The Ferguson Left (also known as the "Soft Left" in New South Wales) is a political sub-faction in New South Wales within 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 t ...

(ALP) founded by Jack Ferguson. In New South Wales, the Soft Left traces its roots to the supporters of Peter Baldwin, who led the Steering Committee (previous name for the New South Wales Socialist Left) during its rise in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the dominant group on the Steering Committee until March 1989, when the Soft Left's

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 ...

was succeeded by the Hard Left's Anthony Albanese in an internal faction ballot for the leading position of Assistant General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party. The new Hard Left majority changed the name of the faction to the Socialist Left in November 1989. The traditional base for the Soft Left has been rank-and-file Labor activists. Strategically, it has advocated a continuation of the Baldwinite bottom-up strategy of mobilising the grassroots membership to win party positions. The large Australian trade union,

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

supported the Soft Left until 2010. In 2014 the sub-faction in New South Wales was led by Paul Lynch, and it currently still exists in New South Wales with the support of the

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

. The Soft Left continues to enjoy the support of the majority of Labor Party members in Western Sydney and Newcastle. In Victoria, there was a separate and distinct Ferguson faction led by Martin Ferguson, who was not affiliated with the Ferguson Left in New South Wales. Following the retirement of Martin Ferguson, the Ferguson faction reunited with the Victorian Socialist Left in 2014–15. Past federal members included Martin Ferguson and Julia Gillard.

References

{{Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party factions