The Independent Labor Group was a minor Australian political grouping in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

from 1959 to 1977. The group emerged when a number of Labor Party MLCs were expelled from the party for voting against the abolition of the Legislative Council, which was then party policy. Eight Labor MLCs were expelled in 1959, and they were formally constituted as the Independent Labor Group on 22 August 1961, electing Thomas Gleeson as their leader. They held the balance of power throughout most of the early 1960s, increasing their numbers to ten in 1961, when the Coalition aided the election of Amelia Rygate. In the late 1960s, however, the group's power began to diminish. Amelia Rygate rejoined the Labor Party in 1966;

Anne Press Anne Elizabeth Press, ''née'' Speechley (25 August 1903 – 23 August 1992) was an Australian politician. She was born at Dubbo to farmers Thomas and Charlotte Speechley. She was educated privately before training at Sydney Teachers Colleg ...

joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in 1967. The last Independent Labor representative, Cyril Cahill, died in 1977.

Parliamentarians

References

{{New South Wales political parties Defunct political parties in New South Wales Labour parties Political parties established in 1959 1959 establishments in Australia Political parties disestablished in 1977 1977 disestablishments in Australia