' (Cth) was an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which established the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, besides other things, and sought to introduce the rule of law i ...
'', which was the cause of the political upheaval, passed.
George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales f ...
of the
Free Trade Party
The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...
adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labour vs non-Labour lines – prior to the
1906 federal election, he renamed his Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party. Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti-socialist, with the
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...
in the middle. This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the
Westminster tradition and regarded a
two-party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...
as very much the norm.
At the election of 1906, which now permitted
postal voting
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by Mail, post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling place, polling station or electronically via an electronic voti ...
, Watson increased Labour House seats to 26. Though they had more seats than the Protectionist Party with 16, Labour supported Deakin as Prime Minister. Watson resigned as leader in 1907 and was succeeded by
Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...
. Fisher withdrew its support of the Deakin government on 13 November 1908 and formed a minority government. The Fisher government passed a large number of its legislation. A scandalised establishment, believing an anti-
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
alliance was necessary to counter Labor's growing electoral dominance, pressured Deakin and Anti-Socialist Party's new leader,
Joseph Cook
Sir Joseph Cook, (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1913 to 1914. He was the leader of the Liberal Party from 1913 to 1917, after earlier serving ...
, to begin merger talks. The main body of Protectionists, including Deakin and his supporters merged with the Anti-Socialist Party in May 1909 to become the
Commonwealth Liberal Party
The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...
, popularly known as "the Fusion", with Deakin as leader and Cook as deputy leader. The more liberal Protectionists defected to Labour. Deakin now held a majority in the House of Representatives and the Fisher government fell in a vote on 27 May 1909. Fisher failed to persuade the Governor-General
Lord Dudley
Baron Dudley is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created circa 1440 for John Sutton, a soldier who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The title descended in the Sutton family until the 17th century when Frances Sutton, the heir app ...
to dissolve Parliament
and Deakin formed Australia's first majority government in June 1909, under the CLP banner, which governed less than a year until the
1910 federal election, held in April of that year.
At the 1910 election, Fisher led Labour to victory with 50% of the vote and 42 seats. The Fisher government was Australia's first elected federal
majority government
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...
, held Australia's first
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
majority (22 out of 36), and was the world's first labour party majority government. This was the first time a labour party had controlled any house of a legislature, and the first time it controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature.
[ Labour implemented many of its policies mostly in his first government in fields such as defence, constitutional matters, finance, transport and communications, and social security, including establishing old-age and disability pensions, improved working conditions including a ]maternity
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...
allowance and Workers' compensation, workers compensation, created a national currency
Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometime ...
, forming the Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
, the commencement of construction for the Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...
, expanding the bench of the High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
, founding Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
and establishing the government-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busine ...
. Fisher carried out measures to break up land monopolies, put forward proposals for more regulation of working hours, wages and employment conditions, and amended the 1904 Conciliation and Arbitration Act to provide greater authority for the court president and to allow for Commonwealth employees' industrial unions, registered with the Arbitration Court. A land tax, aimed at breaking up big estates and to provide a wider scope for small-scale farming, was also introduced, while coverage of the Arbitration system extended to agricultural workers, domestics, and federal public servants. In addition, the age at which women became entitled to the old-age pension was lowered from 65 to 60. The introduction of the maternity
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...
allowance enabled more births to be attended by doctors, thus leading to reductions in infant mortality. Fisher also for the first time appointed a High Commissioner (Commonwealth), High Commissioner to Britain.
The state branches were also successful, except in Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, where the strength of Deakinite liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
inhibited the party's growth. The state branches formed their first majority governments in New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
in 1910, in Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
in 1911, in Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
in 1915 and in Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
in 1925. Such success eluded equivalent social democratic and labour parties in other countries for many years. Labor also submitted two referendum questions in 1911, both of which were lost. The party adopted the formal name "Australian Labour Party" in 1908, but changed the spelling of "Labour" in its name to "Labor" in 1912.
World War I conscription and the split of 1916
At the 1913 federal election Fisher lost by one seat to the Commonwealth Liberal Party, led by Joseph Cook
Sir Joseph Cook, (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1913 to 1914. He was the leader of the Liberal Party from 1913 to 1917, after earlier serving ...
, who had left the Labor party in 1894, but Labor retained a Senate majority. Labor had submitted six referendum questions in conjunction with the 1913 election, all of which were lost. Following the 1913 election, Labor formed the Opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
, the first time that the party held that status, previously being either in government or supporting the government party. A double dissolution
A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...
was called in 1914 over a proposal to abolish preferential employment for trade union members in the public service. However, after the election of 1914 had been called, the British declaration of war made the election a side issue. The incumbent caretaker government and the country went on a war footing, with mobilisation and other measures. Both parties declared complete commitment to the war effort. Despite the historic advantage that an incumbent government has at the start of war, Labor under Fisher gained a majority in both Houses, with the majority in the Senate being overwhelming. In 1915 Fisher retired as Prime Minister and leader of the party and was succeeded by Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
.
Hughes supported the introduction of conscription in Australia
Conscription in Australia, also called mandatory military service or National Service, has a controversial history dating back to the first years of nationhood. Military conscription was abolished by Australian law in 1972. Australia currently h ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, while the majority of his Labor colleagues and the trade union movement opposed it. After failing to gain majority support for conscription in the 1916 plebiscite, which bitterly divided the country and the Labor Party[Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862–1952)](_blank)
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
, ANU web site Hughes and 24 of his followers—including most of the cabinet—left the Caucus and were then expelled from the Labor Party.
Frank Tudor
Francis Gwynne Tudor (29 January 1866 – 10 January 1922) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1916 until his death. He had previously been a government minister under Andrew Fisher and Billy ...
became Labor leader while Hughes and his followers formed the National Labor Party
The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pri ...
. Hughes continued in office at the helm of a minority government with the parliamentary support of the Commonwealth Liberal Party, led by Cook. The two parties then merged to form the Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Mini ...
to fight the 1917 election, which they won decisively on a massive swing, which was magnified by the large number of Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party. As a result, Hughes became and remains a traitor in Labor histories.
Hughes then held the 1917 plebiscite on the same conscription issue, which was even more soundly defeated. The rural-based Country Party became a political factor from the 1910s. The party represented small farmers, but had the effect of splitting the anti-Labor vote in conservative country areas, and allowing Labor candidates to win with a minority vote. In response, the conservative Hughes government changed the voting system from first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
to preferential voting {{short description, Election systems
Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:
* Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...
, which allowed the anti-Labor parties to stand candidates against each other without putting seats at risk by exchanging preferences with each other. At the 1919 election Hughes lost his majority, but was kept in government by the Country Party. Hughes also submitted two referendum questions in conjunction with the 1919 election, both of which were lost.
At the state level William Holman
William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party, ...
, also a supporter of conscription, quit the party at the same time and became Nationalist Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
.
1920s
Tudor died in 1922 and Matthew Charlton
Matthew Charlton (15 March 1866 – 8 December 1948) was an Australian politician who served as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition from 1922 to 1928. He led the party to defeat at the 1922 and 1925 federal e ...
succeeded as Labor leader. At the 1922 election, Labor won the most seats, but not a majority. Hughes could only realistically stay in office with the support of the Country Party. However, Country leader Earle Page
Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 188020 December 1961) was an Australian surgeon and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office for 19 days after the death of Joseph Lyons in 1939. He was the leade ...
would not even consider negotiating with the Nationalists unless Hughes resigned. Hughes resigned as Nationalist leader and was replaced by Stanley Bruce
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party.
Born ...
in 1923. Bruce and Page quickly came to a coalition agreement
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
that allowed Bruce to become Prime Minister.
Besides Hughes' departure, the Country Party insisted on the introduction of compulsory voting
Compulsory voting, also called mandatory voting, is the requirement in some countries that eligible citizens register and vote in elections. Penalties might be imposed on those who fail to do so without a valid reason. According to the CIA World F ...
for federal elections, which was introduced in 1924. Another change was a further misapportionment this time in favour of rural constituencies. At the 1925 election Labor led by Charlton again lost to the Coalition. (Labor received 45% of the vote and won 23 seats, to the Coalition's 51.) Labor, this time led by James Scullin
James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...
, who replaced Charlton earlier that year, also lost the 1928 election, but won resoundingly the 1929 House election to form a majority government but remained in minority in the Senate. In 1930, Scullin broke tradition by insisting that the Monarch act on the advice of the Australian prime minister in the appointment of the Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
, and insisted on the appointment of Isaac Isaacs
Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs (6 August 1855 – 11 February 1948) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the ninth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1931 to 1936. He had previously served on the High Court of A ...
, the first Australian-born appointment to the office. The appointment was denounced by the opposition Nationalist Party as being "practically republican", though it became the norm throughout the Commonwealth.
Great Depression and the split of 1931
In 1931, the predominant issues revolving around how best to handle the Great Depression in Australia
Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, povert ...
and resulted in a Labor split. The ALP was essentially split three ways, between believers in orthodox finance such as Prime Minister Scullin and a senior minister in his government, Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
; proto-Keynesians
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...
such as federal Treasurer Ted Theodore
Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in ...
; and those who believed in radical policies such as New South Wales Premier Jack Lang, who wanted to repudiate Australia's debt to British bondholders. In 1931, Lyons and his supporters left the Labor party and joined the Nationalist Party to form the United Australia Party
The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
under his leadership. At the 1931 election Labor was soundly defeated by the United Australia Party led by Lyons, who fought the election in Coalition with the Country Party, but won enough seats to form government on its own. The result was repeated at the 1934 election except that Lyons had to form government with the Country Party. The poor Labor result was attributed to the Lang Labor
Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939.
Following the expulsion of the N ...
split of 1931. At the 1937 election Labor led by John Curtin
John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...
was again defeated by the Coalition. At the 1940 election the Coalition of the United Australia Party led by Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
since 1939 and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron
Archie Galbraith Cameron (22 March 18959 August 1956) was an Australian politician. He was a government minister under Joseph Lyons and Robert Menzies, leader of the Country Party from 1939 to 1940, and finally Speaker of the House of Represe ...
was able to form a minority government with the parliamentary support of two Independents. In October 1941 the two Independents switched their support to Labor, bringing Curtin to power.
World War II to early 1950s
The Curtin and Chifley Governments governed Australia through the latter half of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and initial stages of the transition to peace. Labor leader John Curtin
John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...
became prime minister in October 1941, before the outbreak of the War in the Pacific
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the Theater (warfare), theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, ...
, when two independents in the House of Representatives changed their support in the hung Parliament to Labor. Child endowment payments were introduced in 1941, and widow's pensions in 1942. At the start of that Pacific campaign in December 1941, Curtin declared 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
The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is a 1951 non-binding collective security agreement between Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States, to co-operate on military ...
by the Menzies government
Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges.
Derivation and history
The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...
). Remembered as a strong war time leader and for a landslide win at the 1943 election, receiving 58.2% of the two-party preferred
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
vote and a Senate majority. Commonwealth unemployment benefits were introduced in 1945. Curtin died in office just prior to the end of the war and was succeeded by Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...
.
Chifley Labor won the 1946 election winning 54.1% of the two-party preferred vote against the Coalition of the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
and the Country Party. Chifley oversaw Australia's initial transition to a peacetime economy. Early in this term Chifley was successful in obtaining voter approval for the 1946 Social Services referendum. Chifley's initiatives included the expansion of health care in Australia
Health care in Australia operates under a shared public-private model underpinned by the Medicare (Australia), Medicare system, the national Single-payer healthcare, single-payer funding model. States and territories of Australia, State and t ...
with a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is a program of the Australian Government that subsidises prescription medication for Australian citizens and permanent residents, as well as international visitors covered by a reciprocal health care ag ...
(PBS) and free hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
ward treatment, the introduction of Australian citizenship
Australian nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds Australian legal nationality. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applic ...
(1948), a post-war immigration scheme, the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vio ...
(ASIO), the reorganisation and enlargement of the Australian scientific organisation CSIR to the CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
, the Snowy Mountains Scheme
The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that ...
, improvements in social services, the establishment of a Universities Commission for the expansion of university education, the creation of the Commonwealth Employment Service
The Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) was an Australian Government employment agency that was established in 1946 with the introduction of the ''Re-establishment and Employment Act 1945'' under the Curtin ALP government. It was designed to ide ...
(CES), the introduction of federal funds to the States for public housing construction, the creation of a civilian rehabilitation service, over-viewing the foundation of airlines Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
and Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...
, and the creation of the Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
. To a large extent, Chifley saw centralisation of the economy as the means to achieve his ambitions.
After the war, the Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...
contested for the leadership of the working class with the Australian Labor Party, and launched an industrial offensive in 1947, culminating in the 1949 Australian coal strike
The 1949 Australian coal strike was the first time that Australian military forces were used during peacetime to break a trade union strike. The strike by 23,000 coal miners lasted for seven weeks, from 27 June 1949 to 15 August 1949, with troops ...
. Chifley saw this as a communist challenge to Labor's position in the labour movement. At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949, Chifley sought to define the labour movement as having:
After seven weeks, Chifley used Australian military forces and strikebreakers to break the strike, the first time such a thing had been done by a Labor government. The measure cost Chifley a lot of his credibility among Labor supporters.
In June 1948, the Chifley government adopted the British model for television in Australia
Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...
, with the establishment of a government-controlled TV station in each capital city and the prohibition on commercial TV licences. This policy was never put into practice, however, because the Labor government did not have the opportunity to establish the TV network before it was defeated at the 1949 election. The incoming Liberal-Country Party coalition led by Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
changed the industry structure by also permitting the establishment of American-style commercial stations.
The Chifley government made significant changes to the electoral laws prior to the 1949 election: the voting system for the Senate was changed to proportional voting
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, and there was a large increase in the number of members in each House.
With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook, after his attempt to nationalise the banks and aftermath of the coalminers strike, Chifley lost office at the 1949 election to Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
' Liberal-National Coalition. Labor still had a majority in the Senate. The Coalition government sought to reverse the proposed nationalisation of the banks enacted by the previous Chifley government, but were frustrated by the Labor Senate majority. The government called a double dissolution
A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...
and at the 1951 election the Menzies government was returned, Labor lost its Senate majority and the bank de-nationalisation law was passed. Labor has not held a majority in the Senate since.
The DLP and the split of 1955
During the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, the Menzies government tried to ban the Communist Party of Australia with the ''Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth)'', which was declared invalid by the High Court in ''Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth
''Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth'', also known as the ''Communist Party Case'',. was a legal case in the High Court of Australia in 1951 in which the court declared the Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 unconstitutional and i ...
''. Soon after the 1951 election, Chifley died and was succeeded as party leader and Opposition leader by H.V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Aff ...
. Menzies then submitted the Communist Party issue to the 1951 referendum, which was opposed by the Communist Party as well as the Australian Labor Party. (Evatt had been counsel during the High Court case.) The referendum was narrowly defeated. Communist influence in the unions, and through the unions in the Labor Party, remained a potent and emotive issue for a significant number of ALP members, and the tag "soft-on-communism" was repeatedly used by the Menzies government against the party.
At the 1954 federal election, Labor received over 50% of the popular vote and won 57 seats (up 5) to the coalition's 64. Later that year, Evatt blamed Labor's defeat in the election on "a small minority of members, located particularly in the State of Victoria", which were in conspiracy to undermine him. Evatt blamed B. A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Dem ...
and his supporters in the Victorian Labor Party, called "the Groupers". Protestant and left-wing ministers strongly opposed Santamaria's Movement faction. The standoff between the groups led to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955
The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a split within the Australian Labor Party along ethnocultural lines and about the position towards communism.
Key players in the split were the federal opposition leader H. V. "Doc" Evatt and B. A. S ...
. In early 1955 the Labor Party's Federal executive dissolved the Victorian state executive and appointed a new executive in its place. Both executives sent delegates to the 1955 National Conference in Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
, where the delegates from the old executive were excluded from the conference. The Victorian branch then split between pro-Evatt and pro-Santamaria factions, and in March the pro-Evatt state executive suspended 24 members of state Parliament suspected of being Santamaria supporters. (Santamaria was not a party member.) Four ministers were forced to resign from John Cain's Victorian Labor government, bringing the Labor government down. At the ensuing May 1955 Victorian state election, the expelled members and others stood as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP), formerly the Democratic Labor Party, is an Australian political party. It broke off from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) as a result of the 1955 ALP split, originally under the name Australian Labor Party ...
. It drew 12.6% of the vote, mainly from the ALP, but because its vote was widely spread only one of its candidates was elected. However, the party's objective was to direct its preferences to the Coalition, and most of its supporters followed the party's preferences. As a result, Labor in Victoria won 37.6% of the primary vote and 42.1% after allocation of preferences; it achieved 20 seats to the Liberals' 34 and the Country Party's ten. The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) went on in 1957 to be the nucleus of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). At subsequent state and federal elections, the DLP would continue this strategy to keep the ALP out of office. Labor would remain in opposition in Victoria until 1982.
In New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Labor leader and premier Joseph Cahill
John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to his death in 1 ...
decisively won the 1953 NSW election. He was desperate to keep the New South Wales branch united during the split. He achieved this by controlling the anti-DLP faction in his party. The DLP did not contest the 1956 NSW election and Cahill was returned in the 1959 NSW election, but died in office later that year. He was succeeded as leader and premier by Robert Heffron
Robert James Heffron (10 September 189027 July 1978), also known as Bob Heffron or R. J. Heffron, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, union organiser and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1959 to 1964. Born in New Zealand ...
. Heffron continued the Labor reign in New South Wales winning the 1962 NSW election. Heffron resigned the leadership and premiership in 1964, and was succeeded by Jack Renshaw
John Brophy Renshaw AC (8 August 190928 July 1987) was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of New South Wales from 30 April 1964 to 13 May 1965. He was the first New South Wales Premier born in the 20th century.
Early life
Jack Re ...
, who lost the premiership at the 1965 NSW election ending 24 years of Labor power in the state.
In Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Labor leader and premier Vince Gair
Vincent Clair Gair (25 February 190111 November 1980) was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Labor Party. He was e ...
since 1952 was expelled from the Labor party in 1957 because of his support of the Groupers, and went on to form the Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party (QLP) was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair. In 1962 the party became the Queensland se ...
. As happened earlier in Victoria, the expulsions destroyed the Queensland Labor government; Gair was defeated on a no-confidence motion, and in the resulting election the QLP directed its preferences to the non-Labor parties. Labor would remain in opposition in Queensland until 1989. Gair's QLP was absorbed into the DLP in 1962.
Whitlam and the Dismissal
The DLP was effective in keeping Labor out of government at the federal level until 1972, enabling the Coalition to hold on to government in 1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 ...
and 1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
on DLP preferences, though Labor won a majority of the two-party vote. The DLP was also effective in its strategy in Victoria and Queensland. In 1960, Evatt was succeeded as party leader by Arthur Calwell
Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections.
Calwell grew up in Melbourne and attended St J ...
. Calwell was close to toppling Menzies at the 1961 election, but failed because of DLP preferences. He also was unsuccessful at the 1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
and 1966 elections. He resigned leadership in 1967 and was succeeded by Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
. Under Whitlam, the ALP factionalised ideological viewpoints, 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 Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...
, the now dominant faction that tends to be more economically liberal
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...
and focus to a lesser extent on social issues. Whitlam and the ALP almost won government in the 1969 election, but again missed out because of DLP preferences and the electoral district bias in favour of rural electorates which favoured the Country Party. Whitlam won the 1972 election, bringing the DLP's strategy of keeping the ALP out of power undone. At the election Labor's primary vote was just under 50%, while the DLP's slipped to 5%.
The Whitlam Labor government, marking a break with Labor's socialist tradition, pursued social-democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
policies rather than democratic socialist
Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...
ones. The Whitlam Government passed a large amount of legislation, and saw a massive expansion of the federal budget to implement an extensive number of new programs and policy changes, including fee-free tertiary education, the formal removal of the White Australia Policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
, the implementation of legal aid
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to co ...
programs, the elimination of military conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
and criminal execution, health care in Australia
Health care in Australia operates under a shared public-private model underpinned by the Medicare (Australia), Medicare system, the national Single-payer healthcare, single-payer funding model. States and territories of Australia, State and t ...
became universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
with the creation of Medibank
Medibank Private Limited, better known as simply Medibank, is one of the largest Australian private health insurance providers, covering 3.7 million people in 2021. Medibank initially started as an Australian Government not-for-profit insurer i ...
, and tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s were cut across the board by 25 percent. In 1974, Whitlam split the DLP by appointing Gair as ambassador to Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Whitlam led federal Labor to another win at the double dissolution 1974 election, which was followed by the only joint sitting of Parliament. (The DLP in 1974 polled only 1% of the vote and lost all its Senate seats. The party formally wound up in 1978.)
The Whitlam Government lost office following the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir Jo ...
and dismissal by Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
John Kerr after the Coalition blocked supply
Supply may refer to:
*The amount of a resource that is available
**Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers
**Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission
*Supply, as in confidenc ...
in the Senate after a series of political scandals, and was defeated at the 1975 election. Whitlam remained leader of the party until the loss at the 1977 election, when he was succeeded by Bill Hayden
William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...
. Whitlam retired from parliament in 1978. Hayden increased the Labor vote at the 1980 election.
Hawke-Keating Government
Hayden was replaced by former Australian Council of Trade Unions President Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
in February 1983; weeks later, he led Labor to a landslide victory at the 1983 election. Together with his Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
, with whom he formed a powerful political partnership, Hawke led a significant period of economic and social reform which has been hailed by historians and scholars since as laying the groundwork for modern Australia. Hawke and Keating led Labor to victory at five consecutive federal elections: 1983, 1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
, 1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
, 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
and 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
. This remains the party's most electorally successful period in its history. Hawke remains Labor's longest-serving Prime Minister; Keating replaced Hawke in a leadership spill
In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (le ...
in December 1991. The Hawke-Keating Government has been described by Labor figures as the party's most successful period in government in its history, and has generally been reviewed positively by historians for its degree of achievement. Scholars and politicians have noted the importance of the powerful political and personal partnership that developed between Hawke and Keating to the success of the Government.
The Hawke and Keating Governments radically transformed the Australian economy, departing from a historical bipartisan Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...
approach to the Australian economy, with the change of the Australian dollar
The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...
from a government-fixed exchange rate to a floating exchange rate
In macroeconomics and economic policy, a floating exchange rate (also known as a fluctuating or flexible exchange rate) is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is allowed to fluctuate in response to foreign exchange mar ...
. Extensive deregulation of financial and banking systems occurred, both of which made Australia significantly more integrated with the global economy. Privatisation of state sector industries occurred, including Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
and Commonwealth Bank
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...
. The tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
system was dismantled, and the subsidisation of some loss-making industries ended. Low-income centralised wage fixing was introduced through the Prices and Incomes Accord
The Prices and Incomes Accord was an agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Labor Party government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer (later Prime Minister) Paul Keating in 1983. Employers were not par ...
, and enterprise bargaining
Enterprise bargaining is an Australian term for a form of collective bargaining, in which wages and working conditions are negotiated at the level of the individual organisations, as distinct from sectoral collective bargaining across whole industr ...
was introduced. The tax system was changed, including the introduction of fringe benefits tax and a capital gains tax. Notably, compulsory superannuation was also implemented, with a 9% employer contribution.
Tertiary education fees in Australia
Tertiary education fees in Australia are payable for courses at tertiary education institutions. The Commonwealth government provides loans and subsidies to relieve the cost of tertiary education for some students. Some students are supported ...
saw a HECS payment system introduced as a replacement for fee-free tertiary education which had been removed after Whitlam. Medicare was introduced as a replacement for Medibank
Medibank Private Limited, better known as simply Medibank, is one of the largest Australian private health insurance providers, covering 3.7 million people in 2021. Medibank initially started as an Australian Government not-for-profit insurer i ...
which had also been removed after Whitlam, reintroducing universal health care
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...
to Australia. Dental insurance
Dental insurance is a form of health insurance designed to pay a portion of the costs associated with dental care. There are several different types of individual, family, or group dental insurance plans grouped into three primary categories: Ind ...
through the Commonwealth Dental Health Program was introduced. Funding for schools was considerably increased, and financial assistance was provided for students to enable them to stay at school longer; at the start of the Government, 3 in 10 students completed high school, but by the end of the Government this had risen to 9 in 10.
On aboriginal affairs, native title in Australia
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
was recognised, and progress was made in directing assistance to the most disadvantaged recipients over a whole range of welfare benefits. The Parliament of Australia itself was reformed in several ways.
Within foreign affairs, the Government's major legacy was the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy, economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. (APEC). The Government also played a key role in numerous international issues, including the ending of apartheid in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, the Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, and establishing the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
peace process
A peace process is the set of political sociology, sociopolitical negotiations, agreements and actions that aim to solve a specific armed conflict.
Definitions
Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of ...
for Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, culminating in the Transitional Authority Hawke also took a major public stand in the aftermath of the Tiananmen square massacre
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
in 1989; despite having spent years trying to get closer relations with China, Hawke gave a tearful address on national television describing the massacre in graphic detail, and unilaterally offered asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
to over 42,000 Chinese students who were living in Australia at the time, many of whom had publicly supported the Tiananmen protesters.
The duration of the Government saw thousands of Acts
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
passed by the Australian Parliament, despite Labor not having a Senate majority; its legacy remains positively championed by Labor politicians, and is regularly cited by Labor figures as representing the party's most successful period in its entire history.
Opposition and conflict between Rudd and Gillard
The Keating Government was defeated by John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...
in the 1996 election and Keating resigned as party leader soon after. He was replaced by Kim Beazley
Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...
, who led the party to the 1998 election, winning 51% of the two-party preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
but falling short on seats, and lost ground at the 2001 election. Mark Latham
Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...
became leader in December 2003 and led Labor to the 2004 election but lost further ground. Beazley replaced Latham in 2005 and Beazley was in turn challenged by Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
who went on to defeat the Howard Government at the 2007 election winning 52.7% of the two-party vote. A Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
parliamentary majority required the support of either the Coalition, or all seven crossbenchers − five Greens, Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017. He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon ...
and Steve Fielding
Steven Fielding (born 17 October 1960) is a former Australian senator for the state of Victoria and the former federal parliamentary leader of the Family First Party. He was elected to the upper house at the 2004 federal election on two per ...
. The Rudd Government
Rudd Government may refer to the following Australian governments:
* Rudd government (2007–10)
Rudd Government may refer to the following Australian governments:
* Rudd government (2007–10)
* Rudd government (2013)
{{Dab ...
* Rudd gov ...
signed the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...
, and delivered an apology to Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
s for the stolen generations
The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...
. The previous Coalition government's WorkChoices
WorkChoices was the name given to changes made to the federal industrial relations laws in Australia by the Howard Government in 2005, being amendments to the ''Workplace Relations Act 1996'' by the ''Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices ...
industrial relations
Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade
unions, employer organizations, ...
system was largely dismantled and Fair Work Australia
The Fair Work Commission (FWC), until 2013 known as Fair Work Australia (FWA), is the Australian industrial relations tribunal created by the ''Fair Work Act 2009'' as part of the Rudd Government's reforms to industrial relations in Australia ...
was created. National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co, a Government-owned corporation. Internet service provider ...
(NBN) discussions and the final agreement with Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
occurred and construction and rollout commenced, remaining Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
combat personnel were withdrawn, and the "Australia 2020 Summit
The Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held over 18-19 April 2008 at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long-term strategy for the nation's future". Announ ...
" was held. Labor reduced income tax rates in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and pensions were increased, as well as additional funding for health and education. A new Teen Dental Plan was launched, while around 100 laws relating to same-sex relationships
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...
in the LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
community were changed after a HREOC
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...
enquiry found them to be discriminatory. In response to the Global Financial Crisis
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
, the government passed economic stimulus packages, and Australia was one of the few western countries
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. to avoid the late-2000s recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
.
Between the 2007 federal election and the 2008 Western Australian state election
The 2008 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 6 September 2008 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the Legislative Council. The incumbent centre-left Labor Party government, in power since the ...
, Labor was in government nationally, as well as 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. After narrowly losing government in Western Australia at the 2008 state election and Victoria at the 2010 state election, Labor lost government in landslides in New South Wales at the 2011 state election and Queensland at the 2012 state election.
Rudd's leadership and prime ministership ended in the 2010 spill prior to the 2010 election with the replacement of Rudd as leader by deputy leader Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...
. At the 2010 election Labor won 50.12% of the two-party vote, but resulted in a hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...
. The incumbent Gillard Government formed a minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
in the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
with the support of four crossbencher
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
s – three independents and one Green, giving the government a one-seat parliamentary majority. Later changes in speaker and government support increased the parliamentary majority to three seats, then two seats. In the Senate, the Greens with nine seats went from a shared balance of power position to a sole balance of power position. The Gillard Government introduced the Clean Energy Bill as a replacement for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (or CPRS) was a cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme for anthropogenic greenhouse gases proposed by the Rudd government, as part of its climate change policy, which had been due to commence in Australia in ...
(CPRS) in conjunction with compensation including further income tax cuts and an increase in the tax-free threshold, a Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was introduced as a replacement for the Resource Super Profits Tax
The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was a tax on profits generated from the mining of non-renewable resources in Australia. It was a replacement for the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT).
The tax, levied on 30% of the "super profits" fr ...
(RSPT), Gillard reached a health care agreement with state and territory leaders, introduced paid parental leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...
, plain cigarette packaging
Plain tobacco packaging, also known as generic, neutral, standardised or homogeneous packaging, is packaging of tobacco products, typically cigarettes, without any branding (colours, imagery, corporate logos and trademarks), including only the br ...
laws, the biggest cuts on consumer prices of medicines in Australian history under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is a program of the Australian Government that subsidises prescription medication for Australian citizens and permanent residents, as well as international visitors covered by a reciprocal health care ag ...
(PBS), and allocated funding for children and concession holders to receive dental insurance
Dental insurance is a form of health insurance designed to pay a portion of the costs associated with dental care. There are several different types of individual, family, or group dental insurance plans grouped into three primary categories: Ind ...
through Medicare. The 2011 Labor National Conference supported a conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamenta ...
for same-sex marriage in Australia
Same-sex marriage in Australia has been legal since 9 December 2017. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', passed the Australian Parliament on 7 December 2017 and receiv ...
through a private members bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
.
On 19 February 2013, the Greens announced that Labor had ended the alliance between the two parties. Before the 2013 election, Rudd was restored as party leader and Prime Minister, but after his loss at the election, he resigned the party leadership and membership of House of Representatives.
Opposition and Albanese Government
Following Labor's loss at the 2013 election and Rudd's resignation as leader, Bill Shorten
William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition a ...
was elected federal Labor leader in October by a new system which gave rank and file party members 50% of votes for the party leadership. At the 2016 federal election, held on 2 July, Labor increased its seats by 14, but the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government led Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Turnbull grad ...
was returned with a single seat majority. At the 2019 federal election Labor had an upset and unexpected loss, losing some of the seats it gained at the 2016 election. Bill Shorten stood down as leader and Anthony Albanese
Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...
was elected leader and led the party to victory in the 2022 election.
At the 2014 Victorian state election
The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...
, Labor led by Daniel Andrews
Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 48th and current premier of Victoria since December 2014. He has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since December ...
defeated the one-term Coalition government, and significantly increased its majority at the 2018 Victorian state election
Eighteen or 18 may refer to:
* 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19
* one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018
Film, television and entertainment
* ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...
. At the 2014 South Australian state election
The 2014 South Australian state election elected members to the 53rd Parliament of South Australia on 15 March 2014, to fill all 47 seats in the House of Assembly (lower house) and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house). The 12- ...
, Labor led by Jay Weatherill
Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...
won a record fourth term, but lost government at the 2018 South Australian state election
The 2018 South Australian state election to elect members to the 54th Parliament of South Australia was held on 17 March 2018. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose members were elected at the 2014 election, and 11 of 22 se ...
. At the 2015 Queensland state election
The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a s ...
, despite the previous landslide, Labor led by Annastacia Palaszczuk
Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...
defeated the one-term LNP government, and slightly increased its majority at the 2017 Queensland state election
The 2017 Queensland state election was held on 25 November 2017 to elect all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the unicameral Parliament of Queensland.
The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Annastacia P ...
. At the 2016 Australian Capital Territory election, Labor, led by Andrew Barr
Andrew James Barr (born 29 April 1973) is an Australian politician who has been serving as the 7th Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory since 2014. He has been an Australian Labor Party member in the ACT Legislative Assembly sin ...
, retained government for a record fifth term with the support of The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to:
Current political parties
* Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens''
* Greens of Andorra
* Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Greens of Burkina
* Greens (Greece)
* Greens of Montenegro
*Greens of Serbia
*G ...
. At the 2016 Northern Territory election Labor led by Michael Gunner
Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his se ...
defeated the one-term CLP government. At the 2017 Western Australian state election
The 2017 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 11 March 2017 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, including all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council. The eight-a ...
, Labor led by Mark McGowan
Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party.
McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...
defeated the incumbent Liberal-National Government. Labor was unsuccessful in the 2018 Tasmanian election. Labor also remained in opposition in New South Wales after losing the 2019 New South Wales election.
Historic ALP splits
The federal Australian Labor Party has split three times:
* In 1916 over the issue of conscription in Australia
Conscription in Australia, also called mandatory military service or National Service, has a controversial history dating back to the first years of nationhood. Military conscription was abolished by Australian law in 1972. Australia currently h ...
during the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Labor Prime Minister Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
supported the introduction of conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
, while the majority of his colleagues in the ALP and trade union movement opposed it. After failing to gain majority support for conscription in two national plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
s which bitterly divided the country in the process, Hughes and his followers were expelled from the Labor Party. He first formed the National Labor Party
The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pri ...
before merging with the Commonwealth Liberal Party
The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...
which formed the Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Mini ...
, and remained Prime Minister until 1923. At the state level William Holman
William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party, ...
, also a supporter of conscription, quit the party at the same time and became Nationalist Party Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
.
* In 1931 over economic issues revolving around how best to handle the Great Depression in Australia
Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, povert ...
. At the House-only 1929 election, the one-term Labor government led by James Scullin
James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...
won a lower house majority but remained in minority in the upper house. The ALP was essentially split three ways, between those who believed in radical policies such as NSW Premier Jack Lang, who wanted to repudiate Australia's debt to British bondholders; proto-Keynesians
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...
such as federal Treasurer Ted Theodore
Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in ...
; and believers in orthodox finance such as Prime Minister James Scullin
James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...
and a senior minister in his government, Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
. In 1931 Lyons and his supporters left the party and joined the Nationalist Party of Australia to form the United Australia Party
The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
, and became Prime Minister in 1932.
* In 1955 over communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
which occurred during a period of the 1950s when the issue of communism and support for communist causes or governments caused great internal conflict in the Labor party and the trade union movement in general. From 1945 onward, staunchly anti-Communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
members (Catholics being an important traditional support base) in opposition to communist infiltration of unions, formed Industrial Groups
The Industrial Groups were groups formed by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the late 1940s, to replace Communist Party influence in the trade unions with groups controlled by B. A. Santamaria's "Movement" which had infiltrated the ALP in 1944 ...
to gain control of them, fostering intense internal conflict. After Labor's loss of the 1954 election, federal leader Dr H.V. Evatt "issued a statement attacking the Victorian ALP state executive". He blamed subversive activities of the "Groupers" for the defeat. After bitter public dispute many Groupers were expelled from the ALP and formed the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) whose intellectual leader was B.A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Demo ...
. The DLP was heavily influenced by Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...
and had the support of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Daniel Mannix
Daniel Patrick Mannix (4 March 1864 – 6 November 1963) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia.
Early years and Mayno ...
. Because of its "veto with a view to reunification" strategy, the DLP's preferences (see Australian electoral system
The Australian electoral system comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament and is governed primarily by the ''Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918''. The system presently has a number of distincti ...
) helped the Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
remain in power for over two decades, but it was successfully undermined by the Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
Labor Government during the 1970s, so that after 1978 the DLP was reduced to a small "rump" based in Victoria, which nevertheless continued to contest federal elections as the DLP (according to the parliamentary library election results for 1980 and onward), although it failed to win a federal seat until the 2010 federal election when John Madigan was elected as the final Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
List of federal leaders
The following is a list of federal Labor Party leaders:
Key:
''PM'': Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
''LO'': Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
†: Died in office
See also
* Leaders of the Australian Labor Party
The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with ...
* Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)
The Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), also known as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the members of the party caucus, comprising all party mem ...
* Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)
The Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), commonly known as Victorian Labor, is the semi-autonomous Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Victorian branch comprises two major wings: the parliamentary wing and the organis ...
* Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
The Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch), commonly known as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed in 1891 as the United Labor Party of South Australia. It is one of two ...
* Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch)
The Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch), commonly known as ACT Labor, is the ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party. It is one of two major parties in the unicameral Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory.
O ...
References
Sources
* Calwell, A.A. (1963). ''Labor's Role in Modern Society''. Melbourne, Lansdowne Press
*
*
*
* Bramble, Tom, and Rick Kuhn. ''Labor's Conflict: Big Business, Workers, and the Politics of Class'' (Cambridge University Press; 2011) 240 pages;
External links
Australian Labor Party website
{{Australian Labor Party
Australian labour movement
Labour parties