The ladder of opportunity is a catchphrase coined by former Australian Opposition Leader Mark Latham to describe the process of social advancement or the elevation to higher social classes of Australian citizens. After defeating Kim Beazley for the role of Leader of the Opposition, Mark Latham coined the political slogan in his first press conference to describe what he stood for as Labor leader and alternative Prime Minister.
The ladder of opportunity was a phase to inspire middle class 'aspirational' Australian voters. Mark Latham recognised that the primary concern of voters was personal economic advancement, and coined an easy-to-understand phrase to capture the minds of the traditional Labor voter.
The phrase would feature prominently in the 2004 federal election; an election that Labor and Latham would go on to lose.
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 Minister Billy Hughes and his supporters after the 1916 Labor Party split over World War I conscription. The Nationalist Party was in government until electoral defeat in 1929. From that time it was the main opposition to the Labor Party until it merged with pro-Joseph Lyons Labor defectors to form the United Australia Party (UAP) in 1931. The party is a direct ancestor of the Liberal Party of Australia, the main centre-right party in Australia.
Simon Findlay Crean is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament for Hotham from 1990 to 2013, representing the Labor Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard Governments. He was the Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2001 to December 2003.
Kim Christian Beazley is an Australian politician and diplomat who is currently serving as the 33rd governor of Western Australia. He previously served as deputy prime minister of Australia from 1995 to 1996, leader of the Labor Party and leader of the Opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, and Ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2016. He served in multiple roles in the Hawke and Keating Governments from 1983 to 1996.
Mark William Latham is an Australian politician. He has been the state leader of One Nation in New South Wales since November 2018, and won election to the Legislative Council at the 2019 state election. He was previously the leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005, leading the party to defeat at the 2004 federal election.
The 2004 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 9 October 2004. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by John Anderson defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Mark Latham.
Robert Francis McMullan is an Australian former politician who represented the Australian Labor Party in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He was the first person to represent the Australian Capital Territory in both houses of federal parliament
Sir John Greig Latham GCMG QC was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the fifth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1935 to 1952. He had earlier served as Attorney-General of Australia under Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons, and was Leader of the Opposition from 1929 to 1931 as the final leader of the Nationalist Party.
The Australian Party was a political party founded and led by Billy Hughes after his expulsion from the Nationalist Party. The party was formed in 1929, and at its peak had four members of federal parliament. It was merged into the new United Australia Party in 1931, having never contested a federal election.
The 2005 Werriwa by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Werriwa in south-western Sydney on 19 March 2005, after the resignation of Labor MP Mark Latham, who had represented the electorate since 1994. Latham had been federal Opposition Leader since 2 December 2003 and led Labor to defeat at the 2004 election. He had become increasingly dissatisfied with politics and was struggling with recurring pancreatitis. He announced his resignation from parliament on 18 January 2005.
The 1931 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election.
The Shadow Ministry of Mark Latham was the opposition Australian Labor Party shadow ministry of Australia from December 2003 to January 2005, opposing John Howard's Coalition ministry.
Mark McGowan is an Australian politician, currently serving as the 30th premier of Western Australia since March 2017, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party since January 2012.
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 18 March 1939 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Labor Party, led by Premier John Willcock, won a third term in office against the Country and Nationalist parties, led by Opposition Leader Charles Latham and Robert Ross McDonald respectively.
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 15 February 1936 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Labor Party, led by Premier Philip Collier, won a second term in office against the Country and Nationalist parties, led by Opposition Leader Charles Latham and Norbert Keenan respectively.
The 2004 Australian Federal Election was held on Saturday 9 October 2004 and it was the Howard Government’s opportunity to secure its 4th term of government after a tumultuous period in office. The Government consisting of the coalition Liberal Party and National Party headed by John Howard and John Anderson respectively were opposed by Mark Latham and the Labor Party. The issues that defined the election were The Iraq War, Australia’s economy, and the state of Australia’s social services
A leadership spill of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the official opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 28 January 2005. The outgoing Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, stood down 13 months after assuming the leadership in December 2003. Kim Beazley was the only contender for the ballot, and was therefore elected unopposed.
Two leadership spills of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the official opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, were held on 16 June 2003 and 2 December 2003, respectively. The Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, won the ballot in June against former opposition leader Kim Beazley, but resigned as leader in late November after losing support from his colleagues and did not contest the December ballot which Mark Latham won against Kim Beazley.
The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC).
The Australian Labor Party held a leadership election on 22 November 2001, following the resignation of Kim Beazley after the party's defeat at the 2001 federal election. Deputy leader and Shadow Treasurer Simon Crean was elected unopposed as Beazley's replacement, thus becoming Leader of the Opposition.
The Australian federal election debates of 2019 were a series of leaders' debates between the leaders of the two main parties contesting the 2019 Australian federal election: Scott Morrison, Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party; and Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition and Labor Party.