Australian Labor Party (ALP) is Australia’s oldest political party. It grew out of Australia’s labor movement of the 1880’s and 1890’s. Today, many trade, or labor, unions in Australia still have ties to the party. 
The ALP describes itself as a democratic socialist party that supports democracy, equality, liberty, and social cooperation. It holds that government has a critical role in ensuring equal opportunity for all people, removing discrimination, and achieving a fairer distribution of power and wealth. The ALP is committed to helping disadvantaged people; protecting workers’ rights; and maintaining freedom of association, conscience, and expression, as well as the right of individuals to own property. The federal ALP consists of three internal factions (groups)—the Right, the Centre Left, and the Left. The Right is the most conservative group; the Left is the most progressive.
Organization.
ALP membership consists of members of local branches of the party and members of trade unions affiliated with the party. Members elect delegates to attend state conferences. Half the delegates to state conferences are party representatives, and half are union representatives. A committee called the state executive is elected at each state conference. It serves as the ALP’s administrative authority for that state.
The ALP national conference meets every three years to determine party policy. It consists of 400 delegates, including representatives from each state or territory, members who hold national offices in the party, and some members of the federal Parliament and state parliaments. Three representatives from Australian Young Labor, the party’s youth wing, also attend the conference. The national executive interprets ALP policy between conferences.
Members of the ALP in the federal Parliament and in each state parliament elect a leader. They also elect ministers, if the ALP is in power, and shadow ministers, if the ALP is in opposition. Shadow ministers are senior members of the opposition party who lead responses to the policies of the government.
History.
During the severe economic depression that began in 1890, Australia’s trade unions suffered losses in a number of strikes. These defeats led them to take political action by forming political parties.
In a state election in 1891, the Labor Electoral League (later the Labor Party) won 35 of 141 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. Labor made similar gains in other states as well. In 1899, the world’s first Labor government held office briefly in Queensland.
During the 1900’s, the Australian Labor Party controlled the federal government about one-third of the time. A minority Labor government first controlled Australia for a few months in 1904. Chris Watson served as prime minister during this time. In 1910, the ALP won its first majority government. Led by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, this administration lasted until 1913.
In 1917, during World War I, Labor experienced a serious setback when party leader and Prime Minister William Morris Hughes left the ALP because it opposed the military draft. Twenty-three members of Parliament also left the party, which then lost control of the government. Another serious split occurred within the party in the 1950’s. Members who opposed what they saw as Communist influence in the ALP and trade unions created the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). The DLP helped keep the ALP out of office for over 20 years. The ALP did not regain control of the federal government until 1972, when Gough Whitlam became prime minister.
A constitutional crisis occurred in 1975, when the opposition parties in the Senate denied Whitlam’s government funds that it needed to operate. But Whitlam, whose party had a clear majority in the House of Representatives, refused to call new elections. Governor General Sir John Kerr broke the deadlock by removing Whitlam from office. He appointed Malcolm Fraser, the Liberal Party leader, interim prime minister until new elections could take place. See Australia, History of (The dismissal); Whitlam, Gough.
The ALP did not govern Australia again until 1983, when Bob Hawke led it to victory. Paul Keating succeeded Hawke as party leader and prime minister in 1991. In 1996, the party lost control of the government to a coalition (partnership) of the Liberal and National parties. In 2007, Kevin Rudd led the ALP to a victory over the coalition in national elections. Rudd then became prime minister. Rudd’s deputy, Julia Gillard, successfully challenged him for the party’s leadership in 2010. Gillard became Australia’s first female prime minister. Rudd successfully challenged Gillard for the ALP leadership in 2013 and again became prime minister. In a parliamentary election later that year, the ALP lost control of the federal government to a coalition of the Liberal and National parties. In the 2022 elections, the ALP won more seats in the House of Representatives than any other party. The ALP’s leader, Anthony Albanese, became prime minister.
