Editing Australian Labor Party (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of the Australian Labor Party}}

[[File:StateLibQld 1 46636 After the swearing in of the Dawson ministry of the Labor Party Brisbane, Queensland.jpg|thumb|left|[[Anderson Dawson]]'s ministry leaving [[Parliament House, Brisbane]], after being sworn in on 1 December 1899. His was the first government formed by a Labour party in the world]]
The Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree (the [[Tree of Knowledge (Australia)|Tree of Knowledge]]) in [[Barcaldine, Queensland|Barcaldine]], Queensland in 1891. The [[1891 Australian shearers' strike|1891 shearers' strike]] is credited as being one of the factors for the formation of the Australian Labor Party. On 9 September 1892 the ''Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party'' was read out under the well known [[Tree of Knowledge (Australia)|Tree of Knowledge]] at Barcaldine following the Great Shearers' Strike.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-09-08|title=125th anniversary of the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/125th-anniversary-manifesto-queensland-labour-party|access-date=2021-03-23|website=State Library Of Queensland|language=en|archive-date=11 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211195940/https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/125th-anniversary-manifesto-queensland-labour-party|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[State Library of Queensland]] now holds the manifesto;<ref>{{SLQ-CC-BY|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/charles-seymour-papers-1880-1924-treasure-collection-john-oxley-library|title=Charles Seymour Papers 1880–1924: Treasure collection of the John Oxley Library|date=8 November 2021|author(s)=Anne Scheu|access-date=2 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=OM69-18 Charles Seymour Papers 1880–1924|url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=slq_alma21148463600002061&vid=SLQ&search_scope=DT&tab=dt&lang=en_US&context=L|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-23|website=State Library of Queensland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109054559/http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=slq_alma21148463600002061&vid=SLQ&search_scope=DT&tab=dt&lang=en_US&context=L |archive-date=9 November 2021 }}</ref> in 2008 the historic document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Australian Register<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party, 1892 |url=https://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/manifesto-queensland-labour-party-1892|access-date=2021-03-23|website=Australian Memory of the World|archive-date=29 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329200053/https://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/manifesto-queensland-labour-party-1892|url-status=live}}</ref>&nbsp;and, in 2009, the document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party to the people of Queensland (dated 9 September 1892) |url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-5/manifesto-of-the-queensland-labour-party-to-the-people-of-queensland-dated-9-september-1892/|access-date=2021-03-23|website=UNESCO|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331174524/http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-5/manifesto-of-the-queensland-labour-party-to-the-people-of-queensland-dated-9-september-1892|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Balmain, New South Wales|Balmain]], New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. However, the Scone Branch has a receipt for membership fees for the Labour Electoral League dated April 1891. This predates the Balmain claim. This can be attested in the Centenary of the ALP book.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in [[New South Wales Labor Party|New South Wales]] and [[South Australian Labor Party|South Australia]], 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.

The first election contested by Labour candidates was the [[1891 New South Wales colonial election|1891 New South Wales election]], when Labour candidates (then called the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales) won 35 of 141 seats. The major parties were the [[Protectionist Party|Protectionist]] and [[Free Trade Party|Free Trade]] parties and Labour held the [[Balance of power (parliament)|balance of power]]. It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy concessions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McMullen |first1=Ross |year=2004 |title=So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World's First National Labour Government |location=Carlton North, Victoria |publisher=Scribe Publications |page=4 |isbn=978-1-920769-13-0}}</ref> The [[South Australian Labor Party#Formation|United Labor Party (ULP) of South Australia]] was founded in 1891, and three candidates were that year elected to the [[South Australian Legislative Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/may/9-may-1891-united-labor-party-elected-to-legislati.shtml|title=9 May 1891 United Labor Party elected to Legislative Council (Celebrating South Australia)|author=Alison Painter|access-date=11 June 2015|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306103358/http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/may/9-may-1891-united-labor-party-elected-to-legislati.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The first successful [[South Australian House of Assembly]] candidate was [[John McPherson]] at the [[1892 East Adelaide colonial by-election|1892 East Adelaide by-election]]. [[Richard Hooper (Australian politician)|Richard Hooper]] however was elected as an Independent Labor candidate at the [[1891 Wallaroo colonial by-election|1891 Wallaroo by-election]], while he was the first labor member of the House of Assembly he was not a member of the newly formed ULP.

At the [[1893 South Australian colonial election|1893 South Australian elections]], the ULP was immediately elevated to balance of power status with 10 of 54 lower house seats. The liberal government of [[Charles Kingston]] was formed with the support of the ULP, ousting the conservative government of [[John Downer]]. So successful, less than a decade later at the [[1905 South Australian state election|1905 state election]], [[Thomas Price (South Australian politician)|Thomas Price]] formed the world's first stable Labor government. [[John Verran]] led Labor to form the state's first of many [[majority government]]s at the [[1910 South Australian state election|1910 state election]].

In 1899, [[Anderson Dawson]] formed a minority Labour<!-- do not change spelling, it is correct in historical context --> government in [[Queensland]], the first in the world, which lasted one week while the [[Conservatism|conservatives]] regrouped after a split.

The colonial Labour<!-- Do not change spelling, it is correct in historical context. --> parties and the trade unions were mixed in their support for the [[Federation of Australia]]. Some Labour representatives argued against the proposed constitution, claiming that the Senate as proposed was too powerful, similar to the anti-reformist colonial upper houses and the [[House of Lords|British House of Lords]]. They feared that federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces. However, the first Labour<!-- Do not change spelling, it is correct in historical context. --> leader and Prime Minister [[Chris Watson]] was a supporter of federation.

Historian Celia Hamilton, examining New South Wales, argues for the central role of Irish Catholics. Before 1890, they opposed Henry Parkes, the main Liberal leader, and of free trade, seeing them both as the ideals of Protestant Englishmen who represented landholding and large business interests. In the strike of 1890 the leading Catholic, Sydney's Archbishop [[Patrick Francis Moran]] was sympathetic toward unions, but Catholic newspapers were negative.  After 1900, says Hamilton, Irish Catholics were drawn to the Labour Party because its stress on equality and social welfare fitted with their status as manual labourers and small farmers. In the 1910 elections Labour gained in the more Catholic areas and the representation of Catholics increased in Labour's parliamentary ranks.<ref>Celia Hamilton, "Irish-Catholics of New South Wales and the Labor Party, 1890–1910." ''Historical Studies: Australia & New Zealand'' (1958) 8#31: 254–267.</ref>

=== Early decades at the federal level ===
[[File:Labor 1901b.jpg|thumb|Group photograph of federal Labour Party MPs elected to the House of Representatives and Senate at the inaugural 1901 election]]
The [[1901 Australian federal election|federal parliament in 1901]] was contested by each state Labour Party. In total, they won 15 of the 75 seats in the House of Representatives, collectively holding the balance of power, and the Labour members now met as the Federal Parliamentary Labour<!-- do not change spelling, it is correct in historical context --> Party (informally known as the [[caucus]]) on 8 May 1901 at [[Parliament House, Melbourne]], the meeting place of the first federal Parliament.{{sfn|Faulkner|Macintyre|2001|p=3}} The caucus decided to support the incumbent [[Protectionist Party]] in [[minority government]], while the [[Free Trade Party]] formed the [[Opposition (Australia)|opposition]]. It was some years before there was any significant structure or organisation at a national level. Labour <!-- Do not change spelling, is correct in historical context. -->under [[Chris Watson]] doubled its vote at the [[1903 Australian federal election|1903 federal election]] and continued to hold the balance of power. In April 1904, however, Watson and [[Alfred Deakin]] fell out over the issue of extending the scope of industrial relations laws concerning the [[Conciliation]] and [[Arbitration]] bill to cover state public servants, the fallout causing Deakin to resign. Free Trade leader [[George Reid]] declined to take office, which saw Watson become the first Labour<!-- Do not change spelling, is correct in historical context. --> [[Prime Minister of Australia]], and the world's first Labour head of government at a national level ([[Anderson Dawson]] had led a short-lived Labour government in Queensland in December 1899), though his was a [[minority government]] that lasted only four months. He was aged only 37, and is still the youngest prime minister in Australia's history.<ref>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Nairn |first= Bede |year= 1990 |id= A120450b |title= Watson, John Christian (Chris) (1867–1941) |volume=12 | access-date =9 February 2010 }}</ref>

George Reid of the [[Free Trade Party]] adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labour vs. non-Labour lines prior to the [[1906 Australian federal election|1906 federal election]] and renamed his Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party. Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti-socialist, with the [[Protectionist Party]] in the middle. This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the [[Westminster system|Westminster tradition]] and regarded a [[two-party system]] as very much the norm.<ref>{{cite web|author=Charles Richardson |url=https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2015/04/images/stories/policy-magazine/2009-autumn/25-1-09-charles-richardson.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2015/04/images/stories/policy-magazine/2009-autumn/25-1-09-charles-richardson.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Fusion: The Party System We Had To Have? |date=25 January 2009 |access-date=19 September 2017}}</ref>

Although Watson led the party to a plurality victory (though not government, thanks to the [[Commonwealth Liberal|union of Free Traders and Protectionists]]) in [[1906 Australian federal election|1906]], he stepped down from the leadership the following year, to be succeeded by [[Andrew Fisher]]'s minority government for seven months until it fell in June 1909. At the [[1910 Australian federal election|1910 federal election]], Fisher led Labor to victory, forming Australia's first elected federal [[majority government]], Australia's first elected [[Australian Senate|Senate]] majority, the world's first [[List of Labour parties|Labour Party]] majority government at a national level, and after the 1904 [[Chris Watson]] minority government the world's second Labour Party government at a national level. It was the first time a Labour Party had controlled any house of a legislature, and the first time the party controlled both houses of a bicameral legislature.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |year=1981 |first=D. J. |last=Murphy |title=Andrew Fisher (1862–1928) |volume=8 |id2=fisher-andrew-378 |access-date =31 May 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070619030028/http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080529b.htm |archive-date= 19 June 2007 |url-status= live}}</ref> The state branches were also successful, except in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], where the strength of [[Alfred Deakin|Deakinite]] liberalism inhibited the party's growth. The state branches formed their first majority governments in [[1910 New South Wales state election|New South Wales]] and [[1910 South Australian state election|South Australia]] in 1910, [[1911 Western Australian state election|Western Australia]] in 1911, [[1915 Queensland state election|Queensland]] in 1915 and [[1925 Tasmanian state election|Tasmania]] in 1925. Such success eluded the other Commonwealth Labour parties for another decade; the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party in Great Britain]] would not form even a minority government until [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]], and would have to wait another [[1945 United Kingdom general election|sixteen years]] to win a majority in its own right. Even in neighboring [[New Zealand]], Labour would not take power until [[1935 New Zealand general election|1935]]. In Canada, a [[Labour candidates and parties in Canada|national labour party]] was not even [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation|formed until 1932]] and never formed government.

Analysis of the early NSW Labor caucus reveals "a band of unhappy amateurs",{{Quote without source|date=July 2024}} 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.

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".{{Quote without source|date=July 2024}} The 1922 [[Australian Labor Party National Conference|Labor Party National Conference]] adopted a similarly worded socialist objective which remained official policy for many years. The resolution was immediately qualified, however, by the [[Maurice Blackburn|Blackburn]] amendment, which said that "socialisation" was desirable only when was necessary to "eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features".{{sfn|McKinlay|1981|p=53}} 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 of Australia|High Court]] to be unconstitutional. The commitment to nationalisation was dropped by [[Gough Whitlam]], and [[Bob Hawke]]'s government carried out the floating of the dollar.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} [[Privatisation]] of state enterprises such as [[Qantas]] airways and the [[Commonwealth Bank]] was carried out by the [[Paul Keating]] government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jacobin.com/2021/03/australian-labor-party-paul-keating-privatization-neoliberalism |title=How the Labor Party Sold Australia's Public Assets for a Song |year=2021 |work=Max Chandler-Mather |publisher=Jacobin.com |access-date=6 January 2025 }}</ref>

The Labor Party is commonly described{{By whom|date=July 2024}} as a [[social democracy|social democratic]] party, and its constitution stipulates that it is a [[democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alp.org.au/platform/chapter_12.php |title=National Constitution of the ALP |year=2009 |work=Official Website of the Australian Labor Party |publisher=Australian Labor Party |access-date=26 December 2009 |quote=The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030014535/http://www.alp.org.au/platform/chapter_12.php |archive-date=30 October 2009 }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|McKinlay|1981|p=19}} Labor has at various times supported high [[tariff]]s and low tariffs, [[conscription]] and [[pacifism]], White Australia and [[multiculturalism]], [[nationalisation]] and [[privatisation]], [[isolationism]] and internationalism.

From 1900 to 1940, Labor and its affiliated unions were strong defenders of the [[White Australia policy]], which banned all non-European migration to Australia. This policy was motivated by fears of economic competition from low-wage overseas workers which was shared by the vast majority of Australians and all major political parties.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} In practice the Labor 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]].

=== World War II and beyond ===
The [[Curtin government|Curtin]] and [[Chifley government|Chifley]] governments governed Australia through the latter half of the [[Second World War]] and initial stages of transition to peace. Labor leader [[John Curtin]] became prime minister 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 (1949–66)|Menzies Government]]). Remembered as a strong war time leader and for a landslide win at the [[1943 Australian federal election|1943 federal election]], Curtin died in office just prior to the end of the war and was succeeded by [[Ben Chifley]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/ |title=John Curtin – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=5 July 2013 |archive-date=26 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726084256/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Chifley Labor won the [[1946 Australian federal election|1946 federal election]] and oversaw Australia's initial transition to a peacetime economy.

Labor was defeated at the [[1949 Australian federal election|1949 federal election]]. At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949, Chifley sought to define the labour movement as follows: "We have a great objective – [[the light on the hill]] – which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind.{{Spaces}}... [Labor would] bring something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/chifley/in-office.aspx |title=In office – Ben Chifley – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |access-date=13 July 2011 |date=24 February 2009 |publisher=National Archives of Australia | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110613100927/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/chifley/in-office.aspx| archive-date= 13 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>

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 [[Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation|Miners' Federation]], Chifley lost office in 1949 to [[Robert Menzies]]' Liberal-National Coalition. Labor commenced a 23-year period in opposition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/chifley/ |title=Ben Chifley – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |date=13 June 1951 |access-date=5 July 2013 |archive-date=16 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216203242/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/chifley/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/elections.aspx |title=Elections – Robert Menzies – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=5 July 2013 |archive-date=12 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512011252/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/elections.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> The party was primarily led during this time by [[H. V. Evatt]] and [[Arthur Calwell]].

In 1955, the Australian Labor Party split, and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was formed. The preferences of the DLP were used to keep the ALP in Opposition until the election of Gough Whitlam in 1972.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/alp-split | title=National Museum of Australia - ALP split }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-labor-party-split-74149 | title=Australian politics explainer: The Labor Party split | date=18 April 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://labourhistorymelbourne.org/about/past-conferences/171-2/ | title=The Great Labor Split 1955: Fifty years later | date=31 January 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Shame Fraser Shame - ALP policy launch 24 November 1975 (16268632954).jpg|thumb|Labor Party policy launch before a crowd in the [[The Domain, Sydney|Sydney Domain]] on 24 November 1975.]]
Various ideological beliefs were factionalised under reforms to the ALP under [[Gough Whitlam]], resulting in what is now known as the [[Labor Left|Socialist Left]] who tend to favour a more interventionist economic policy and more [[progressivism|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|social democratic]] policies rather than [[democratic socialist]] policies. In contrast to earlier Labor leaders, Whitlam also cut [[tariff]]s by 25 percent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitlam.org/collection/1973/19730718_Tariff_Reduction/ |title=Tariff Reduction |work=The Whitlam Collection |publisher=The Whitlam Institute |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050720062736/http://www.whitlam.org/collection/1973/19730718_Tariff_Reduction/ |archive-date=20 July 2005 }}</ref> Whitlam led the Federal Labor Party back to office at the [[1972 Australian federal election|1972]] and [[1974 Australian federal election|1974]] federal elections, and passed a large amount of legislation. The [[Whitlam government]] lost office following the [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis]] and dismissal by [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] [[John Kerr (governor-general)|John Kerr]] after the Coalition blocked [[Loss of supply|supply]] in the Senate after a series of political scandals, and was defeated at the [[1975 Australian federal election|1975 federal election]] in the largest landslide of Australian federal history.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/the-dismissal-a-brief-history/2005/11/10/1131578175136.html | location=Melbourne | work=The Age | title=The dismissal: a brief history | date=11 November 2005 | access-date=22 March 2012 | archive-date=2 November 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102130937/http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/the-dismissal-a-brief-history/2005/11/10/1131578175136.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Whitlam remains the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner. Whitlam also lost the [[1977 Australian federal election|1977 federal election]] and subsequently resigned as leader.

[[Bill Hayden]] succeeded Whitlam as leader. At the [[1980 Australian federal election|1980 federal election]], the party achieved a big swing, though the unevenness of the swing around the nation prevented an ALP victory. In 1983, [[Bob Hawke]] became leader of the party after Hayden resigned to avoid a leadership spill.

[[Bob Hawke]] led Labor back to office at the [[1983 Australian federal election|1983 federal election]] and the party won four consecutive elections under Hawke. In December 1991 [[Paul Keating]] defeated Bob Hawke in a leadership spill. The ALP then won the [[1993 Australian federal election|1993 federal election]]. It was in power for five terms over 13 years, until severely defeated by [[John Howard]] at the [[1996 Australian federal election|1996 federal election]]. This was the longest period the party has ever been in government at the national level.

[[Kim Beazley]] led the party to the [[1998 Australian federal election|1998 federal election]], winning 51 percent of the [[two-party-preferred vote]] but falling short on seats, and the ALP lost ground at the [[2001 Australian federal election|2001 federal election]]. After a brief period when [[Simon Crean]] served as ALP leader, [[Mark Latham]] led Labor to the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 federal election]] but lost further ground. Beazley replaced Latham in 2005; not long afterwards he in turn was forced out of the leadership by [[Kevin Rudd]].

Rudd went on to defeat John Howard at the [[2007 Australian federal election|2007 federal election]] with 52.7 percent of the two-party vote (Howard became the first prime minister since [[Stanley Melbourne Bruce]] to lose not just the election but his own parliamentary seat). The [[Rudd government (2007–2010)|Rudd government]] ended prior to the [[2010 Australian federal election|2010 federal election]] with the overthrow of Rudd as leader of the party by deputy leader [[Julia Gillard]]. Gillard, who was also the first woman to serve as prime minister of Australia,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/julia-gillard|title=About Julia Gillard|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=22 May 2022|archive-date=12 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221112211542/https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/julia-gillard#:~:text=On%2024%20June%202010%2C%20Julia,by%20the%20Parliamentary%20Labor%20Party.|url-status=live}}</ref> remained prime minister in a [[hung parliament]] following the election. Her government lasted until 2013, when Gillard lost a leadership spill, with Rudd becoming leader once again. Later that year the ALP lost the [[2013 Australian federal election|2013 election]].

After this defeat, [[Bill Shorten]] became leader of the party. The party narrowly lost the [[2016 Australian federal election|2016 election]], yet gained 14 seats. It remained in opposition after the [[2019 Australian federal election|2019 election]], despite having been ahead in opinion polls for the preceding two years. The party lost in 2019 some of the seats which it had won back in 2016. After the 2019 defeat, Shorten resigned from the leadership, though he remained in parliament. [[Anthony Albanese]] was elected as leader unopposed and led the party to victory in the [[2022 Australian federal election|2022 election]], and became the new prime minister and was later re-elected with a landslide victory in [[2025 Australian federal election|2025]].{{thumb|content={{center|'''Membership of the Australian Labor Party (1948–present)'''}}
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  bar:1984 at:56270 fontsize:XS text: 56,270 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:1988 at:45000 fontsize:XS text: 45,000 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:1993 at:47500 fontsize:XS text: 47,500 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:1996 at:57000 fontsize:XS text: 57,000 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:2002 at:50000 fontsize:XS text: 50,000 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:2007 at:26000 fontsize:XS text: 26,000 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:2010 at:36000 fontsize:XS text: 36,000 shift:(-8,5)
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  bar:2018 at:50000 fontsize:XS text: 50,000 shift:(-8,5)
  bar:2020 at:60085 fontsize:XS text: 60,085 shift:(-8,5)
</timeline>
|caption=
{{legend0|red|Members<ref>{{cite web |title=DATABASE BY COUNTRY |url=http://www.projectmapp.eu/database-by-country/ |website=Members & Activists of Political Parties |language=en |access-date=19 January 2021 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118193100/http://www.projectmapp.eu/database-by-country/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Anne |title=Party hardly: why Australia's big political parties are struggling to compete with grassroots campaigns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/13/party-hardly-why-australias-big-political-parties-are-struggling-to-compete-with-grassroots-campaigns |work=The Guardian |date=12 December 2020 |access-date=21 February 2024 |archive-date=22 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722044942/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/13/party-hardly-why-australias-big-political-parties-are-struggling-to-compete-with-grassroots-campaigns |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mark Butler: factions are destroying Labor's capacity to campaign |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/23/mark-butler-factions-are-destroying-labors-capacity-to-campaign |access-date=19 January 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=23 January 2018 |language=en |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127221300/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/23/mark-butler-factions-are-destroying-labors-capacity-to-campaign |url-status=live }}</ref>}}}}
Between the 2007 federal election and the [[2008 Western Australian state election]], Labor was in government nationally and in all eight state and territory parliaments. This was the first time any single party or any coalition had achieved this since the ACT and the NT gained self-government.<ref>In 1969–1970, before the ACT and NT achieved self-government, the Liberal and National Coalition was in power federally and in all six states. [http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ University of WA elections database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ |date=18 January 2015 }}</ref> Labor narrowly lost government in Western Australia at the 2008 state election and Victoria at the [[2010 Victorian state election|2010 state election]]. These losses were further compounded by landslide defeats in New South Wales in [[2011 New South Wales state election|2011]], Queensland in [[2012 Queensland state election|2012]], the Northern Territory in [[2012 Northern Territory general election|2012]], Federally in [[2013 Australian federal election|2013]] and Tasmania in [[2014 Tasmanian state election|2014]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.news.com.au/national/barry-ofarrell-smashes-labor-in-nsw-election/story-e6frfkvr-1226028779988 | work=The Sunday Telegraph | first=Barclay | last=Crawford | title=Barry O'Farrell smashes Labor in NSW election | date=27 March 2011 | access-date=29 March 2011 | archive-date=30 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630194232/http://www.news.com.au/national/barry-ofarrell-smashes-labor-in-nsw-election/story-e6frfkvr-1226028779988 | url-status=live }}</ref> Labor secured a good result in the Australian Capital Territory in [[2012 Australian Capital Territory election|2012]] and, despite losing its majority, the party retained government in South Australia in [[2014 South Australian state election|2014]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/weatherill-pledges-more-regional-focus/5340926 |work=the Australian Broadcasting Corporation |title=Weatherill pledges more regional focus amid Brock support |date=24 March 2014 |access-date=4 May 2015 |archive-date=6 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806021503/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/weatherill-pledges-more-regional-focus/5340926 |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, most of these reversals proved only temporary with Labor returning to government in Victoria in [[2014 Victorian state election|2014]] and in Queensland in [[2015 Queensland state election|2015]] after spending only one term in opposition in both states.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-state-election-2015/queensland-election-state-wakes-to-new-political-landscape-20150131-132ybk.html | work=the Brisbane Times | first=Amy | last=Remeikis | title=Queensland election: State wakes to new political landscape | date=1 February 2015 | access-date=4 May 2015 | archive-date=26 May 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526163240/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-state-election-2015/queensland-election-state-wakes-to-new-political-landscape-20150131-132ybk.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, after winning the [[2014 Fisher state by-election|2014 Fisher by-election]] by nine votes from a 7.3 percent swing, the Labor government in South Australia went from minority to majority government.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-16/labor-nat-cook-takes-seat-of-fisher-by-election-recount/5969402|work=the Australian Broadcasting Corporation|title=Fisher by-election: Recount sees Labor's Nat Cook win by nine votes|date=16 December 2014|access-date=4 May 2015|archive-date=30 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630081154/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-16/labor-nat-cook-takes-seat-of-fisher-by-election-recount/5969402|url-status=live}}</ref> Labor won landslide victories in the [[2016 Northern Territory general election|2016 Northern Territory election]], the [[2017 Western Australian state election|2017 Western Australian election]] and the [[2018 Victorian state election]]. However, Labor lost the [[2018 South Australian state election]] after 16 years in government.

In 2022, Labor returned to government after defeating the Liberal Party in the [[2022 South Australian state election]]. Despite favourable polling, the party also did not return to government in the [[2019 New South Wales state election]] or the 2019 federal election. The latter has been considered a historic upset due to Labor's consistent and significant polling lead; the result has been likened to the Coalition's loss in the 1993 federal election, with 2019 retrospectively referred to in the media as the "unloseable election".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/19/labor-unloseable-election-morrison-australia-plan |title=Labor lost the unlosable election – now it's up to Morrison to tell Australia his plan |date=19 May 2019 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |first=Katharine |last=Murphy |access-date=21 August 2019 |archive-date=31 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531001527/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/19/labor-unloseable-election-morrison-australia-plan |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-22/labor-strategising-on-how-to-rebuild-fortunes/11530354 |title=Labor was going to hit the ground running – it hit a brick wall instead |date=22 September 2019 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |first=Jane |last=Norman |access-date=9 October 2019 |archive-date=11 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011201914/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-22/labor-strategising-on-how-to-rebuild-fortunes/11530354 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Anthony Albanese]] led the party into the [[2022 Australian federal election]], in which the party returned to power with a majority government. Despite Labor's win, Labor nevertheless recorded its lowest primary vote since either [[1903 Australian federal election|1903]] or [[1934 Australian federal election|1934]], depending on whether the [[Lang Labor]] vote is included.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 July 2022 |title=Barnaby Joyce says Labor's 2022 primary vote was its lowest since 1910. Is that correct? |work=ABC News |publisher= |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-05/fact-check-barnaby-joyce-labor-primary-vote/101129054 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>

In 2023, Labor won the March [[2023 New South Wales state election]] returning to government for the first time since 2011. This victory marked the first time in 15 years that Labor were in government in all mainland states. In 2024, Labor lost in a landslide in the [[2024 Northern Territory general election|2024 Northern Territory election]], losing its first mainland state or territory since the [[2018 South Australian state election|2018 South Australian election]]. Labor would also lose in the [[2024 Queensland state election]].

Albanese later led the party into the [[2025 Australian federal election]], in which the party once again won a majority government in a landslide.