The Australian Labor Party (ALP),also simply known as Labor,is the major centre-left political party in Australia,one of two major parties in Australian politics,along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been governing federally since being elected at the 2022 election,and with political branches in each state and territory,they are currently in government in New South Wales,Queensland,South Australia,Victoria,Western Australia,the Australian Capital Territory,and the Northern Territory –Tasmania is the only state or territory where they currently form the opposition. It is the oldest political party in Australia,being 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 1972 to 1975. He was the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive administration that extraordinarily ended with his removal as prime minister after controversially being dismissed by the governor-general of Australia,Sir John Kerr,at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam is the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office.
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 former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006,having previously been a cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. After leaving parliament he served as ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2016 and governor of Western Australia from 2018 to 2022.
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 Deputy Prime Minister for a few months in 1975.
Mark William Latham is an Australian politician and media commentator,who was 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 has since left the Australian Labor Party and joined Pauline Hanson's One Nation,gaining a seat for that party in the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election. He resigned prior to the 2023 state election in order to stand for a new term and so another person could be appointed to fill his casual vacancy.
Edward John Ward was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in federal parliament for over 30 years. He was the member for East Sydney for all but six-and-a-half weeks from 1931 until his death in 1963. He served as a minister in the Curtin and Chifley Governments from 1941 to 1949,and was also known for his role in the ALP split of 1931.
The Division of Kingsford Smith is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.
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 head of state.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Major Clarence Edward Martin was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1930 until 1932 and from 1939 until his death in 1953. He was variously a member of the Australian Labor Party (NSW),the Industrial Labor Party and the Labor Party (ALP). He was the Attorney General of New South Wales from 1941 until 1953 and also held the position of Minister for Transport for six months prior to his death.
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.
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.
