Labor Right

Not to be confused with Labor rights.

Labor Right
National Convenor(s)	Matt Thistlethwaite, Don Farrell and Raff Ciccone [1]
Student wing	Student Unity
Ideology	Third Way [2] Minority: Social conservatism [3] [4] [5]
National affiliation	Australian Labor
Colours	Red
Seats in the House of Representatives	42 / 151
Seats in the Senate	11 / 76
Federal Caucus	53 / 103
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor or Labor Unity, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more supportive of free markets and more or equally socially conservative than the Labor Left ^[6] The Labor Right is a broad alliance of various state factions and competes with the Labor Left faction.

State branches

Factional power usually finds expression in the percentage vote of aligned delegates at party conferences. The power of the Labor Right varies from state to state, but it usually relies on certain trade unions, such as the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and the Health Services Union (HSU). These unions send delegates to the conference, with delegates usually coming from the membership, the administration of the union or local branches covered by their activists.

State-based factions (national sub-factions) which make up Labor Right include:

New South Wales

• Centre Unity.

Queensland

• Labor Forum (dominated by the AWU). ^[7]

Australian Capital Territory ^[8]

• Centre Coalition.

Victoria

• Labor Centre Unity (The Shorts: consisting of branch members and unions aligned with Bill Shorten, including the Australian Workers Union, Health Workers Union and the Plumbers). ^[9]
• Labor Progressive Unity (The Cons: Consisting largely of Branch Members aligned to and supporters of Labor Deputy Leader Richard Marles and the Transport Workers Union).
• Labor Unity (The Shoppies: Consisting largely of branch members aligned to and supports of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association)

Western Australia

• WA Labor Unity (AWU, SDA, TWU).
• Progressive Labor (Consists of AWU, SDA, TWU and CFMEU). ^{[10] [11]} An alliance between WA Labor Unity and the 'Industrial left' unions of WA, formed in 2019 for the purpose of binding at State conferences against some subgroups within WA's Broad left; such as the UWU. Historically, the MUA and CFMEU have voted at State conferences in alignment with the Broad left.

Northern Territory

• Labor Unity.

South Australia

• Labor Unity (dominated by the SDA). ^[12]

Tasmania

• Labor Unity.

Political views

An overriding stated theme of the more moderate wing of Labor governance is balance between progressive social change and generally more conservative economic management than the Labor Left as the pathway to community development and growth. Many Roman Catholics have been prominent and influential in the Labor Party, both inside and outside the auspices of the Labor Right faction. Their influence had been criticised by many older Labor socialists and Protestant conservatives for being beholden to religious authority. However, this sentiment has decreased since the 1970s with the erosion of religious sectarianism in Australian politics.

The faction is most famous for its support of Third Way policies over Labor's traditional early twentieth century social democratic policies,^{[ citation needed ]} such as the economic rationalist policies of the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating governments, including floating the Australian dollar in December 1983, reductions in trade tariffs, taxation reforms such as the introduction of dividend imputation to eliminate double-taxation of dividends and the lowering of the top marginal income tax rate from 60% in 1983 to 47% in 1996, changing from centralised wage-fixing to enterprise bargaining, the privatisation of Qantas and Commonwealth Bank, making the Reserve Bank of Australia independent, and deregulating the banking system.

Youth wing

While the senior faction is broken into various state- and union-based groupings the Young Labor Right is organised around the various parliamentarian factional leaders and power brokers. The Victorian Young Labor Right is currently divided between the Conroy / TWU (Young Labor Progressive Unity), the SDA-aligned (Young Labor Unity) and the AWU / Shorten- aligned(Young Labor Centre Unity).^{[ citation needed ]} The NSW Young Labor Right known as Young Centre Unity is the largest Labor Right youth faction.^{[ citation needed ]}

Federal Members of the Labor Right

Name	Parliamentary seat	Other positions	State/Territory	Sub-faction/union
Richard Marles [13]	Member for Corio	Deputy Prime Minister Minister for Defence	Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Dr Jim Chalmers [13]	Member for Rankin	Treasurer	Queensland	AWU
Tony Burke [13]	Member for Watson	Minister for Industrial Relations	New South Wales	SDA
Mark Dreyfus KC [13]	Member for Isaacs	Attorney–General	Victoria	AWU, 'Shorts'
Bill Shorten [14]	Member for Maribyrnong	Minister for Government Services Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme	Victoria	AWU, 'Shorts'
Don Farrell [15]	Senator for South Australia	Special Minister of State Minister for Trade and Tourism	South Australia	SDA
Chris Bowen [13]	Member for McMahon	Minister for Climate Change and Energy	New South Wales
Jason Clare [15]	Member for Blaxland	Minister for Education	New South Wales
Michelle Rowland [16]	Member for Greenway	Minister for Communications	New South Wales
Amanda Rishworth [16]	Member for Kingston	Minister for Social Services	South Australia	SDA
Steve Georganas [16]	Member for Adelaide		South Australia
Madeleine King [17]	Member for Brand	Minister for Resources Minister for Northern Australia	Western Australia
Shayne Neumann [15]	Member for Blair	Chair of Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Chair of Standing Committee on Procedure	Queensland	ASU
Clare O'Neil [14]	Member for Hotham	Minister for Home Affairs Minister for Cyber Security	Victoria	NUW
Matt Keogh [17]	Member for Burt	Minister for Veterans' Affairs Minister for Defence Personnel	Western Australia	AWU
Matt Thistlethwaite [18] [19]	Member for Kingsford Smith	Assistant Minister for Defence Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs Assistant Minister for the Republic	New South Wales	AWU
Tim Watts [20] [21]	Member for Gellibrand	Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs	Victoria	'Cons'
Glenn Sterle ‡ [17]	Senator for Western Australia	Chair of Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee	Western Australia	TWU
Emma McBride	Member for Dobell	Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health	New South Wales
Justine Elliot	Member for Richmond	Assistant Minister for Social Services Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence	New South Wales
Alison Byrnes	Member for Cunningham		New South Wales
Ed Husic	Member for Chifley	Minister for Industry and Science	New South Wales	CEPU (CWU)
Deborah O'Neill	Senator for New South Wales	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Deputy Chair of Select Committee on Work and Care Deputy Chair of Standing Committee of Privileges	New South Wales	SDA
Helen Polley	Senator for Tasmania	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement	Tasmania	AWU, SDA
Rob Mitchell	Member for McEwen	Chair of Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests Chair of House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources	Victoria	'Cons'
Catryna Bilyk	Senator for Tasmania	Chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Senators' Interests	Tasmania	ASU, TWU
Anthony Chisholm	Senator for Queensland	Assistant Minister for Education Assistant Minister for Regional Development	Queensland	AWU
Peter Khalil	Member for Wills		Victoria	AWU, "Shorts"
Milton Dick	Member for Oxley	Speaker of the House of Representatives Chair of Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings Chair of Selection Committee Chair of Standing Committee on Appropriations and Administration	Queensland	AWU
Matt Burnell	Member for Spence		South Australia	TWU
Meryl Swanson	Member for Paterson	Chair of Standing Committee on Agriculture	New South Wales
Luke Gosling	Member for Solomon	Chair of Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport	Northern Territory	SDA
David Smith	Member for Bean	Government Whip	Australian Capital Territory	Professionals Australia
Raff Ciccone	Senator for Victoria	Deputy Government Whip in the Senate Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee Deputy Chair of Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills	Victoria	SDA “Shoppies”
Dr Daniel Mulino	Member for Fraser	Chair of Standing Committee on Economics	Victoria	SDA “Shoppies”
Josh Burns	Member for Macnamara	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights	Victoria	'Cons'
Anika Wells	Member for Lilley	Minister for Aged Care Minister for Sport	Queensland	AWU
Marielle Smith	Senator for South Australia	Chair of Community Affairs Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Community Affairs References Committee	South Australia	SDA
Tony Sheldon	Senator for New South Wales	Chair of Education and Employment Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Education and Employment References Committee	New South Wales	TWU
Dr Mike Freelander	Member for Macarthur	Chair of Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport	New South Wales
Cassandra Fernando	Member for Holt		Victoria	SDA
Jana Stewart	Senator for Victoria		Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Sam Rae	Member for Hawke		Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Varun Ghosh	Senator for West Australia		Western Australia
Andrew Charlton	Member for Parramatta		New South Wales
Sally Sitou	Member for Reid		New South Wales
Kristy McBain	Member for Eden-Monaro		New South Wales
Dan Repacholi	Member for Hunter		New South Wales
Joanne Ryan	Member for Lalor	Chief Government Whip	Victoria
Michelle Ananda-Rajah	Member for Higgins		Victoria
Tania Lawrence	Member for Hasluck		Western Australia
Sam Lim	Member for Tangney		Western Australia
Gordon Reid	Member for Robertson		New South Wales

‡ Sterle was formerly a member of the now-defunct Centre Left.

See also

• Labor Left
• Category: Labor Right politicians, current and former parliamentary members of the Labor Right
• Moderates (Centrist faction in the Liberal Party of Australia)
• New Democrats (centrist faction in the Democratic Party of the United States)
• Blue Dogs (conservative faction in the Democratic Party of the United States)
• Progress (organisation associated with the Labour Party (UK))
• Seeheimer Kreis (conservative faction in the Social Democratic Party of Germany)

References

1. Massola, James (25 June 2022). "The power behind the PM – who are Labor's powerbrokers in government?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
2. Jingjing Huo (2009). Third Way Reforms: Social Democracy After the Golden Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 79. ISBN   978-0-521-51843-7.
3. "Labor 'Shoppies' still powerful: Senator".
4. "What's happened to the conservative wing of the Australian Labor Party?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 9 October 2013.
5. Brown, Greg (8 October 2018). "Kimberley Kitching caters for Labor's conservative core". The Australian .
6. Massola, James (14 February 2021). "What are Labor's factions and who's who in the Left and Right?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
7. "Left takes over Queensland Labor in historic shift". The Australia. 31 July 2014.
8. "Contest in ACT comes down to the ALP machine versus genuine locals". Crikey. 9 April 2010.
9. Rundle), Guy (18 July 2018). "The instability of Labor's latest factional stability deal". Crikey.
10. Butterly, Nick; Delalande, Joanna. "WA Labor's Progressive faction fractures". PressReader. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
11. "Historic union pact formed to take on the Left". The West Australian. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
12. "Liberals' donations double Labor Party's ahead of SA election". ABC. 11 August 2017.
13. "The 12 Labor figures who will do the heavy lifting in government". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
14. Probyn, Andrew. "The strain within Labor's Left and Right bubbles over as the party wrestles over its future". ABC News. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
15. Tewksbury, Marc. "Labor MP Jason Clare dismisses Otis group". news.com.au. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
16. "Labor's new-look shadow ministry". SBS News. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
17. Hondros, Nathan. "WA Labor MPs named as part of pro-coal, right-wing 'Otis Group'". WAtoday. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
18. "Shorten stands by Gillard as leader". 9news.com.au . 26 June 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
19. Chan, Gabrielle (25 July 2015). "Bill Shorten wins freedom to use boat turnbacks, but leadership split on issue". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 7 November 2020.
20. "Leaked texts show Somyurek's influence among federal Labor ranks". skynews.com.au . 15 June 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
21. Ilanbey, Sumeyya (28 January 2020). "Tensions between Labor's Right and Left factions at boiling point". theage.com.au . Retrieved 7 November 2020.

Further reading

• Cumming, Fia (1991) Mates : five champions of the Labor right. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN   1-86373-021-4. Library catalogue summary: Paul Keating, Graham Richardson, Laurie Brereton, Bob Carr and Leo McLeay recount events which shaped the Australian labour movement from the 1960s to the 1980s.
• Richardson, G (1994) Whatever It Takes, Bantam Books, Moorebank, NSW. Library catalogue summary: Graham Richardson recounts his career and outlines the philosophy and operation of the NSW and National Labor Right during his time in the ALP.