The New South Wales Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) and commonly referred to simply as NSW Labor, is the
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 ...
branch 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 ...
. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the members of the
party 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 all party members in the
Legislative Assembly and
Legislative Council. The party factions have a strong influence on the election of the leader. The leader's position is dependent on the continuing support of the caucus (and party factions) and the leader may be deposed by failing to win a vote of confidence of parliamentary members. By convention, the premier sits in the Legislative Assembly, and is the leader of the party controlling a majority in that house. The party leader also typically is a member of the Assembly, though this is not a strict party constitutional requirement.
Barrie Unsworth
Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.
Early years
Unswort ...
, for example, was elected party leader while a member of the Legislative Council. He then transferred to the Assembly by winning a seat at a by-election.
When the Labor party wins sufficient seats to be able to control a majority in the Legislative Assembly, the party leader becomes the
State Premier and Labor will form the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
. When Labor is the largest party not in government, the party leader becomes the
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 ...
. To become a premier or opposition leader, the party leader must be or within a short period of time become a member of the Legislative Assembly.
History
Early history
The NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party, known as the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales from 1891 to 1917, first won 35 of the 141 seats in the NSW parliament at the
1891 election. The initial caucus voted against appointing a leader and the party was directed by a steering committee of five members until, following a request from the party's extra-parliamentary executive,
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 ...
was elected as the first leader in 1893. Cook left the party in the following year when he was obliged to sign a pledge that he would support all caucus decisions in parliament.
James McGowen
James Sinclair Taylor McGowen (16 August 1855 – 7 April 1922) was an Australian politician. He served as premier of New South Wales from 1910 to 1913, the first member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position, and was a key f ...
, who signed the pledge, succeeded Cook as party leader in 1894. At the
1894 state election Labor representation was reduced to 18. After the
1898 election, Labor held the balance of power with
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 ...
's
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 ...
government being dependent on Labor to push through New South Wales' adoption of
Federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
. McGowen's support for Federation was critical to Labor maintaining its support for the adoption of measures to implement Federation, even though the party remained opposed to the adopted Constitution, which it saw as biased in favour of business interests. The
1904 state election saw Labor become the second largest party and the official opposition for the first time.
First government in New South Wales and internal divisions
At the 1910 election, the Labor Party first won government in NSW with a slim majority of 46 of 90 seats; as a result, McGowen was premier from 1910 to 1913. But increasing success was accompanied by increasing tensions within the labour movement: from the 1890s the
Australian Workers' Union
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...
attempted to assert its influence on the NSW parliamentary party, with little success for many years. Divisions also opened up between state and federal Labor after
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 ...
took office as Prime Minister of the
first federal Labor government in 1908:
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, ...
, the NSW party's main parliamentary strategist at the time, presented a policy agenda at state party conferences which differed from that approved by the federal party, in particular in its opposition to the transfer of responsibilities for finance and industrial relations from the state to the Commonwealth government, a dispute in which the AWU sided with the ALP. Tensions continued to rise during McGowen's premiership, as McGowen and Holman refused to support the holding of the
1911 trade and commerce referendum favoured by the ALP: in addition Holman alienated extra-parliamentary Labor members and some of the NSW caucus by appointing a number of new members to the state's
Legislative Council, including some who were not Labor members. This ran counter to the state party's platform, which advocated for the abolition of the Council, something which was not attempted by the state Labor governments of the 1910s, and which was a divisive issue in the party at the time.
McGowen was deposed by his deputy Holman after McGowen attempted to break a gas workers' strike by threatening to replace strikers with non-union labour. Upon the outbreak 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 ...
, Holman announced a truce with the state
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 would take industrial reform off the agenda for the remainder of the war. In addition, the prospect of putting the economy on a war footing increased fears regarding job losses. These developments increased disillusion with Labor among unions and encouraged thinking about new political strategies. In November 1915 Labor affiliated unions in NSW, led by the AWU, formed the Industrial Section, the first formally organised Labor faction in Australia, with the aim of asserting control over the NSW parliamentary party. At the state party conference in April 1916, the Industrial Section, swept the party's internal elections, taking 31 out of 36 offices including the party's presidency. The Industrial Section became a model for later factional organisations in the ALP, both in New South Wales and nationwide.
Conscription split
The
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 ...
issue divided the Labor Party and wider Australian community in 1916. While much of the Australian labour movement and general community was opposed to conscription, Australian 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 ...
and Premier Holman strongly supported conscription, and both crossed the floor to vote with the conservative parties, and both were expelled from the Labor Party. When Hughes met with the executive of NSW Labor in September 1916 to attempt to persuade them to back his conscription plan, he lost the vote 21–5 and was warned that he would be expelled if he continued to press the matter.
Ernest Durack
Ernest Durack (10 August 1882 – 16 November 1967) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1913 until 1917, and the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) in New South Wales for three months unti ...
became state party leader, while Holman formed a coalition on 15 November 1916 with the leader of the opposition
Liberal Reform Party,
Charles Wade
Sir Charles Gregory Wade KCMG, KC, JP (26 January 1863 – 26 September 1922) was Premier of New South Wales – 21 October 1910. According to Percival Serle, "Wade was a public-spirited man of high character. His ability, honesty and cou ...
, with himself as Premier. Following the exodus of pro-conscription MPs from the party, many leaders of the Industrial Section took advantage of the new vacancies to secure selection for open seats.
Early in 1917, Holman and his supporters merged with Liberal Reform to form the state branch of 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 ...
, with Holman as leader. At the 1917 election, the Nationalists won a huge victory. During his leadership of the Nationalist government, Holman vigorously defended the government-owned enterprises from his fellow conservatives in power. Durack's leadership lasted only for about three months, and he was succeeded by
John Storey in February 1917. In April 1918 the Industrial Section changed its name to the Industrial Vigilance Council, a change in part prompted by a leftward shift in the union movement influenced by the Great War and the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), 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 ad ...
. At this point it was increasingly beset by internal divisions, in particular between the relatively conservative AWU and smaller unions and radicals such as the
syndicalist
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...
-influenced
Sam Rosa
Samuel Albert Rosa (31 January 1866 – 25 May 1940) was a British socialist and journalist.
Biography
The son of housepainter Alexander Rosa and Mary Elizabeth Henshaw, Rosa was probably born in Marylebone, Middlesex, London where he atte ...
. This came to a head during 1919 due to divisions over whether conscription should end following the closing of the First World War and whether the Australian union movement should adopt the syndicalist principle of the
One Big Union. The faction was wound up in August 1919, with many of its radicals such as
Albert Willis going on to form the
Industrial Socialist Labor Party
The Industrial Socialist Labor Party, Industrial Labor Party and the Independent Labor Party were short lived socialist political parties in Australia in 1919 and the early 1920s. The Industrial Socialist Labor Party was founded by radical soci ...
. This left the state party firmly in the control of the AWU
At the 1920 election, Holman and his Nationalists were thrown from office in a massive swing, being succeeded by a Labor government led by Storey. Labor won the 1920 election with a majority of one.
Dooley–Storey era
On Storey's death in October 1921,
James Dooley became leader of the party and premier. His government was defeated on the floor of the House on 13 December 1921, but new Premier
George Fuller lost a vote within seven hours of his appointment, and Dooley regained power. He lost the
1922 election to Fuller in a highly sectarian election campaign.
As the result of a dispute with a party executive, dominated by the
Australian Workers' Union
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...
, Dooley was expelled from the party in February 1923 and replaced by
Greg McGirr
John Joseph Gregory McGirr (11 October 1879 – 23 March 1949) was an Australian politician who served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1913 to 1925, representing the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party. He served as the party's ...
as leader, but the
Federal Executive intervened and appointed
Bill Dunn as an interim leader until
Jack Lang was elected by the caucus, with the support of more radical unions, most prominently Albert Willis and his
Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation
The Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation (often known as the Miners' Federation of Australia) was an Australian trade union representing workers in the coal mining industry from 1913 to 1990.
It was first federally registered in 1913 a ...
.
Lang era
Lang led the ALP to victory in the
1925 election and became Premier. His support in the caucus was challenged in 1926 and in that year the party's annual State Conference, which strongly supported Lang, assumed the right to select the leader instead of caucus. The following year Lang and his extra-parliamentary allies drastically altered the party rules so that State Conference delegates and members of the Central Executive were elected in a complicated group system. The ALP was defeated at the
1927 election but won in a landslide at the
1930 election.
Lang opposed the
Premiers' Plan
The Premiers' Plan was a deflationary economic policy agreed by a meeting of the Premiers of the Australian states in June 1931 to combat the Great Depression in Australia that sparked the 1931 Labor split.
Background
The Great Depressio ...
to combat the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
agreed to by the federal Labor government of
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 the other state Premiers, who called for even more stringent cuts to government spending to balance the budget. In March 1931, the NSW branch of the party was expelled by the
Federal Executive in the
Federal Conference.
In October 1931, Lang's followers in the federal House of Representatives crossed the floor to vote with the conservative
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 bring down the Scullin government.
This action split the NSW Labor Party in two – Lang's followers and the expelled NSW branch became known as
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 ...
, while Scullin's supporters, led by Chifley, became known in NSW as
Federal Labor. Most of the party's branches and affiliated trade unions supported Lang. Furthermore, Lang's persistence with his plan led to the
Lang Dismissal Crisis
The 1932 dismissal of Premier Jack Lang by New South Wales Governor Philip Game was the first real constitutional crisis in Australia. Lang remains the only Australian premier to be removed from office by his governor, using the reserve po ...
in 1931–32 which led to his dismissal as premier by the State Governor on 13 May 1932. The Governor appointed the UAP leader,
Bertram Stevens, as premier and Stevens immediately called the
1932 election, at which Labor was heavily defeated. In February 1936, the NSW branch rejoined the Australian Labor Party and became the official NSW branch of the ALP again.
Federal Labor was then abolished.
Lang's lack of success at state elections eroded his support within the labour movement. He had not won a state election since 1930. This led some members of caucus, including
Bob Heffron, to break away to form the
Industrial Labor Party
The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a short-lived but influential political party active in New South Wales between 1936 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Labor Party (ALP) and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and Car ...
. In 1939, following intervention by the Federal Executive, the two factions were reunited at a state conference. This gathering also reversed the "red rules" and returned the power of selecting the party leader to the caucus. Lang was deposed in 1939.
McKell and post-war era
William McKell
Sir William John McKell (26 September 1891 – 11 January 1985) was an Australian politician who served as the 12th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1947 to 1953. He had previously been Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947 ...
became party leader, reuniting and rejuvenating the party. Under his leadership the extreme left wing of the party had been expelled and had contested the
1941 election as the far left wing
State Labor Party. McKell led Labor to a convincing victory and became Premier. State Labor's poor showing had resulted in its dissolution shortly after the election. During
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 ...
McKell became a close collaborator of Labor Prime Ministers
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 ...
and
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 ...
, being a particularly close friend of the latter. Labor unity was again threatened by Jack Lang who had been expelled from the Labor Party in 1943 and formed another version of 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 ...
Party. On this occasion he received no support from the rest of the caucus and spent the rest of the term as the sole member. At the
1944 election McKell won another victory, the first time a New South Wales Labor government had been re-elected. On early 1947 he resigned and announced acceptance of appointment as
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 ...
.
James McGirr
James "Jim" McGirr, Justice of the peace, JP (6 February 1890 – 27 October 1957) was the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Premier of New South Wales from 6 February 1947 to 3 April 1952.
A Catholic, McGirr was the seven ...
was elected leader and premier and led Labor to another victory at the
1947 election. McGirr nearly lost the
1950 election and was replaced in 1952 by
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 ...
.
Labor in government, 1952–1965
Cahill decisively won the
1953 election. He was desperate to keep the New South Wales branch of the ALP united despite the sectarian and ideological split that resulted in the formation of the right-wing
Democratic Labor Party in 1954. He achieved this by controlling the anti-DLP faction in his party. The DLP did not contest the
1956 election, which Labor won. Cahill was returned in the
1959 election, but died in office later that year. He was succeeded as leader and premier by
Bob Heffron. Heffron continued the Labor reign in New South Wales winning the
1962 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 election ending 24 years of Labor power in the state.
Opposition, 1965–1976
Renshaw also lost the
1968 election, after which he resigned the leadership, to be succeeded by
Pat Hills
Patrick Darcy Hills (31 December 1917 – 22 April 1992) was a New South Wales politician. He served in various high offices across the state most notably the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Leader of the Opposition and as the Lord Mayor ...
. Hills lost the
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
and
1973 election after which he was deposed by
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...
.
Wran–Unsworth era, 1976–1988
Wran narrowly won the
1976 election and remained premier until 1986. He was succeeded by
Barrie Unsworth
Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.
Early years
Unswort ...
who took over the premiership until Labor's loss at the
1988 election, after which he resigned.
Carr era, 1988–2005
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
became leader in 1988 and led Labor to victory in the
1995 election. Carr was premier for 10 years, before resigning in 2005. He was the longest continuous-serving premier in New South Wales.
Iemma era, 2005–2008
Carr was succeeded by
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
. At the time, the state transport network was inferior, and public transport was often criticised as the most stark example of Carr's inaction. Iemma and the
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 ...
Michael Costa supported the idea to sidestep the high costs and industrial risks of the existing RailCorp network and instead begin building a new rapid transit rail system in parallel. The new system would incorporate smaller, lighter rolling stock, reducing construction costs, and be operated by the private sector, reducing operating costs. But despite the savings available via the rapid transit option, the costs were still beyond the state's means.
Iemma comfortably won the
2007 election with the loss of only four seats. His strategy was to draw a line under the failures of the Carr era and ask the electorate for another chance. The Opposition ran a poor campaign, and the electorate was minded to trust the affable, hard-working new premier. Iemma was returned but with far less political capital than the size of Labor's majority would suggest.
Proposed electricity privatisation
Journalist Simon Benson describes a crucial meeting in late 2007 between Iemma and Labor state president
Bernie Riordan
Bernie may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Bernie, Missouri, a city
* Griffithsville, West Virginia, also called Bernie
People
* Bernie (given name)
** Bernie Sanders, United States senator and 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential candid ...
during the height of the furore over electricity privatisation:
emmahad laid out on his desk a spreadsheet of infrastructure projects … On the bottom half were all the projects the state needed if it was to avoid choking on its own congestion within the next decade. It amounted to more than $25 billion. And that was what they hadn't even announced.
"This is why I am the Premier," he told Riordan, emphasising his belief that it was critical for the privatisation to succeed. "These rojectsneed to be done. I need to do these."
Immediately following the 2007 election, Iemma and
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 ...
Costa
Costa may refer to:
Biology
* Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy
* Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus
* Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral
* Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...
secretly plotted their strategy for the next four years, under the heading of "bullets to bite". Both knew that if they were to build the new rapid transit system and address the growing crisis in electricity supply, they would need to bring the private sector into the state's electricity industry first.
The federal party's immediate political needs intervened, with the new federal Labor leader
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 ...
persuading Iemma to defer his privatisation announcement until after the
2007 federal election. Rudd felt he could ill afford the distraction of a debate over asset sales in the country's most populous state. With the funding source a secret, the rapid transit plan had to be kept under wraps as well.
Along with his plan to sell the government's electricity generation and retailing companies, Iemma announced a massive infrastructure scheme involving
South West Rail Link
The South West Rail Link is a railway line serving the developing suburbs of south-western Sydney, Australia between Glenfield and Leppington. Services form part of the Sydney Trains commuter rail network. It opened on 8 February 2015.
Descr ...
, an inner city motorway network, and the
Metro Link network, a system of underground, privately operated, single-deck, automated trains. The government planned to use up to $3 billion from the sale of retail electricity to help fund the inner city motorway network, linking the
M4 Western Motorway
The M4 Motorway is a dual carriageway partially tolled motorway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is designated as the M4 route. The M4 designation is part of the wider A4 and M4 route designation, the M4 runs parallel/below grou ...
to the
CBD and the
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
The
Electrical Trades Union (ETU) was ideologically opposed to the privatisation of the electricity businesses and led opposition to the plan. The ETU's secretary, Bernie Riordan, was also the president of NSW Labor. The secretary of the
Unions NSW
The Labor Council of New South Wales, branded Unions NSW, is the peak body for trade unions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. As of 2005 there are 67 unions and 8 Rural and Regional Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Labor Coun ...
,
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to:
Politicians United Kingdom politicians
* J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918
*John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
, was also a member of the ETU and opposed the privatisation. The party secretary,
Karl Bitar
Karl Bitar was the 9th National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party and former General Secretary of NSW Labor. He now works as an executive for Crown Limited.
Political career
Between 1999 and 2004, Bitar worked as an organiser for NSW Lab ...
, and his deputy,
Luke Foley
Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...
, were less ideologically committed on the issue, but their polling showed that the public was against a sale and – more importantly – tiring of Iemma and his team. They too came down against Iemma's plan.
What followed was an extraordinary, year-long struggle by the party's head office and affiliated trade unions to force cabinet and caucus to abandon an already-announced policy. Robertson, Bitar and Foley had the union-dominated party conference pass a motion reminding MPs of the party's notional commitment to
democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, 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- ...
. Next, union and party officials began threatening Labor MPs with disendorsement if they voted with the Premier on privatisation. Remembering the promise Rudd had made to him in 2007, Iemma called on the Prime Minister to have the federal party intervene to protect MPs who sided with the Government. Rudd declined. Former Prime Minister
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 ...
, former premiers Carr,
Barrie Unsworth
Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.
Early years
Unswort ...
and
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...
, and former Labor Council secretaries
Michael Easson
Michael Bernard Easson AM (born 22 March 1955 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), is an Australian businessman and former trade union leader. On 8 June 1998 Easson was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia ( AM).
Trade union wor ...
and
John McBean came out publicly in support of Iemma.
On 3 May 2008, the NSW Labor's State Conference rejected, by 702 to 107 votes, the Iemma government's plans to privatise the state's electricity system.
Two members of the party's
Socialist Left faction, upper house MPs
Lynda Voltz
Lynda Jane Voltz (born 1965) is an Australian politician and Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Auburn since 2019. Voltz was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to ...
and
Ian West
Ian William West (born 3 August 1951) is an Australian politician and former Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, serving from 2000 until his retirement in 2011.
Ian West was born on 3 August 1951 to parents Bill and ...
, succumbed to the pressure and announced that they would vote against the party on privatisation. Had the vote gone ahead, it would have been the first instance of a Labor MP '
crossing the floor
In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...
' in 14 years of government. The
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Opposition, led by moderate
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...
, saw an opportunity to wound Iemma by denying him the opportunity to build the metro. Together, West, Voltz, the
Greens and the Opposition had the numbers to defeat the Government in the upper house in August 2008.
On 3 September 2008,
Deputy Premier
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
and Transport Minister
John Watkins announced he was going to retire for family reasons, triggering a cabinet reshuffle. On 4 September 2008, Costa was advised by Iemma that he would no longer be in the forthcoming reshuffle and hence dumped as Treasurer. Iemma had also proposed that other ministers would be dumped, including Health Minister
Reba Meagher
Reba Paige Meagher (born 11 September 1967) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Cabramatta. She was a minister in various portfolios from 2003 t ...
. Iemma's faction, Centre Unity, supported the sacking of the Treasurer but not the other four Ministers. The following day, right-wing Labor powerbrokers
Eddie Obeid
Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister f ...
and
Joe Tripodi
Joseph Guerino Tripodi (born 25 November 1967), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for ...
told Iemma that he had lost the support of MPs and would not survive a caucus meeting.
Nathan Rees
Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...
also walked into the meeting with a number of Labor MPs announcing he had the numbers to overthrow Iemma. Seeing that he had lost the support of his caucus faction, Iemma resigned as leader and Premier. He was replaced by Rees as leader and Premier.
Rees and Keneally era, 2008–2011
Rees was leader and premier for only 15 months before he was deposed by
Kristina Keneally
Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Represe ...
, who resigned after Labor was defeated in a landslide at the
2011 election.
Opposition, 2011–2023
Keneally was succeeded by
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to:
Politicians United Kingdom politicians
* J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918
*John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
. He resigned in December 2014, after the
2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The Lindt Cafe siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café in the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney, A ...
, after it was revealed that he had had contact with
Man Haron Monis
Man Haron Monis (born Mohammed Hassan Manteghi Borujerdi; 19 May 1964 – 16 December 2014) was an Iranian-born refugee and Australian citizen who took hostages in a siege at the Lindt Chocolate Café at Martin Place, Sydney on 15 Decem ...
, who was one of Robertson's constituents. On 5 January 2015
Luke Foley
Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...
was elected leader. In the
2015 state election, Labor achieved a 9.9-point two-party-preferred swing, but the Coalition comfortably retained government. Foley resigned in November 2018 in the face of sexual assault allegations, and was succeeded by
Michael Daley in the resulting
leadership contest. In the
2019 election, the party recorded a small TPP swing in its favour and won two seats, but remained in opposition. On 25 March 2019, Daley announced his intention to step down as leader.
Penny Sharpe
Penelope Gail Sharpe (born 22 October 1970) is an Australian politician. She has served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2005, representing the Labor Party. Since June 2021, Sharpe is the leader of the opposition in ...
, who was elected deputy leader in November 2018, served as interim leader until the
leadership ballot was held in June;
Jodi McKay
Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...
was elected leader. In May 2021, McKay resigned the leadership, and was replaced by
Chris Minns
Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician who is the leader of the NSW Labor Party. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Kogarah for the Labor Party at the 2015 New Sout ...
on 4 June 2021.
Attempted party reforms
Between 2009 and 2014, the
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began or completed a series of investigations into the behaviours of a number of Labor politicians, including
Angela D'Amore
Angela D'Amore (born 10 October 1971), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Drummoyne from 2003 until 2011.
Background and early years
D'Amore is the daughte ...
,
Tony Kelly,
Ian Macdonald
Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from a ...
,
Eddie Obeid
Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister f ...
,
Karyn Paluzzano, and
Joe Tripodi
Joseph Guerino Tripodi (born 25 November 1967), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for ...
.
[ The ICAC made a series of adverse findings against all six politicians, although Paluzzano was the only one to face criminal charges. For bringing the party into disrepute, Kelly had his membership of Labor terminated in 2011;] both Macdonald and Obeid had their membership terminated in 2013; and Tripodi suffered the same fate in 2014. Other investigations and criminal charges were laid against Craig Thomson, a federal politician from New South Wales, and Michael Williamson, a senior Labor official, also from New South Wales. Both Thomson and Williamson were adversely implicated in the Health Services Union expenses affair
The Health Services Union expenses affair was an Australian political scandal that concerned criminal activities associated with the financial affairs of the Health Services Union of Australia (HSU), between 2006 and 2007; and the Health Servic ...
. Their membership of NSW Labor was terminated in 2014.
Seeking to stamp out perceived corruption and factional infighting, 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 ...
John Faulkner
John Philip Faulkner (born 12 April 1954) is an Australian former Labor Party politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1989 to 2015. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Keating, Rudd and Gillard Governments.
After his election to ...
began a process of reforms that proposed to include rankandfile members in decisions such as the selection of candidates for Senate and Legislative Council vacancies and party tickets, and a vote in the direct election of the New South Wales parliamentary leaders. However, Faulkner's reform proposals were mostly rejected at NSW Labor's 2014 conference. The direct election of party leader gained support with effect from after the 2015 election.
Following the suspension of the general secretary of NSW Labor, Kaila Murnain
Kaila Murnain is an Australian politician who was the first female General Secretary of NSW Labor.
Early life and education
Murnain was born in Newcastle, to parents Anne and Neil, and grew up in Narrabri in north western New South Wales. Mur ...
in 2019, the NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay
Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...
and federal Labor Leader 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 ...
announced a further review into the party. Michael Lavarch
Michael Hugh Lavarch AO (born 8 June 1961) is an Australian lawyer, educator and former politician. He was the Attorney-General for Australia between 1993 and 1996, and from 2004 to 2012 was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Queensland U ...
conducted the review after Murnain admitted to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (New South Wales)
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for eliminating and investigating corrupt activities and enhancing the integrity of the state's public administration. The Comm ...
that she was aware that billionaire property developer Huang Xiangmo
Huang Xiangmo () is a Chinese billionaire real estate developer. He was a permanent resident and political donor in Australia, but was later barred entry into the country on national security grounds. Additionally, then Australian Prime Minister ...
made an illegal $100,000 donation to NSW Labor in 2016. The Lavarch Review recommended changes to internal governance and oversight mechanisms within NSW Labor including the establishment of a State Executive Board to oversee the existing NSW Labor Administrative Committee.
Country Labor
Country Labor was a subsection of the ALP, and was used as a designation by candidates contesting elections in rural areas. It functioned as a sort of ginger group
The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to act ...
within the party, and was somewhat analogous to its youth wing
A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...
. The Country Labor Party was registered as a separate party in NSW, until 2021 and was also registered with the Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
(AEC) for federal elections.[Current register of political parties]
, Australian Electoral Commission.
The creation of a separate designation for rural candidates was first suggested at the June 1999 ALP state conference in NSW. In May 2000, following Labor's success at the 2000 Benalla by-election in Victoria, 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 ...
announced that the ALP intended to register a separate "Country Labor Party" with the AEC;[Country Labor: a new direction?]
, 7 June 2000, retrieved 29 September 2017 this occurred in October 2000.[ The Country Labor designation is most frequently used in New South Wales. According to the ALP's financial statements for the 2015–16 financial year, NSW Country Labor had around 2,600 members (around 17 percent of the party total), but almost no assets. It recorded a severe funding shortfall at the 2015 NSW state election, and had to rely on a $1.68 million loan from the party proper to remain solvent. It had been initially assumed that the party proper could provide the money from its own resources, but the NSW Electoral Commission ruled that this was impermissible because the parties were registered separately. Instead the party proper had to loan Country Labor the required funds at a commercial interest rate.
The dedicated Country Labor political party was de-registered in October 2021 in a major party reform.] Instead of a dedicated political party, the ALP instead pledged to dedicate "30 per cent of winnable seats in upper house ticket to people who live in regional NSW".
Other Labor-aligned groups
In New South Wales, a number of groups have been formed as associates of the NSW branch. These groups are divided along policy, cultural and professional lines. They include the following:
* Sub-Continent Friends of Labor
* Arabic Friends of Labor
* Chinese Friends of Labor
* Labor Action for Multicultural Policy
* Labor Science Network
* NSW Society of Labor Lawyers
* Labor Environment Action Network
* Aboriginal Labor Network
* Labor for Treaty
* Labor for the Arts
* Irish Friends of Labor
List of parliamentary leaders
List of deputy parliamentary leaders
Executive leaders
Presidents
General secretaries
Election results
State elections
Federal elections
Notes
References
{{Government of New South Wales
New South Wales branch
New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party
Political parties established in 1891
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...