The Australian Labor Party (also ALP and Labor, was Labour before 1912) is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia. In the state and territory parliaments, Labor governs in South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The party competes against the Liberal/National Coalition for political office at the federal and state (and sometimes local) level.

The ALP was founded as a federal party prior to the first sitting of the Australian Parliament in 1901, but is descended from Labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement in Australia, formally beginning in 1891. Labor is thus the country's oldest political party. Colonial Labour parties contested seats from 1891, and federal seats following the Federation at the 1901 federal election. Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian Parliament, at the 1910 federal election. The ALP predates both the British Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party in party formation, government, and policy implementation.

History[link]

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Leader of the Australian Labor Party and Prime Minister since 24 June 2010

Chris Watson, first leader of then Federal Labour Party 1901–07 (held the balance of power) and Prime Minister in 1904

Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister 1908–09, 1910–13, 1914–15

Billy Hughes, Prime Minister 1915–16

James Scullin, Prime Minister 1929–32

John Curtin, Prime Minister 1941–45

Ben Chifley, Prime Minister 1945–49

Gough Whitlam, Prime Minister 1972–75

Bob Hawke, Prime Minister 1983–91

Paul Keating, Prime Minister 1991–96

Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister 2007–10

The ALP is descended from Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonial parliaments prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree (the "Tree of Knowledge") 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 force dates from 1891 in New South Wales, 1893 in South Australia and Queensland, and later in the other colonies. In New South Wales in 1891, the first election contested by Labour candidates, 35 of 141 seats were won by Labour candidates. Labour was in a balance of power position and had a stance of government support in exchange for policy concessions with the colonial Protectionist and Free Trade parties.^[4] In 1899, Anderson Dawson formed a minority Labour government in Queensland, the first in the world, which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split.

Since the mid to late 1800s, the Australian labour movement has been a pioneer of labour rights, with early historical gains in areas such as regulation of working and safety conditions, wage increases, the eight-hour day, breaks, loading, overtime, and paid time off through various categories of leave. They were also successful with suffrage rights, with the enactment of the 1893 Electoral Act in New South Wales for "one man, one vote". Women got the vote in South Australia from 1893, in Western Australia from 1899, and throughout Australia for federal elections from 1902.

The colonial Labour parties and the trade unions were mixed in their support for the Federation of Australia. Some Labour representatives argued against the proposed constitution, claiming the Senate as proposed was too powerful, similar to the anti-reformist colonial upper houses and the British House of Lords. They feared federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces. The first Labour leader and Prime Minister, Chris Watson, however, was a supporter of federation.

After Federation, the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party (informally known as the Caucus) first met on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.^[5] This is now taken as the founding date of the federal Labor Party, but it was some years before there was any significant structure or organisation at a national level.

Early decades[link]

Labour during its early years was distinguished by its rapid growth and success at a national level, first forming a minority government under Chris Watson, the first Labour Prime Minister in the world, for four months in 1904. Andrew Fisher then formed another minority government 1908–09. At the 1910 election, Fisher led Labor to victory. The Fisher government was Australia's first federal majority government, held Australia's first Senate majority, and was the world's first labour party majority government. This was the first time a labour party had controlled any house of a legislature, and the first time it controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature.^[6] The state branches were also successful, except in Victoria, where the strength of Deakinite liberalism inhibited the party's growth. The state branches formed their first majority governments in New South Wales and South Australia in 1910, in Western Australia in 1911, in Queensland in 1915 and in Tasmania in 1925. Such success eluded equivalent social democratic and labour parties in other countries for many years.

Analysis of the early NSW Labor caucus reveals "a band of unhappy amateurs", made up of blue collar workers, a squatter, a doctor, and even a mine owner, indicating that the idea that only the socialist working class formed Labor is untrue. In addition, many members from the working class supported the liberal notion of free trade between the colonies – in the first grouping of state MPs, 17 of the 35 were free-traders. Some historically declare the party a mix of socialism, liberalism, pragmatism and 'Laborism'.^[7] These ideologies are deemed to place Labor closer, intellectually and historically, to the 19th century colonial liberals as the forerunners to the Labor party over the conservatives of the time.^[8]

In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, support for socialism grew in trade union ranks, and at the 1921 All-Australian Trades Union Congress a resolution was passed calling for "the socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange." As a result, Labor's Federal Conference in 1922 adopted a similarly worded "socialist objective," which remained official policy for many years. The resolution was immediately qualified, however, by the "Blackburn amendment," which said that "socialisation" was desirable only when was necessary to "eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features."^[9] In practice the socialist objective was a dead letter. Only once has a federal Labor government attempted to nationalise any industry (Ben Chifley's bank nationalisation of 1947), and that was held by the High Court to be unconstitutional. The commitment to nationalisation was dropped by Gough Whitlam, and Bob Hawke's government carried out many free market reforms including the floating of the dollar and privatisation of state enterprises such as Qantas airways and the Commonwealth Bank.

The Labor Party is commonly described as a social democratic party, and its constitution stipulates that it is a democratic socialist party.^[10] The party was created by, and has always been influenced by, the trade unions, and in practice its policy at any given time has usually been the policy of the broader labour movement. Thus at the first federal election 1901 Labor's platform called for a White Australia Policy, a citizen army and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes.^[11] Labor has at various times supported high tariffs and low tariffs, conscription and pacifism, White Australia and multiculturalism, nationalisation and privatisation, isolationism and internationalism.

Historically, Labor and its affiliated unions were strong defenders of the White Australia Policy which banned all non-European migration to Australia. This policy was partly motivated by 19th century theories about "racial purity" and by fears of economic competition from low-wage overseas workers which was shared by the vast majority of Australians and all major political parties. In practice the party opposed all migration, on the grounds that immigrants competed with Australian workers and drove down wages, until after World War II, when the Chifley Government launched a major immigration program. The party's opposition to non-European immigration did not change until after the retirement of Arthur Calwell as leader in 1967. Subsequently Labor has become an advocate of multiculturalism, although some of its trade union base and some of its members continue to oppose high immigration levels.

The ALP adopted the formal name "Australian Labour Party" in 1908, but changed the spelling to "Labor" in 1912. While it is standard practice in Australian English both today and at the time to spell the word labour with a "u", the party was influenced by the United States labour movement and a prominent figure in the early history of the party, the American–born King O'Malley, was successful in having the spelling "modernised".^[12] The change also made it easier to distinguish references to the party from the labour movement in general.^[13] Furthermore, the spelling "labor" had been acceptable in both British and Australian English in earlier periods. (See also: Spelling in Australian English)

World War Two and beyond[link]

The Curtin and Chifley Governments governed Australia through the latter half of World War II and initial stages of transition to peacetime. Labor leader John Curtin became Prime Minister of Australia in October 1941 when two independents crossed the floor of Parliament. Labor, led by Curtin, then led Australia through the years of the Pacific War. In December 1941, Curtin announced that "Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom", thus helping to establish the Australian-American alliance (later formalised as ANZUS by the Menzies Government). Remembered as a strong war time leader and for a landslide win at the 1943 election, Curtin died in office just prior to the end of the war and was succeeded by Ben Chifley.^[14] Chifley Labor won the 1946 election and oversaw Australia's initial transition to a peacetime economy. Labor was defeated at the 1949 election. At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949, Chifley sought to define the labour movement as having:

[A] great objective – the light on the hill – which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind... [Labor would] bring something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people.

—Ben Chifley, ^[15]

To a large extent, Chifley saw centralisation of the economy as the means to achieve such ambitions. With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook, after his attempt to nationalise the banks and a strike by the Communist-dominated Miners Federation, Chifley lost office at in 1949 to Robert Menzies' Liberal-National Coalition. Labor commenced what would be a 23-year period in opposition.^[16][17]

Various ideological beliefs were factionalised under reforms to the ALP under Gough Whitlam, resulting in what is now known as the Socialist Left who tend to favour a more interventionist economic policy and more socially progressive ideals, and Labor Right, the now dominant faction that tends to be more economically liberal and focus to a lesser extent on social issues. The Whitlam Labor government, marking a break with Labor's socialist tradition, pursued social-democratic policies rather than democratic socialist policies. Whitlam, in contrast to earlier Labor leaders, also cut tariffs by 25 percent.^[18] Whitlam led the Federal Labor Party back to office at the 1972 and 1974 elections, and passed a large amount of legislation. The Whitlam Government lost office following the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis and dismissal by Governor-General Sir John Kerr after the Coalition blocked supply in the Senate after a series of political scandals, and was defeated at the 1975 election.^[19] Whitlam remains the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.

Bob Hawke led Labor back to office at the 1983 election and the Hawke-Keating Government remained in power until defeated by John Howard at the 1996 election.

Kim Beazley led the party to the 1998 election, winning 51 percent of the two-party preferred vote but falling short on seats, and lost ground at the 2001 election. Mark Latham led Labor to the 2004 election but lost further ground. Beazley replaced Latham in 2005. Beazley in turn was challenged by Kevin Rudd who went on to defeat John Howard at the 2007 election with 52.7 percent of the two-party vote. The Rudd Government ended prior to the 2010 election with the replacement of Rudd as leader of the Party by deputy leader Julia Gillard. The Gillard Government was commissioned to govern in a hung parliament following the 2010 election with a one-seat parliamentary majority and 50.12 percent of the two-party vote.

Between the 2007 federal election and the 2008 Western Australian state election, Labor was in government nationally, as well as in all eight state and territory legislatures. This was the first time any single party or any coalition had achieved this since the ACT and the NT gained self-government.^[20] After narrowly losing government in Western Australia at the 2008 state election and Victoria at the 2010 state election, Labor lost government in landslides in New South Wales at the 2011 state election and Queensland at the 2012 state election.^[21]

Labor Acts in government[link]

Watson and Fisher[link]

Existing for over a century, the Australian Labor Party has been responsible for the carriage of many Acts in the Parliament of Australia. Passing 113 Acts, the 1910–13 Labor government was a period unmatched in the Commonwealth until the 1940s. The first federal Labor Party led by Chris Watson, holding the balance of power (and was Prime Minister for four months in 1904), was very influential in Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin Protectionist Party government policy since the beginning of the Parliament of Australia in 1901. With a change of Labor leader in 1907, Andrew Fisher was a Labor Prime Minister three times between 1908 and 1915 on a collective total of four years and ten months, collectively second only to Bob Hawke. Fisher's second government resulting from the 1910 federal election represented a number of firsts: it was the first time a party had been elected to majority government in the House of Representatives, it was also the first time a party received a Senate majority, and it was the world's first Labour Party majority government at a national level. The ALP vote rose rapidly, going from 15 percent against two larger and more established parties in 1901, to 50 percent in 1910, after a majority of the Protectionist Party merged with the Anti-Socialist Party (formerly Free Trade Party), creating the Commonwealth Liberal Party led by Deakin which received 45 percent. At the time, it represented the culmination of Labour's involvement in politics, with success that eluded Labour Parties in other countries for decades. Labour implemented many Acts in defence, constitutional matters, finance, transport and communications, and social security, achieving the vast majority of his aims in his first government, such as establishing old-age and disability pensions, improved working conditions including a maternity allowance and workers compensation, issuing Australia's first paper currency, forming the Royal Australian Navy, the commencement of construction for the Trans-Australian Railway, expanding the bench of the High Court of Australia, founding Canberra and establishing the government-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Fisher carried out measures to break up land monopolies, put forward proposals for more regulation of working hours, wages and employment conditions, and amended the 1904 Conciliation and Arbitration Act to provide greater authority for the court president and to allow for Commonwealth employees' industrial unions, registered with the Arbitration Court. A land tax, aimed at breaking up big estates and to provide a wider scope for small-scale farming, was also introduced, while coverage of the Arbitration system extended to agricultural workers, domestics, and federal public servants. In addition, the age at which women became entitled to the old-age pension was lowered from 65 to 60. The introduction of the maternity allowance enabled more births to be attended by doctors, thus leading to reductions in infant mortality. Labour was renamed Labor in 1912. Labor lost the 1913 election by one seat, but retained a Senate majority, and returned to government at the 1914 election. Fisher resigned as Prime Minister and left Parliament in 1915, Labor had split following Labor leader and Prime Minister Billy Hughes being expelled over his support for Conscription in Australia as a result of World War I. Hughes and his supporters eventually led the Commonwealth Liberal Party replacement, the Nationalist Party of Australia. The 1916 and 1917 referendums for conscription failed. The National Party of Australia (then Country Party) started contesting elections from the 1918 Swan by-election, after which full-preference instant-runoff voting was introduced by the Nationalist Party government. Days before the global Great Depression struck, the one-term James Scullin government was elected at the 1929 election but with a minority in the Senate. As such, Labor would remain without workable lower/upper house majorities on the floor until the 1940s.^[22]

Curtin and Chifley[link]

Labor under John Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the United Australia Party Coalition minority government of Robert Menzies which resulted from the 1940 election – aside from the formulative early parliaments, the only other hung parliament has resulted from the 2010 election. Curtin led federal Labor to the greatest win of an Australian federal political party with two thirds of seats in the lower house and 58.2 percent of the two-party preferred vote at the 1943 election, and a Senate majority. Child endowment payments were introduced in 1941, widow's pensions in 1942, and Commonwealth unemployment benefits in 1945. Curtin led Australia when the Australian mainland came under direct military threat during the Japanese advance in 1942 during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the country's greatest Prime Ministers – General Douglas MacArthur said that Curtin was "one of the greatest of the wartime statesmen", while Curtin's Prime Ministerial predecessor and 1943 election Coalition leader, Arthur Fadden of the Country Party wrote: "I do not care who knows it but in my opinion there was no greater figure in Australian public life in my lifetime than Curtin." Ben Chifley became Labor leader and Prime Minister when Curtin died in 1945. Chifley Labor went on to retain a majority in both houses of Australian Parliament at the 1946 election with 54.1 percent of the two-party preferred vote against the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia in their Coalition with the Country Party. Amongst Chifley's Acts, he expanded health care in Australia with a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and free hospital ward treatment, introduced the Australian citizenship, a post-war immigration scheme, the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the reorganisation and enlargement of the Australian scientific organisation CSIR to the CSIRO, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, improvements in social services, the establishment of a Universities Commission for the expansion of university education, the creation of the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES), the introduction of federal funds to the States for public housing construction, the creation of a civilian rehabilitation service, over-viewing the foundation of airlines Qantas and TAA, and the creation of the Australian National University. One of the few successful referendums to modify the Australian Constitution, the 1946 Social Services referendum, took place during Chifley's term. It was a period not matched until the 1970s, the number of Chifley government Acts was such that between 1946 and 1949, the Australian Parliament passed 299 Acts, a new record up until Whitlam, and well beyond Fisher. The Senate was changed to proportional voting prior to Labor's defeat at the 1949 election, Labor has not held a majority in both houses since. Labor had split in 1955, key people in the split were Labor leader H. V. "Doc" Evatt, and the ruling mind behind the "Catholic Social Studies Movement" or "the Movement" and the Democratic Labor Party, B. A. Santamaria.^[23]

Whitlam[link]

Gough Whitlam led Labor to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before his dismissal during the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam and his government massively expanded the federal budget to implement an extensive number of new programs and policy changes, such as fee-free tertiary education, the formal removal of the White Australia Policy, the implementation of legal aid programs, the elimination of military conscription and criminal execution, health care in Australia became universal with the creation of Medibank, and tariffs were cut across the board by 25 percent. His government passed around one-thousand Acts in total. The Whitlam government passed more Acts in one term of parliament than any other previous government, and remains the only government in history to hold a joint sitting of federal Parliament, the 1974 joint sitting, for the purposes of passing twice-rejected legislation. The Senate had a shared balance of power which drifted between the DLP, the Liberal Movement, and independents or any from the Coalition who crossed the floor.^[24]

Hawke and Keating[link]

Bob Hawke and Paul Keating led Labor to victory at five consecutive federal elections: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990 and 1993, before being defeated in 1996. Hawke was defeated as Labor leader in a 1991 spill against Keating who had been Treasurer of Australia since 1983. Hawke is Labor's longest-serving Prime Minister and Australia's third-longest-serving Prime Minister. The Hawke and Keating Labor governments radically transformed the Australian economy, departing from a historical bipartisan Keynesian approach to the Australian economy, with the change of the Australian dollar from a government-fixed exchange rate to a floating exchange rate. Extensive deregulation of financial and banking systems occurred, both of which made Australia significantly more integrated with the global economy. Privatisation of state sector industries occurred, including Qantas and Commonwealth Bank. The tariff system was dismantled, and the subsidisation of some loss-making industries ended. Low-income centralised wage fixing was introduced through the Prices and Incomes Accord, and enterprise bargaining was introduced. The tax system was changed, including the introduction of fringe benefits tax and a capital gains tax. Superannuation in Australia was implemented with a nine percent employer contribution. Tertiary education fees in Australia saw a HECS payment system introduced as a replacement for fee-free tertiary education which had been removed after Whitlam. Medicare was introduced as a replacement for Medibank which had also been removed after Whitlam. Dental insurance through the Commonwealth Dental Health Program was introduced, but was removed after Labor lost government. Funding for schools was considerably increased, financial assistance was provided for students to enable them to stay at school longer, native title in Australia was recognised, and progress was made in directing assistance to the most disadvantaged recipients over a whole range of welfare benefits. The Parliament of Australia itself was reformed in several ways. The duration of the 13-year Labor government saw thousands of Acts passed by the Australian Parliament. The balance of power in the Senate was held by the Democrats, but with Labor nine seats short of an upper house majority from the 1993 election, it was shared between seven Democrats, two WA Greens and independent Brian Harradine.^[25]

Rudd and Gillard[link]

Labor led by Kevin Rudd won the 2007 election with a 23-seat, 5.5 percent two-party-preferred swing, but in the Senate, Labor were seven seats short of a majority, with a collectively shared balance of power between five Greens, Family First's Steve Fielding and independent Nick Xenophon. The Rudd government signed the Kyoto Protocol, and delivered an apology to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generations. The previous Coalition government's WorkChoices industrial relations system was was largely dismantled and Fair Work Australia was created. National Broadband Network (NBN) discussions and the final agreement with Telstra occurred and construction and rollout commenced, remaining Iraq War combat personnel were withdrawn, and the "Australia 2020 Summit" was held. Labor reduced income tax rates in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and pensions were increased, as well as additional funding for health and education. Around 100 laws relating to same-sex relationships in the LGBT community were changed after a HREOC enquiry found them to be discriminatory. In response to the Global Financial Crisis, the government provided economic stimulus packages, and Australia was one of the few western countries to avoid the late-2000s recession. Julia Gillard replaced Rudd as Labor leader and Prime Minister in a 2010 spill. At the 2010 election, the first hung parliament occurred since the 1940 election, the incumbent Gillard Labor government formed a minority government in the House of Representatives with four crossbenchers – three independents and one Green, a one-seat parliamentary majority. Later changes in speaker and government support increased the parliamentary majority to three seats, then two seats. In the Senate, the Greens with nine seats went from a shared balance of power position to a sole balance of power position. The Gillard Labor government introduced the Clean Energy Bill as a replacement for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in conjunction with compensation including further income tax cuts and an increase in the tax-free threshold, a Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was introduced as a replacement for the Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT), Gillard reached a health care agreement with state and territory leaders, introduced paid maternity leave, plain cigarette packaging laws, the biggest cuts on consumer prices of medicines in Australian history under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and allocated funding for children and concession holders to receive dental insurance through Medicare. The 2011 Labor conference saw an agreement to a conscience vote for same-sex marriage in Australia through a private members bill. Under Rudd and Gillard, around 500 Acts have been passed by the Australian Parliament, including many in the current hung parliament.^[26]

Historic ALP splits[link]

The Labor Party has split three times:

• In 1916 over the issue of conscription during the First World War.^[27] Labor Prime Minister Billy Hughes supported the introduction of conscription, while the majority of his colleagues in the ALP and trade union movement opposed it. After failing to gain majority support for conscription in two national plebiscites which bitterly divided the country in the process, Hughes and his followers were expelled from the Labor Party. He first formed the National Labor Party before merging with the Commonwealth Liberal Party which formed the Nationalist Party of Australia, and remained Prime Minister until 1923. At the state level William Holman, also a supporter of conscription, quit the party at the same time and became Nationalist Party Premier of New South Wales.
• In 1931 over economic issues revolving around how best to handle the Great Depression in Australia. At the House-only 1929 election, the one-term Labor government led by James Scullin won a lower house majority but remained in minority in the upper house. The ALP was essentially split three ways, between those who believed in radical policies such as NSW Premier Jack Lang, who wanted to repudiate Australia's debt to British bondholders; proto-Keynesians such as federal Treasurer Ted Theodore; and believers in orthodox finance such as Prime Minister James Scullin and a senior minister in his government, Joseph Lyons. In 1931 Lyons and his supporters left the party and joined the Nationalist Party of Australia to form the United Australia Party, and became Prime Minister in 1932.
• The 1955 split on communism. During the 1950s the issue of communism and support for communist causes or governments caused great internal conflict in the Labor party and the trade union movement in general. From 1945 onward, staunchly anti-Communist Roman Catholic members (Catholics being an important traditional support base) in opposition to communist infiltration of unions, formed Industrial Groups to gain control of them, fostering intense internal conflict. After Labor's loss of the 1954 election, federal leader Dr H.V. Evatt "issued a statement attacking the Victorian ALP state executive".^[28] He blamed subversive activities of the "Groupers" for the defeat. After bitter public dispute many Groupers were expelled from the ALP and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) whose intellectual leader was B.A. Santamaria. The DLP was heavily influenced by Catholic social teaching and had the support of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix. Because of its "veto with a view to reunification" strategy, the DLP's preferences (see Australian electoral system) helped the Liberal Party of Australia remain in power for over two decades, but it was successfully undermined by the Whitlam Labor Government during the 1970s, so that after 1978 the DLP was reduced to a small "rump" based in Victoria, which nevertheless continued to contest federal elections as the DLP (according to the parliamentary library election results for 1980 and onward).^[29]

In addition, founding member Joseph Cook left the party in 1894, and went on to be Prime Minister of Australia with the Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1913–14.

National Platform[link]

The policy of the Australian Labor Party is contained in its National Platform, which is approved by delegates to Labor's National Conference, held every three years. According to the Labor Party's website, "The Platform is the result of a rigorous and constructive process of consultation, spanning the nation and including the cooperation and input of state and territory policy committees, local branches, unions, state and territory governments, and individual Party members. The Platform provides the policy foundation from which we can continue to work towards the election of a federal Labor Government."^[30]

The platform gives a general indication of the policy direction which a future Labor government would follow, but does not commit the party to specific policies. It maintains that "Labor's traditional values will remain a constant on which all Australians can rely." While making it clear that Labor is fully committed to a market economy, it says that: "Labor believes in a strong role for national government – the one institution all Australians truly own and control through our right to vote." Labor "will not allow the benefits of change to be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, or located only in privileged communities. The benefits must be shared by all Australians and all our regions." The Platform and Labor "believe that all people are created equal in their entitlement to dignity and respect, and should have an equal chance to achieve their potential." For Labor, "government has a critical role in ensuring fairness by: ensuring equal opportunity; removing unjustifiable discrimination; and achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and status." Further sections of the Platform stress Labor's support for Equality and Human Rights, Labour Rights and Democracy.

In practice, the Platform provides only general policy guidelines to Labor's federal, state and territory parliamentary leaderships. The policy Labor takes into an election campaign is determined by the Cabinet (if the party is in office) or the Shadow Cabinet (if it is in opposition), in consultation with key interest groups within the party, and is contained in the parliamentary Leader's policy speech delivered during the election campaign. When Labor is in office, the policies it implements are determined by the Cabinet, subject to the Platform. Generally, it is accepted that while the Platform binds Labor governments, how and when it is implemented remains the prerogative of the parliamentary caucus. It is now rare for the Platform to conflict with government policy, as the content of the Platform is usually developed in close collaboration with the party's parliamentary leadership as well as the factions. However, where there is a direct contradiction with the Platform, Labor governments have sought to change the Platform as a prerequisite for a change in policy. For example, privatisation legislation under the Hawke government occurred only after holding a special national conference to debate changing the Platform.

ALP structure[link]

The Australian Labor Party is a democratic and federal party, which consists of both individual members and affiliated trade unions, who between them decide the party's policies, elect its governing bodies and choose its candidates for public office. The majority of trade unions in Australia are affiliated to the party, and their affiliation fees, based on the size of their memberships, makes up a large part of the party's income. The party consists of six state and two territory branches, each of which consists of local branches which any Australian resident can join, plus affiliated trade unions. Individual members pay a membership fee, which is graduated according to income. Members are generally expected to attend at least one meeting of their local branch each year, although there are differences in the rules from state to state. In practice only a dedicated minority regularly attend meetings. Many members only become active during election campaigns. The party has about 35,000 individual members,^[1] although this figure tends to fluctuate along with the party's electoral fortunes.

The members and unions elect delegates to state and territory conferences (usually held annually, although more frequent conferences are often held). These conferences decide policy, and elect state or territory executives, a state or territory president (an honorary position usually held for a one-year term), and a state or territory secretary (a full-time professional position). The larger branches also have full-time assistant secretaries and organisers. In the past the ratio of conference delegates coming from the branches and affiliated unions has varied from state to state, however under recent national reforms at least 50% of delegates at all state and territory conferences must be elected by branches.

The party holds a National Conference every three years, which consists of delegates representing the state and territory branches (many coming from affiliated trade unions, although there is no formal requirement for unions to be represented at the National Conference). The National Conference approves the party's Platform and policies, elects the National Executive, and appoints office-bearers such as the National Secretary, who also serves as national campaign director during elections. The current National Secretary is George Wright. The most recent National Conference was held from 2 to 4 December 2011.

The Federal Parliamentary Leader of the Labor Party is elected by the Labor members of the national Parliament (the Caucus), not by the conference. Until recently the national conference elected the party's National President, but since 2003 the position has rotated amongst a presidential team of three, directly elected by the party's individual members. Each member of the team serves a one-year term as National President, with the other members serving as Vice-Presidents.^[31] The current National President is Jenny McAllister,^[32] the National Vice-Presidents are Tony Sheldon and Jane Garrett.

The Labor Party contests national, state and territory elections. In some states it also contests local government elections: in others it does not, preferring to allow its members to run as non-endorsed candidates. The process of choosing candidates is called pre-selection. Candidates are pre-selected by different methods in the various states and territories. In some they are chosen by ballots of all party members, in others by panels or committees elected by the state conference, in still others by a combination of these two. Labor candidates are required to sign a pledge that if elected they will always vote in Parliament in accordance with the Platform and decisions made by a vote of the Caucus. They are also sometimes required to donate a portion of their salary to the party, although this practice has declined with the introduction of public funding for political parties.

Factions[link]

The Labor Party has always had a left wing and a right wing, but since the 1970s it has been organised into formal factions, to which some party members belong and often pay an additional membership fee. The two largest factions are Labor Unity (on the right) and the Socialist Left. Labor Unity generally supports free-market policies and the US Alliance and tends to be conservative on some social issues. The National Left, although it seldom openly espouses socialism, favours more state intervention in the economy, is generally less enthusiastic about the US Alliance and is often more progressive on social issues. The factions are themselves divided into sub-factions, primarily state-based.

Labor-affiliated trade unions are also factionally aligned. The largest unions supporting the right are the Australian Workers Union (AWU), the National Union of Workers (NUW), the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA), and the Transport Worker's Union (TWU). Important unions supporting the left include the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Services Union (ASU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). These affiliations are seldom unconditional or permanent. The AWU and the NUW, for example, are bitter rivals and the NUW sometimes aligns itself with the left. Moreover, in some cases different union branches may have different factional alignments. On some issues, such as opposition to the Howard Government's industrial relations policy, all the unions were in agreement and worked as a bloc within the party.

Pre-selections are usually conducted along factional lines, although sometimes a non-factional candidate will be given preferential treatment (this happened with Cheryl Kernot in 1998 and again with Peter Garrett in 2004). Deals between the factions to divide up the safe seats between them often take place. Pre-selections, particularly for safe Labor seats, can sometimes be strongly contested. A particularly fierce pre-selection sometimes gives rise to accusations of branch stacking (signing up large numbers of nominal party members to vote in pre-selection ballots), personation, multiple voting and, on occasions, fraudulent electoral enrolment. Trade unions were in the past accused of giving inflated membership figures to increase their influence over pre-selections, but party rules changes have stamped out this practice. Pre-selection results are sometimes challenged, and the National Executive is sometimes called on to arbitrate these disputes.

ALP Federal Parliamentary Leaders[link]

Shown by default in chronological order of leadership

ALP Federal Deputy Parliamentary Leaders[link]

Shown in chronological order of leadership

ALP State and Territory Parliamentary Leaders[link]

Current[link]

• Paul Henderson – Chief Minister of the Northern Territory since 26 November 2007
• Daniel Andrews – Leader of the Opposition of Victoria since 3 December 2010
• Lara Giddings – Premier of Tasmania since 24 January 2011 (first female premier of Tasmania)
• John Robertson – Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales since 31 March 2011
• Katy Gallagher – Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory since 16 May 2011
• Jay Weatherill – Premier of South Australia since 21 October 2011
• Mark McGowan – Leader of the Opposition of Western Australia since 23 January 2012
• Annastacia Palaszczuk – Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 28 March 2012

Past Premiers and Chief Ministers[link]

Northern Territory

• Clare Martin (2001–07, first Labor Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory)

Australian Capital Territory

• Rosemary Follett (1989, 1991–95, inaugural Chief Minister of the ACT, and first female head of government of an Australian state or territory)
• Jon Stanhope (2001–11)

New South Wales

• Kristina Keneally (2009–11, first woman premier of New South Wales)
• Nathan Rees (2008–09)
• Morris Iemma (2005–08)
• Bob Carr (1995–2005)
• Barrie Unsworth (1986–88)
• Neville Wran (1976–86)
• Jack Renshaw (1964–65)
• Robert Heffron (1959–64)
• Joseph Cahill (1952–59)
• James McGirr (1947–52)
• William McKell (1941–47)
• Jack Lang (1925–27, 1930–32)
• James Dooley (1921, 1921–22)
• John Storey (1920–21)
• William Holman (1913–16)
• James McGowen (1910–13)

see also Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales

Queensland

• Anna Bligh (2007–12, first woman premier of Queensland, and first woman in Australia to win an election as premier)
• Peter Beattie (1998–2007)
• Wayne Goss (1989–96)
• Vince Gair (1952–57)
• Ned Hanlon (1946–52)
• Frank Cooper (1942–46)
• William Forgan Smith (1932–42)
• William McCormack (1925–29)
• William Gillies (1925)
• Ted Theodore (1919–25)
• T. J. Ryan (1915–19)
• Anderson Dawson (1899, world's first leader of a parliamentary socialist government)

South Australia

• Mike Rann (2002–11)
• Lynn Arnold (1992–93)
• John Bannon (1982–92)
• Des Corcoran (1979)
• Don Dunstan (1967–68, 1970–79)
• Frank Walsh (1965–67)
• Robert Richards (1933)
• Lionel Hill (1926–27, 1930–33)
• John Gunn (1924–26)
• Crawford Vaughan (1915–17)
• John Verran (1910–12)
• Thomas Price (1905–09)

Tasmania

• David Bartlett (2008–11)
• Paul Lennon (2004–08)
• Jim Bacon (1998–2004)
• Michael Field (1989–92)
• Harry Holgate (1981–82)
• Doug Lowe (1977–81)
• Bill Neilson (1975–77)
• Eric Reece (1958–69, 1972–75)
• Edward Brooker (1947–48)
• Robert Cosgrove (1939–47, 1948–58)
• Edmund Dwyer-Gray (1939)
• Albert Ogilvie (1934–39)
• Joseph Lyons (1923–28)
• John Earle (1909, 1914–16)

Victoria

• John Brumby (2007–10)
• Steve Bracks (1999–2007)
• Joan Kirner (1990–92, first woman premier of Victoria)
• John Cain II (1982–90)
• John Cain (senior) (1943, 1945–47, 1952–55)
• Edmond Hogan (1927–28, 1929–32)
• George Prendergast (1924)
• George Elmslie (1913)

Western Australia

• Alan Carpenter (2006–08)
• Geoff Gallop (2001–06)
• Carmen Lawrence (1990–93, first woman premier of an Australian state)
• Peter Dowding (1988–90)
• Brian Burke (1983–88)
• John Tonkin (1971–74)
• Albert Hawke (1953–59)
• Frank Wise (1945–47)
• John Willcock (1936–45)
• Philip Collier (1924–30, 1933–36)
• John Scaddan (1911–16)
• Henry Daglish (1904–05)

Other past Labor politicians[link]

See Category:Australian Labor Party politicians

For current ALP federal politicians, see:

• List of members of the Australian House of Representatives
• List of members of the Australian Senate

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Australian Labor Party

• Gillard Ministry
• Australian Labor Party National Executive
• Australian Young Labor
• Politics of Australia
• List of political parties in Australia

References[link]

External links[link]

• Australian Labor Party website

Notes[link]

v t e Politics of Australia Commonwealth Queen Governor-General Prime Minister Cabinet Executive Council Ministry Foreign relations Parliament Senate House of Representatives Opposition Leader High Court Lower courts Constitution Act Statute of Westminster Australia Act Federal elections pre-1969 1969 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 Next by-elections State/territory governments Governors and Administrators Premiers and Chief Ministers Parliaments and Assemblies State/Territorial elections Most recent NSW 2011 election Vic 2010 election Qld 2012 election WA 2008 election SA 2010 election Tas 2010 election ACT 2008 election NT 2008 election Next NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT Local government In NSW Vic Qld (2012 Brisbane City Council election) WA SA Tas NT Political parties Labor Coalition (Liberal, National, LNP, CLP) Greens DLP KAP Other parties

Labour Party or Labor Party may refer to:

Current Labour parties[link]

Angola

• MPLA or Party of Labour

Antigua and Barbuda

• Antigua Labour Party

Armenia

• All Armenian Labour Party
• United Labour Party (Armenia)

Australia

• Australian Labor Party
• Democratic Labor Party
• Progressive Labour Party (Australia)

Barbados

• Barbados Labour Party
• Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)

Belarus

• Belarusian Labour Party

Bougainville

• Bougainville Labour Party

Brazil

• Brazilian Labour Party
• Brazilian Labour Renewal Party
• Democratic Labour Party (Brazil)
• National Labour Party (Brazil)
• Social Labour Party

Burundi

• Independent Labor Party

Republic of the Congo

• Congolese Party of Labour

Croatia

• Croatian Labourists – Labour Party
• Croatian Labour Party

Curaçao

• Labour Party People's Crusade

Dominica

• Dominica Labour Party

Fiji

• Fiji Labour Party

Georgia

• Georgian Labour Party

Gibraltar

• Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party

Grenada

• Grenada United Labor Party

Hong Kong

• Labour Party (Hong Kong)

Indonesia

• Labor Party (Indonesia)

Ireland

• Labour Party (Ireland)

Isle of Man

• Manx Labour Party

Israel

• Israeli Labor Party

Jamaica

• Jamaica Labour Party

Liberia

• Labor Party of Liberia

Lithuania

• Labour Party (Lithuania)

Malta

• Labour Party (Malta)

Mauritius

• Labour Party (Mauritius)

Mexico

• Labor Party (Mexico)

Morocco

• Labour Party (Morocco)

Norway

• Norwegian Labour Party

Netherlands

• Labour Party (Netherlands)

New Caledonia

• Labour Party (New Caledonia)

New Zealand

• New Zealand Labour Party

Nigeria

• Labour Party (Nigeria)

Norway

• Labour Party (Norway)

Papua New Guinea

• PNG Labour Party
• People's Labour Party (Papua New Guinea)

Pakistan

• Labour Party Pakistan

Poland

• Labour Union (Poland) (Unia Pracy)

Solomon Islands

• Solomon Islands Labour Party

South Africa

• New Labour Party (South Africa)

Saint Kitts and Nevis

• Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party

Saint Lucia

• Saint Lucia Labour Party

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

• Unity Labour Party

South Africa

• New Labour Party (South Africa)

South Korea

• Democratic Labor Party (South Korea)

Suriname

• Surinamese Labour Party

Sweden

• Swedish Social Democratic Party

Switzerland

• Swiss Party of Labour

Tanzania

• Tanzania Labour Party

Taiwan

• Labor Party (Taiwan)

Turkey

• Labour Party (Turkey)

Ukraine

• Labour Party Ukraine
• Labour Ukraine

United Kingdom

• Labour Party (UK)
  • Scottish Labour Party (Scottish branch)
  • Welsh Labour (Welsh branch)
• Socialist Labour Party (UK)
• Newtownabbey Labour Party (Northern Ireland)
• Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland)

USA

• Labor Party (United States)

Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Labour Party

Historical Labour parties[link]

Australia

• Industrial Socialist Labor Party

Belgium

• Belgian Labour Party

Burkina Faso

• Party of Labour of Burkina
• Voltaic Labour Party 1970

Canada

• Canadian Labour Party 1917-1929
• Labour candidates and parties in Canada 1870s-1960s
• Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist) 1932-1961
• Labour-Progressive Party
• North American Labour Party

Estonia

• Estonian Labour Party 1917-1932

Gibraltar

• Gibraltar Labour Party

Greenland

• Labour Party (Greenland)

Guatemala

• Guatemalan Party of Labour – Alamos

Indonesia

• Labour Party (Indonesia)
• Labour Party of Indonesia

Italy

• Italian Labour Party

Jamaica

• National Labour Party (Jamaica)

Japan

• Japan Labour-Farmer Party
• Farmer-Labour Party

Lithuania

• Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania

Malaysia

• Labour Party of Malaya

Namibia

• Labour Party (Namibia)

Netherlands

• Central Democratic Labour Party

New Zealand

• NewLabour Party (New Zealand)
• New Zealand Labour Party (1910) (original)

Nova Scotia

• Cape Breton Labour Party 1970-1984

Panama

• Labor Party (Panama)

Poland

• Labor Party (Stronnictwo Pracy) - a Polish Christian democratic political party formed in 1937.
• Labor Party (Partia Pracy) - a pro-government interwar Polish political party.
• Labor Party (Stronnictwo Pracy, 1989) - a Polish party created as an attempt to restart the original Stronnictwo Pracy.
• Polish Labour Party (Sierpień 80) - a socialist party founded in 2001.

Puerto Rico

• Labor Party (Puerto Rico)

Samoa

• Western Samoa Labour Party

Senegal

• Labour Party of Sine Saloum

Singapore

• Labour Front
• Labour Party

Slovakia

• Labour Party (Slovakia)

South Africa

• Labour Party (South Africa)
• Labour Party (Coloured)

Trinidad and Tobago

• Trinidad Labour Party

United Kingdom

• Scottish Labour Party (1888)
• Independent Labour Party
• National Labour Organisation
• Belfast Labour Party
• Labour Party of Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland Labour Party
• Republican Labour Party (in Northern Ireland)
• Communist Labour Party (Scotland)

United States

• American Labor Party
• Communist Labor Party of North America
• Farmer-Labor Party
• Labor Party (United States - 19th Century)
• Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party
• Socialist Labor Party of America
• U.S. Labor Party
• United States Socialist-Labor Party

See also[link]

• List of Labour Parties
• Workers' Party (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The Honourable Simon Crean MP
Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Anthony Albanese (Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government)
Minister for the Arts
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Peter Garrett (Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts)
Minister for Education
In office 28 June 2010 – 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Peter Garrett (School Education, Early Childhood and Youth)
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
In office 28 June 2010 – 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Chris Evans (Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations)
Minister for Social Inclusion
In office 28 June 2010 – 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Tanya Plibersek
Minister for Trade
In office 3 December 2007 – 28 June 2010
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Warren Truss
Succeeded by	Stephen Smith
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 November 2001 – 2 December 2003
Deputy	Jenny Macklin
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Mark Latham
Minister for Employment, Education and Training
In office 23 December 1993 – 11 March 1996
Prime Minister	Paul Keating
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Amanda Vanstone (Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs)
Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
In office 4 June 1991 – 23 December 1993
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke Paul Keating
Preceded by	John Kerin
Succeeded by	Bob Collins
Minister for Science and Technology
In office 4 April 1990 – 4 June 1991
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	Barry Jones (Science, Customs and Small Business)
Succeeded by	Ross Free
Member of the Australian Parliament for Hotham
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 March 1990
Preceded by	Lewis Kent
Personal details
Born	(1949-02-26) 26 February 1949 (age 63) Melbourne
Political party	Labor Party
Alma mater	Monash University
Website	Official website

Simon Findlay Crean (born 26 February 1949) is an Australian politician, and the current Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government in the Australian Federal Government.^[1] He was leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition at the Federal level, from November 2001 to 2 December 2003.^[2] He is the member for the Division of Hotham.^[2]

Early career[link]

Crean was born in Melbourne. He is the son of Frank Crean, a federal Labor MP from 1951 to 1977, who was at separate times Treasurer, Trade Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister in the Gough Whitlam government,^[3] and the brother of Dr David Crean, a former Labor member of the Parliament of Tasmania. He was educated at Middle Park Central School, Melbourne High School and Monash University. Following his graduation from Monash University with degrees in economics and law, Simon Crean worked in a number of trade unions before becoming an official with the Storeman and Packers Union, of which he became General Secretary in 1979.

In 1977, his father, Frank Crean, retired from Federal politics and made the seat of Melbourne Ports vacant for a successor. The ALP preselection was between Simon Crean and Clyde Holding, with Holding winning.

In 1981 Crean became Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), and in 1985 he was elected the organisation's President.^[3] In this role he played a key role in negotiating agreements on wages and other industrial issues with the Labor government of Bob Hawke. In 1990 he left the ACTU to go into politics.

At the 1990 election, Crean was elected to the seat of Hotham in the Australian House of Representatives, and immediately entered the Hawke ministry as Minister for Science and Technology.^[3] He became Minister for Primary Industries and Energy in 1991 and Minister for Employment, Education and Training in 1993.^[1]Following the Labor Party's 1996 election defeat, Crean contested the deputy leadership of the party but was defeated by Gareth Evans, 42 votes to 37.^[4][5] He was an Opposition front-bencher until Labor's defeat at the 1998 election. He was then elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and became shadow Treasurer in succession to Evans.

In his entire parliamentary career of almost 22 years, he has spent no time off the front bench.

Labor Party and Opposition leader[link]

In November 2001, following Labor's third consecutive election defeat, he was elected unopposed as the Leader of the Labor Party and the opposition following the resignation of Kim Beazley.^[6]

On 4 February 2003, Crean led the Labor Party in condemning Prime Minister John Howard's decision to commit Australian troops to the Iraq War.^[7]

Through most of 2003, consistently poor polling led to constant speculation of a leadership challenge by Beazley, though a reasonably successful Budget reply speech and the controversy over Peter Hollingworth gave Crean a small boost in popularity. Nevertheless, to end the constant rumblings over a challenge, Crean called for a leadership spill. Polls continued to suggest that the public much preferred Beazley to Crean; nevertheless, when the vote was taken on 16 June 2003, Crean won by 58 votes to 34.

By November, however, polls continued to show Crean losing more ground to Howard as preferred Prime Minister. On 27 November 2003 a group of his senior colleagues told Crean that he had lost the party's support and should resign. Crean said he would "sleep on it". On 28 November 2003, Crean announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labor Party, becoming the first federal Labor leader to be replaced without having contested an election since the expulsion of Billy Hughes in 1916.

Post leadership career[link]

After Crean's resignation, Beazley and the Labor Party's Treasury spokesperson, Mark Latham, announced that they would contest the Labor leadership. At the meeting of Labor MPs on 2 December, Latham defeated Beazley by 47 votes to 45.

Latham then appointed Crean as the Opposition's shadow Treasurer, which gave him a continued prominent role in Australian politics. However, in the aftermath of Labor's defeat in the 2004 election, many in the Labor Party felt that Crean's performance in the campaign was poor and that he was partly responsible for Labor's defeat;^{[citation needed]} as a result, Crean resigned from his Shadow Treasurer position.^[8] At Latham's insistence he was re-elected to the Opposition front bench and became Shadow Minister for Trade.

Crean retained this position when Beazley returned to the leadership in January 2005. In the June 2005 reshuffle, however, Crean was demoted to Shadow Minister for Regional Development. He faced a preselection challenge for his seat from Martin Pakula, a member of his former union, a move which he blamed on Kim Beazley, Hong Lim, and the Labor Right. Beazley refused to publicly support either candidate, but several front-benchers including Julia Gillard supported Crean. Crean won preselection after an unexpectedly strong win, recording around 70% of the votes in the first stage of voting, which led to his opponent's withdrawal. Since his victory Crean has singled out Senator Stephen Conroy for his part in the preselection challenge, describing his front-bench colleague as "venal" and "one of the most disloyal people I've ever worked with in my life".^[9]

Following the defeat of Kim Beazley and election of Kevin Rudd as Federal Labor leader in December 2006, Crean was reappointed as Shadow Trade Minister and also retained responsibility for regional development. In 2007 after Labor's election victory, Crean was appointed Minister for Trade in Kevin Rudd's ministry.

Following Julia Gillard's ascension as Prime Minister in June 2010, Crean was appointed Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and also Social Inclusion, with the Trade portfolio moving to Stephen Smith.^[1][10] He is the only person to have been a Cabinet minister under Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard. In over two decades as an MP, Crean has not spent a single day on the backbench. After the 2010 federal election, Crean was made both Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government.^[11]

Foreign trade[link]

Crean visited Singapore and Vietnam from 21–26 July 2009 to pursue Australia's trade and economic interests at a range of ministerial and other high level meetings. On 24 July, Minister Crean co-chaired the 8th Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee with the Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc in Hanoi.^[12] The meeting aimed to discuss key sectors in the bilateral relationship including education and training, infrastructure and environmental management, financial services and agribusiness. "As we progress toward implementation of the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, I look forward to discussing its practical contribution to the bilateral trade and investment relationship with Vietnam," he said.

Crean was accompanied to Vietnam by a business delegation and visited Saigon from 25–26 July. Earlier from 21–23 July, Crean attended the APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and the OECD Roundtable on Sustainable Development in Singapore.

See also[link]

• Rudd Ministry
• Gillard Ministry

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lyle Allan (2002), 'ALP Modernisation, Ethnic Branch Stacking, Factionalism and the Law,' in People and Place, Vol.10, No.4, pp. 50–58
• Ross McMullin (1992), The Light on the Hill. The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne (Victoria), ISBN 0-19-553451-4

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Simon Crean

• Simon Crean's Personal Website
• Search or browse Hansard for Simon Crean at OpenAustralia.org
• Australian Trade Union Archives biographical entry
• Crean resigns as shadow Treasurer
• Mark Latham steps in to save Crean

v t e Gillard Ministry Cabinet • Gillard 1 • 2 Inner Ministry Prime Minister Julia Gillard (since 2010) Deputy PM Treasurer Wayne Swan (since 2010) Immigration Citizenship Chris Bowen (since 2010) Defence Stephen Smith (since 2010) Finance and Deregulation Penny Wong (since 2010) Trade Craig Emerson (since 2010) Regional, Local Arts Simon Crean (since 2010) Foreign Affairs Bob Carr (since 2012) Families Community Services Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin (since 2010) Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese (since 2010) Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Chris Evans (since 2011) School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Peter Garrett (since 2010) Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet (since 2010)• Attorney General Nicola Roxon (since 2011) Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Joe Ludwig (since 2010) Sustainability, Environment Water, Population and Communities Vice-President of the Executive Council (Since 2012) Tony Burke (since 2010) Resources and Energy Tourism Martin Ferguson (since 2010) Social Inclusion Mark Butler (since 2011) Health and Ageing Tanya Plibersek (since 2011) Outer ministry Sport Kate Lundy Others Warren Snowdon• Gary Gray • Jason Clare • Julie Collins List of Australian ministries

v t e Rudd Cabinet (2007–10) Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd Anthony Albanese • Chris Bowen • Tony Burke • Kim Carr • Stephen Conroy • Simon Crean • Chris Evans • John Faulkner • Martin Ferguson • Joel Fitzgibbon • Peter Garrett • Julia Gillard • Joe Ludwig • Jenny Macklin • Robert McClelland • Nicola Roxon • Stephen Smith • Wayne Swan • Lindsay Tanner • Penny Wong

Mark Latham
Opposition Leader of Australia Elections: 2004
In office 2 December 2003 – 18 January 2005
Preceded by	Simon Crean
Succeeded by	Kim Beazley
Constituency	Werriwa
Personal details
Born	(1961-02-28) 28 February 1961 (age 51) Ashcroft, New South Wales
Political party	Australian Labor Party (1987-2005)
Spouse(s)	Janine Lacey
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Religion	Agnostic[1]

Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961), an author and former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005.

Latham captured national attention and, initially, high levels of public approval with his policies and unconventional approach, but also attracted controversy surrounding his past. In the October 2004 federal election, Latham was defeated by then-incumbent Prime Minister John Howard. Deteriorating relations with his party and ill health saw him resign as Leader on 18 January 2005.^[2]

In September 2005, Latham released The Latham Diaries, in which he attacked many of his former colleagues and members of the media, as well as condemning the general state of political life in Australia. He has since published A Conga Line of Suckholes, a regular column in the Australian Financial Review and Spectator Australia and an essay for The Monthly.

Early career[link]

Latham was born in Ashcroft, a suburb of south-western Sydney in New South Wales. He was educated at the Hurlstone Agricultural High School, where he was dux, and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a degree in economics. He worked at the Green Valley Hotel for 2 years. He was also a research assistant to the former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam, which included working on the latter's book The Whitlam Government.

In 1987 he was elected to the City Council of Liverpool, in Sydney's south-west, and was mayor from 1991 to 1994. Latham played rugby union with the Liverpool Bulls club and had a stint as its president. He has also been a fan of St George Dragons rugby league club since 1968.^[3]

Latham's term as mayor saw radical changes introduced to the council, with large spending on public works, to be paid for by a combination of loans and efficiencies achieved from outsourcing many council services. The public works, including libraries, a pedestrian mall and public art, have been highly praised in accounts of the period.

In an article in Quarterly Essay (issue 15), journalist Margaret Simons, who conducted an extensive investigation of the period, concluded that there were real issues in the financial management of the council. These mostly related to the drafting of the outsourcing agreements. Simons also said most of the allegations come from council members who were sacked for incompetence by the state government.

On 1 June 2004, Latham told Parliament that during his time as mayor he had reduced Liverpool's debt-servicing ratio from 17 to 10 percent, which he said was less than half of western Sydney's average. He also said Liverpool had adopted a debt-retirement strategy that he claimed would have made it debt free by 2005, but which was not implemented by his successors. Councillor Colin Harrington, whom Latham defeated during the mayoral elections of 1991, later said these figures were not accurate. He said the average debt-servicing ratio for western Sydney was 12.1 percent and he said the council's financial staff could find no significant reference to the debt-retirement strategy.

Member of Parliament[link]

In January 1994 Latham was elected at a by-election to the House of Representatives for the Sydney seat of Werriwa, which had been Gough Whitlam's seat from 1952 to 1978.^[4] He was elected to the Opposition front bench after Labor lost the 1996 election, and became shadow minister for education. After the 1998 election he resigned from the front bench following a policy dispute with the opposition leader, Kim Beazley. The two became political enemies following this incident.

The views expressed in Civilising Global Capital(see below) alienated him from many Labor traditionalists, but his aggressive parliamentary style won him many admirers. He once referred to Prime Minister John Howard as an "arselicker" and to the Liberal Party frontbench as a "conga line of suckholes".^[5] He also described U.S. President George W. Bush as "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory".^[6]

On politics, Latham commented in 2002: "I'm a hater. Part of the tribalness of politics is to really dislike the other side with intensity. And the more I see of them the more I hate them. I hate their negativity. I hate their narrowness. I hate the way, for instance, John Howard tries to appeal to suburban values when I know that he hasn't got any real answers to the problems and challenges we face. I hate the phoniness of that".^[7]

Leader of the Opposition[link]

Latham was a strong supporter of Kim Beazley's successor Simon Crean, defending the leader against his critics within the party. He called Crean's principal frontbench detractors, Stephen Smith, Stephen Conroy and Wayne Swan "the three roosters". When Crean resigned the Labor leadership, Latham contested the ballot for leader against Beazley. On 2 December 2003, less than 10 years after entering Parliament, Latham won the vote for the leadership by 47 votes to 45. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard were early contenders for the leadership, but both withdrew in favour of Beazley and Latham respectively. At age 42, Latham became the youngest leader of the federal parliamentary Labor Party since its first leader Chris Watson, who became leader at age 33 in 1901. In his first press conference as leader, Latham championed his belief in a "ladder of opportunity" that would bring prosperity to all Australians.

Mark Latham with former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, unveiling a plaque to commemorate the centenary of the first Australian federal Labor government, Melbourne, April 2004

The Howard government targeted Latham's brash personality and his colourful past. Howard characterised him as "Mr Flip-Flop", referring to a character in a children's book. Peter Costello attempted to damage Latham's economic credentials by referring to the experimental economic ideas that he had put forward as shadow treasurer, such as abolishing negative gearing and replacing the GST with a Progressive Expenditure Tax. Frequent references were made to Latham's temper; he was alleged to have broken a taxi-driver's arm in a scuffle arising from a fare dispute.^[8] However, Latham was uncharacteristically calm in the face of these attacks, surprising many members of the media.

On winning the leadership, Latham moved swiftly to heal the rifts in the Labor Party and to moderate his abrasive image. He appointed his predecessor, Simon Crean, as shadow treasurer, while also retaining a number of Kim Beazley's supporters in senior positions. In July 2004 Beazley himself was re-elected to the ALP front bench as Shadow Minister for Defence.

Latham gave a promise not to use the kind of "crude" language he had employed in the past. He and the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, Kevin Rudd, met the United States ambassador, Tom Schieffer, to stress Labor's continuing support for the Australian–American alliance.

In January 2004 the Labor Party national conference was held in Sydney. During the conference Latham received very positive media coverage and introduced his plans for early childhood literacy. He introduced an unusual campaign style, choosing to focus on "values" issues, such as reading to children and economic relief for middle-class Australia, which he termed with the political slogan ease the squeeze.

Latham also put forward plans to reform the education and health systems. In contrast to the intense stagecrafting of Latham's image at the conference, he boosted his profile by means of loosely organised "town hall"-style direct meetings around the country. By March, Labor had taken the lead over the Coalition in the opinion polls, and Latham had a higher personal approval rating than any opposition leader since Bob Hawke in 1983. Commentators began to discuss the serious possibility that Latham could be Prime Minister by the end of the year.

In March, following the Spanish elections at which the pro-American People's Party government was defeated, Latham sparked a new controversy by committing a Labor government to withdrawing Australian troops from Iraq by Christmas. At that time, Australia had about 850 troops in Iraq, mostly involved in patrol work and in training members of the new Iraqi defence forces. Howard accused Latham of a "cut and run" approach and said "it’s not the Australian way not to stay the distance".^[9]

2004 election campaign[link]

Latham with mentor, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, at an election fundraiser in Melbourne, September 2004

Until March 2004, Labor under Latham's leadership held a strong lead in national opinion polls. Latham's commitment to withdraw from Iraq caused a sharp drop in Labor's lead, but following the revelations of prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison, Labor's lead increased again, suggesting that support for involvement in Iraq had declined, undermining Howard's position.

In June 2004, Labor's "troops home by Christmas" policy came under fire from U.S. President George W. Bush who, at a White House press conference during Howard's visit to Washington DC, described it as "disastrous". Bush's comments raised controversy in Australia over whether Bush was interfering in Australia's domestic political affairs, whether the election of a Latham government would endanger the U.S. alliance, and whether the comments were made with Howard's prior knowledge.^[10]

Shortly afterwards, Latham announced the recruitment of Peter Garrett, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation and former lead singer with the rock band Midnight Oil, as a Labor candidate in Kingsford Smith, a safe Sydney electorate being vacated by the retiring former minister Laurie Brereton. Garrett revealed that he had been approached months before by senior ALP figures, including John Faulkner and Kim Beazley, and had taken this long to make up his mind.^[11]

Most commentators regarded his recruitment as a high-risk tactic, seeing the potential advantage to Labor of Garrett's popularity among young people as being offset by the possibility that his record of radical and anti-American statements in the past would offend moderate voters.

The second coup scored by Latham was the announcement that he would abolish the generous superannuation schemes available to members of parliament; his plan was quickly adopted by the Howard government in the face of a rising wave of public support.

Other announced policies and initiatives included: the introduction of federal government parenting classes for those parents deemed to be failing to adequately discipline their children; a ban on food and drink advertising during children's television viewing hours; the introduction of a national youth mentoring program; the government distribution of free story books to the families of newborn children; a federal ban on plastic shopping bags; and the introduction of legislation to prohibit vilification on the basis of religious beliefs or sexual orientation, similar to laws adopted in the state of Victoria that some critics said had led to a restriction of free speech. Some of these initiatives prompted Howard to criticise Latham as a "behavioural policeman".

The Liberal-National coalition focused heavily on Latham's inexperience during the campaign (in Australia, yellow "L-plates" are attached to cars driven by learner drivers).

In July 2004, Latham again became the centre of controversy when it was alleged on a commercial television network that he had punched a political rival during his time on Liverpool Council. Latham strongly denied the accusation. On 6 July 2004, he called a press conference and denounced the government for maintaining what he called a "dirt unit," which he said was gathering personal material about him, including details of his first marriage. The government denied that any such unit existed, but some observers speculated that Liberal Party researchers had accumulated more potentially embarrassing material about Latham, which would be used during the election campaign (a threat which never eventuated), in addition to claims that Latham was an inexperienced economic manager.

Between March and August, Latham's position in the opinion polls gradually declined, leading to renewed speculation that Howard would call an early election. During August, Labor claimed a tactical victory over the government on the issue of the Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement and there were allegations in a Senate inquiry that Howard had lied about the "Children Overboard Affair" during the 2001 election campaign. By mid-August, Labor was again ahead in all three national opinion polls. On 18 August, however, Latham was admitted to a Sydney hospital, where he was diagnosed with pancreatitis.

The election was held on 9 October 2004. Although opinion polls showed the ALP leading the government at various stages of the six-week campaign, the government was re-elected with an increased majority. This was despite Latham being generally credited with a strong performance and a victory in the sole campaign debate. In the days after the election, Latham was criticised for releasing many key policies too late, a case in point being Labor's policy regarding conservation of Tasmanian old growth forests.

Among those critical of Latham were journalists Tom Allard and Mark Metherell, who said "the flurry of releases meant Mr Latham went off message from Labor's core strengths of health and education." Labor's party president, Carmen Lawrence, blamed the unexpected severity of the defeat on an effective Coalition "scare campaign" focused on Latham's limited economic management experience, and the alleged threat of a rise in interest rates under Labor, which was not effectively countered, reportedly in an attempt by Tim Gartrell to conserve funds for later in the campaign (where, in previous years, Labor had been outspent by the Liberals).

Gartrell also apparently failed to anticipate the interest rates scare campaign.^[12] The inability of his campaign to counter the Liberal campaign would later be cited by Latham himself, in the Latham Diaries, as a key reason for the election loss.^[13] Latham wrote that he had told his wife Janine that "I've tried to carry the whole show on my shoulders: my family, my community, my party. But now I'm stuffed. I have collapsed under the weight of those fucking ads".^[14] Michael Costello, a former chief of staff to Kim Beazley, said: "This is a complete train wreck. We now face at least two terms before we can win government again. We face at least three years with John Howard pretty much in control of the Senate."

On the morning of 8 October, the day before the election, a television crew filmed Latham and Howard shaking hands as they crossed paths outside an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio studio in Sydney. The footage showed Latham appearing to draw Howard towards him and tower over his shorter opponent. The incident received wide media coverage and, while Latham claimed to have been attempting to get revenge for Howard squeezing his wife's hand too hard at a press function, it was variously reported as being "aggressive", "bullying" and "intimidating" on the part of Latham. The Liberal Party campaign director, Brian Loughnane, later said this incident generated more feedback to Liberal headquarters than anything else during the six-week campaign, and that it "brought together all the doubts and hesitations that people had about Mark Latham". Latham disputes the impact of this incident, however, having described it as a "Tory gee-up: we got close to each other, sure, but otherwise it was a regulation man's handshake. It's silly to say it cost us votes – my numbers spiked in the last night of our polling."^[15] According to Latham's account of events, Latham came in close to Howard for the handshake to prevent Howard shaking with his arm rather than his wrist.

Latham became the first Labor opposition leader since Frank Tudor in 1917 to fail to make a net gain in seats from the government at his first election.^[16] Some commentators, including Kim Beazley, said Latham's leadership had rescued Labor from a much heavier defeat.^[17] Beazley said polling a year before the election indicated the ALP would lose "25–30 seats" in the House of Representatives. Instead the party lost a net four seats in the lower house, a swing of 0.21% and there was a 1.1% swing to the ALP in the Senate.

Leadership tensions[link]

Labor's defeat led to media criticisms of Latham's personal style and policy priorities, and also to a crisis in confidence in his leadership within the Labor caucus. Several prominent members of the front-bench, notably John Faulkner, Lindsay Tanner and Bob McMullan, chose not to recontest front-bench positions. McMullan made it clear he was unhappy with Latham's leadership style and gave an interview suggesting there would be a leadership challenge early in 2005. The national secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, Bill Shorten, was also highly critical of Latham.

In December, after Latham was incorrectly reported to have blamed Labor's state premiers for the defeat, an unnamed Labor frontbencher predicted a leadership challenge within the next few months, saying Latham's supporters had lost confidence in him. Latham also had a heated public confrontation with the Labor deputy leader in the Senate, Stephen Conroy, renewing speculation there would be a challenge to Latham's leadership in the new year.

Latham was helped by the fact that there was no obvious successor to the leadership. The most likely candidates, Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan and Stephen Smith, accepted senior positions on Latham's frontbench and pledged loyalty to him. The leaders of the Socialist Left faction, and the centre-left under Martin Ferguson and Julia Gillard, also maintained their support for him. There was little support for a return to Beazley, and neither Tanner nor McMullan were seen as viable leadership candidates. In the longer run, however, many commentators doubted Latham would survive until the 2007 election after such a heavy defeat.

The final crisis for Latham's leadership erupted in the aftermath of the December tsunami. With both Latham and his deputy leader, Jenny Macklin, on leave, the acting opposition leader, Senator Chris Evans, issued statements in the aftermath of the tsunami. Latham was criticised for not issuing a statement as leader personally, particularly at a time when John Howard expressed national sympathy over the disaster, pledged $1 billion in aid to Indonesia and declared a national day of mourning. Latham rejected the criticism of his non-appearance after the tragedy, saying "none of my verbiage could make any practical difference – bring back the dead, reverse the waves, organise the relief effort". Macklin issued a statement on the disaster on 30 December before also choosing to take leave.

Several days later, Latham said he had been ordered to rest as a result of a recurrence of his pancreatitis. It was subsequently alleged that during the period of his illness he had been seen in a resort resting with his family. Latham's colleagues in turn became increasingly angry over his failure to communicate with them or to release a full statement about his health. Opinion polls in January showed a sharp decline in Latham's support and a preference for the return of Beazley as Labor leader.

Departure from politics[link]

On 18 January 2005 citing life-threatening illness and family concerns, Latham announced his resignation from the Labor Party leadership and from Parliament. He strongly criticised the media for invading his family's privacy during his illness. Latham had been federal Labor leader for 13 months, the shortest tenure since Billy Hughes was expelled from the party in 1916. Latham was only the second federal Labor leader, after Matthew Charlton in 1928, to leave politics without ever having held ministerial office.

Political journalist Mungo MacCallum wrote: "Latham became leader too early in his career, he lacked the skills needed to deal with the webs of intrigue within his own party, he refused to massage the media and the advisers he did listen to were out of their depth against Howard's praetorian guard. But he had many qualities that were not only desirable and attractive but are in short supply in today's ALP. In other circumstances he could have developed into a formidable leader, even prime minister. As it is, he remains one of the great what-ifs."

Publications[link]

Although Latham wrote Civilising Global Capital while he was an MP, most of his works have been written after his parliamentary career.

Civilising Global Capital[link]

Whilst on the backbench of Parliament in the late 1990s, Latham published Civilising Global Capital: New Thinking for Australian Labor (Allen and Unwin, 1998), in which he argued that Labor needed to abandon many of its traditional policies and embrace the aspirational values (home ownership, higher education) of the upwardly-mobile skilled working class and small business class. His policies as the leader of the Labor Party were largely derived from the stance taken in this book, which ideologically is described as 'the third way'.

Biography[link]

Latham's biography Loner: Inside a Labor Tragedy, by Bernard Lagan, was launched on 29 June 2005 by Senator John Faulkner, published by Allen & Unwin. The book caused furore within Labor ranks. Most of this was due to material contained within a single email written by Latham in the last page of the book. Of Kim Beazley's return to the leadership, Latham said: "Labor got the leader it truly deserves – it is well suited to a conservative stand-for-nothing type of leader". Latham also criticised state Labor premiers Bob Carr, Peter Beattie and Geoff Gallop, calling them "A-grade arseholes".^[18] Union leader Bill Shorten remarked that Latham had displayed "all the attributes of a dog except loyalty".^[19]

Of his election loss, Latham wrote: "I had my shot at being prime minister. It didn't work out on several fronts. But life goes on, potentially in a splendid way, spending so much time with my family. After suffering testicular cancer, the greatest gift in my life has been the ability to have children with Janine. I would be a fool to waste it".

[edit] The Latham Diaries

Soon after his retirement, Latham announced his decision to publish a selection of diary entries spanning almost a decade. Following a bidding war, it was announced that Melbourne University Press (MUP) would publish the Diaries in late September. MUP later awarded the exclusivity rights for extracts to News Ltd and the exclusivity for the first^[20] interview to the ABC television program Enough Rope, which was due to be broadcast at 9.30pm on Monday 19 September 2005.

Meanwhile, excerpts of the Diaries were published by The Australian from 15 September ahead of their publication in book form on 19 September. The excerpts published include attacks by Latham on the ALP, his successor Kim Beazley, frontbencher Kevin Rudd and former Labor prime ministers Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam.^[21]

Due to the publicity the Diaries were now generating, the extensive amount of published extracts, and concerns that Latham had recorded other interviews, in particular with another ABC program, Lateline, Enough Rope pushed to have the interview broadcast four days early on Thursday 15 September at 8.30pm with a simultaneous broadcast on some ABC radio stations. However, when the time came to broadcast, the ABC announced that the interview would not be shown due to a legal injunction sought by News Limited (owner of The Australian), which had the rights to publish extracts from the Diaries. Reports on the night said any broadcast by the ABC was a breach of confidentiality between News and the book's publisher, MUP, the newspaper publisher having signed to an A$80,000 deal to publish excerpts of the book in the weekend newspapers. However, at 10.30pm, the ABC aired the Denton interview after the Supreme Court of New South Wales lifted the injunction. Justice Harry Palmer said the publication of large parts of the book in News Limited newspapers largely destroyed the value of the material. Due to the last-minute changes, the edition of ABC's Lateline program scheduled for 10.30pm featuring another interview with Latham (also subject to the short-lived injunction) was aired the following night.^[22]

The Diaries represent a remarkable and unprecedented statement by a former leader of a major political party. In the book, Latham is scathing about Australia's political system: "It takes committed people ... and turns them into one-dimensional robots ... The only good news is that the public is on to them. The electorate has worked out the artificiality of it all. They can see through the spin doctors, the publicity stunts, the polling and the tricks of marginal-seat campaigning. This is why people now talk about politics with a cool anger. They have a clear feeling that the system is far from genuine. That the robots, in fact, are tin men".^[23]

A Conga Line of Suckholes[link]

Latham's seventh book, a collection of quotations titled A Conga Line of Suckholes, was released by Melbourne University Publishing in late September 2006.^[24]

No Exit The ALP[link]

In November 2010, Latham contributed an essay in The Monthly titled No Exit The ALP.^[25] In it, Latham again criticised the ALP, writing that "for all the heightened rhetoric, for the seemingly endless creation of summits, committees and policy review processes, the lasting impression from the Rudd years is one of emptiness". Latham also remarked that "Without a guiding philosophy of politics, Rudd’s prime ministership was an exercise in populism. He avoided tough decisions and mastered the art of media manipulation as a way of extending his honeymoon", before concluding that Labor had "lost its way". Latham's suggested solution is that Labor again champions great causes, writing that:

Having studied the literature and, at one time, been part of these debates, I can identify just three credible ideas that have been advanced for the renewal of the social democratic project. Each seeks to move beyond economic issues, beyond the material realm of politics, to stake out new ground. The first tries to reclaim social capital, the rebuilding of mutualism and community, as a Labor icon. The second positions Labor as an anti-establishment party, breaking down the entrenched centres of power in society. The third champions a crusade on climate change, an uncompromising attempt to roll back the materialism of western society in favour of environmental values.

Latham finishes his essay by writing about the difficulties of each approach.

Post-political life[link]

Apology from Jeff Kennett[link]

Jeff Kennett, a former Liberal premier of Victoria who became a national depression awareness advocate for beyondblue, weighed into the debate. Kennett said Latham's erratic behaviour, which contributed to his political downfall, was symptomatic of a bipolar disorder – extreme mood swings caused by depression. Latham contacted Kennett, saying the statement offended and hurt him and his family, and demanded an apology, which Kennett quickly gave through The Age newspaper in Melbourne.^[26]

Melbourne University Lecture[link]

Latham gave his first public lecture since the release of the Diaries, titled "Ten Reasons Why Young Idealistic People Should Forget About Organised Politics", on 27 September 2005, at Melbourne University. The reserved-seating lecture was filled to capacity, an extraordinary occurrence. During the lecture he argued that organised politics is ineffective at achieving real social change, due to public apathy, the rise of conservatism and the inward-focused structure of the major parties, and instead encouraged youth to focus on more grassroots, community-based programs. He also claimed politics has a detrimental impact on health, happiness and family life, largely blaming the "arrogant" and "incompetent" media, as well as internal party struggles.^[27]

Incident at Hungry Jack's[link]

On 19 January 2006, Latham was eating with his two sons at a Hungry Jack's restaurant in Campbelltown, New South Wales when he was photographed by Ross Schultz, a photographer from The Daily Telegraph. Schultz alleged that Latham snatched the camera and smashed it, without destroying the electronic media that contained the photographs. It was reported that Latham called Schultz a paedophile, presumably because he thought Schultz had taken pictures of his sons. The Telegraph subsequently announced plans for upcoming publication of the photographic images in the following Saturday's edition and that it would be seeking $12,000 from Latham to replace the equipment.^[28] The following day, Latham appeared to drive towards a Channel 7 television cameraman at his Sydney home. The photographer was unhurt but Seven's head of news in Sydney, Chris Willis, said the footage clearly showed Latham's car veer toward the cameraman as he stood on the side of the road.^[28] In February 2006, Latham was charged with assault, malicious damage and theft in relation to the incident. Latham did not appear in Campbelltown Local Court to face the charges, on 22 March, instead giving a lecture to political science students at the Australian National University. When asked by a student how he could blame everyone else but himself, Latham replied: "I'm sorry I didn't come in here and expose myself as a miserable arsewipe".^[29] On 26 April, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Latham again chose not to appear in Campbelltown Local Court in relation to 19 January incident. The case was adjourned to 24 May.^[30] On 6 June, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Latham escaped having a criminal conviction for malicious damage to the camera being used by Schultz recorded against him, but had been placed on a good behaviour bond for two years. After pleading guilty to malicious damage, he had the charges of assault and theft dropped.^[31] He was also required to pay $6,763.70 in compensation for the damaged camera.^[32]

The Sun Herald reported on 13 August 2006 that the family were moving from their Glen Alpine home to a property at Mount Hunter, near Camden.^[33]

2007 federal election[link]

He commented on the 2007 federal election campaign with an article in the Australian Financial Review, in which he said Australia was having a "Seinfeld election, a show about nothing". Latham wrote that no matter which party won, Australia would have a conservative economic policy and a decentralised, productivity-based industrial relations system. Australian public life had reached the "zenith of policy convergence". "Many people in the Labor movement are expecting Labor in power to be far more progressive than its stated election promises. I expect a Labor administration to be even more timid, more conservative," he wrote.^[34]

2010 federal election[link]

In 2010, Latham was a guest reporter for television show 60 Minutes where he reported on the federal election campaign. It was here that during a report he confronted Julia Gillard. Latham pushed his way through the crowd and confronted Gillard and her partner, Tim Mathieson, saying: "I understand you have made a complaint about me working for Channel 9".^[35] Gillard replied "I don't know anything about that, Mark, if you want to work with Channel 9 that's a matter for you", before Latham suggested that Kevin Rudd had been behind the leaks against her during the campaign.

He also caused a stir when on television he urged voters to issue a protest vote by leaving the ballot paper blank on election day. "They say that voting in Australia is compulsory, but it's not compulsory to fill out the ballot paper. You can put it in the ballot box, totally blank. That's what I'll be doing on Saturday and I urge you to do the same. It's the ultimate protest vote." he said on 60 Minutes.^[36][37] Following that interview, he continued to attack Gillard as well as journalist Laurie Oakes.^[38]

Quotations[link]

New Political Correctness speech to House of Representatives, 26 August 2002

References[link]