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 2025, 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 federal 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.
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Sir John Kerr, the Governor-General who then commissioned the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party, as prime minister to hold a new election. It has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history.
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.
Vincent Clair Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party from 1965 to 1973. In 1974 he was appointed Australian Ambassador to Ireland by the Whitlam government, which caused his expulsion from the DLP.
The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was an Australian political party. The party came into existence following the 1955 ALP split as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), and was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957. In 1962, the Queensland Labor Party, a breakaway party of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party, became the Queensland branch of the DLP.
Sharon Leah Bird is an Australian former politician. Bird served as an Australian Labor Party (ALP) member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Cunningham in New South Wales from 2004 to 2022. She served as a minister during the late Gillard-Rudd years until Labor lost government at the next election. She served as the Shadow Minister for Vocational Education from October 2013 until July 2016. In 2021, Bird announced she would not be re-contesting at the 2022 Federal Election, retiring from politics.
Ursula Mary Stephens is a former Australian politician. She served as a Senator for New South Wales from 2002 to 2014, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She was a parliamentary secretary in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2010. In 2019 she was appointed CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia.
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.
The 1963 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 30 November 1963. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, won an increased majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell. This was the only time that a Federal Government won a seventh consecutive term in office.
The 1974 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition led by Billy Snedden. This marked the first time that a Labor leader won two consecutive elections.
Jason Dean Clare is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Education since 1 June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Division of Blaxland in Western Sydney since 2007.
Leonard Joseph Keogh was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1987. He represented the Queensland seat of Bowman and later served as president of the Redland Shire Council from 1991 to 1994.
Julie Maree Collins is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Tasmanian seat of Franklin since the 2007 federal election. She held ministerial positions in the Gillard and Rudd governments, and is Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Small Business in the Albanese ministry.
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.
Charles Harry Webb was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 1954 to 1958 and from 1961 to 1972, representing Western Australian seats. He later served as administrator of Christmas Island from 1974 to 1975.
Antony Philip Whitlam is an Australian lawyer who has been a politician and judge. He is the son of Gough Whitlam and Margaret Whitlam.
Michelle Anne Rowland is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Division of Greenway in the House of Representatives since 2010. She was a member of the shadow ministry from 2013 to 2022, and was elected President of the New South Wales Labor Party in October 2021. She is now the Minister for Communications in the government of Anthony Albanese following the ALP's victory in the 2022 Australian federal election.
The Australian Labor Party National Conference, sometimes referred to as the National Party Conference or the Federal Conference, is the highest representative and decision-making body of the Australian Labor Party, incorporating all of the party’s state and territory branches. The National Conference takes place triennially and is hosted in Australian cities on a rotating basis. The 49th and most recent National Party Conference was held on the 17th to the 19th of August 2023 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and was attended by over 2,000 delegates.
The Division of Whitlam is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.
