The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known simply as Labor or the Labor Party, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 federal election, and with political branches active in all the Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2024, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuous political party in Australian history, having been established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne; the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.
Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive government that ended with his controversial dismissal by the then-governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office by a governor-general.
Simon Findlay Crean was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 2013 and was a cabinet minister in the Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments.
Kim Edward Beazley was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1945 to 1977, representing the Labor Party. He was Minister for Education in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1975.
Francis Daniel Crean was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1951 to 1977, representing the Labor Party. He was a minister in the Whitlam government, including as Treasurer from 1972 to 1974 and the fifth deputy prime minister for a few months in 1975.
Mark William Latham is an Australian politician and media commentator who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from December 2003 to January 2005, leading the party to defeat at the 2004 federal election. He left the ALP in 2017 and joined Pauline Hanson's One Nation in 2018, gaining a seat for that party in the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election and winning re-election in 2023.
Douglas McClelland is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1987, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was Minister for the Media (1972–1975) and Special Minister of State (1975) in the Whitlam government, and ended his political career as President of the Senate (1983–1987). He resigned from the Senate to become High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1987–1991). McClelland is the last surviving minister who served in the Second Whitlam ministry, and is the earliest elected Senator and federal Labor parliamentarian still alive.
The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 federal election, ending a record 23 years of continuous Coalition government. It was terminated by Governor-General Sir John Kerr following the 1975 constitutional crisis and was succeeded by the Fraser government—the sole occasion in Australian history when an elected federal government was dismissed by the governor-general.
Michael Jerome Young was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was also President of the Australian Labor Party from 1986 to 1988.
Donald Robert Willesee was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1950 to 1975. He held ministerial office in the Whitlam government as Special Minister of State (1972–1973) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1973–1975). He also served as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1966 to 1967.
William Lawrence Morrison was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and held ministerial office in the Whitlam government as Minister for External Territories (1972–1973), Science (1972–1975), and Defence (1975). He had been a member of the diplomatic service before entering politics, and later served a term as Ambassador to Indonesia (1985–1989).
Gary Gray, Australian former politician and Australia's Ambassador to Ireland, was the Australian Labor Party (ALP) representative for the Division of Brand in Western Australia in the Australian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. On 25 March 2013, Gray was appointed to the Australian Cabinet as the Minister for Resources and Energy, the Minister for Tourism and the Minister for Small Business. From 2010 until 2013, Gray served as the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity.
John Murray Wheeldon was an Australian politician and journalist. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and a senator for Western Australia from 1965 to 1981. He held ministerial office in the Whitlam government as Minister for Repatriation and Compensation (1974–1975) and Minister for Social Security (1975). He was known for his views on Australian foreign policy and after leaving politics became an editorial writer for The Australian.
Sir William John Aston, KCMG was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools before becoming an accountant and company director. He served in World War II from 1942 to 1944, and was involved in local politics as a member of Waverley Council. In 1955, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for Phillip. He held the seat until 1961, when he was defeated by Syd Einfeld of the Labor Party. Aston returned to the House in 1963, defeating Einfeld. On 21 February 1967 Aston was elected Speaker. He held this position until the Liberal Government's defeat at the hands of Gough Whitlam in 1972, when Aston lost his seat. He died in 1997.
Philip Dorling is a writer and journalist who has also served as an Australian public servant and political adviser. He is a visiting fellow at the School of Humanities and Social Science, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Antony Philip Whitlam is an Australian lawyer who has been a politician and judge. He is the son of Gough Whitlam and Margaret Whitlam.
The 1953 New South Wales state election was held on 14 February 1953. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1952 redistribution. The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Stephen Patrick Jones is an Australian politician who represents the Division of Whitlam for the Australian Labor Party. He was elected at the 2010 Australian federal election and is the current Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.
The history of the Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia, 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.
Australia, a close neighbour of both Indonesia and East Timor, was the only country to recognise Indonesia's annexation of East Timor. Some members of the Australian public supported self-determination for East Timor, and also actively supported the independence movement within Australia. The Australian Government saw the need for both stability and good relations with their neighbour, Indonesia. However, it was criticised in some quarters, including by Xanana Gusmão for putting those issues above human rights. In 1998, the Howard government changed its stance and supported East Timor self-determination, prompting a referendum that saw East Timor gain its independence.
