Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
example of a two-party system. 16 The origins, organisation and policy traditions of
the Labor, Liberal and National parties differ and must be examined in order to
understand the Australian party system.
The Australian Labor Party
The ALP is the oldest political party in Australia and one of the oldest trade unionbased
parties in the world. Its origins date back to the early 1870s. Labor is a mass
party, which means that it allows ordinary citizens to join as members and, in
theory, influence the party’s decisions. The party’s emergence was underpinned by
unions responding to disputes regarding pay and conditions in the early 1890s.
Concerned by the impact the economic recession of the time was having on their
members, the unions held an Australia-wide strike. This strike, however, was
defeated in every colony. 17
Frustrated by these losses, the unions mobilised to create a new political party,
the Labor Party, to stand candidates at elections and win government. 18 In doing
so, the unions would gain direct representation in parliament and would be able
to advance the interests of their movement. Labor consolidated its position across
the colonies and succeeded in winning parliamentary representation at the first
federal election in 1901. In 1904, it made history by becoming the first unionbased
political party in government as Labor leader John Christian Watson formed
a minority government.
Policy traditions
Three broad policy traditions characterise the Labor Party today. The first is
labourism, which became a prominent feature of the Hawke government during
the 1980s. 19 Acorecharacteristicoflabourismismanagingtheeconomyinorder
to benefit salary earners. 20 The ALP’s adoption of labourism led to arguments
that it had abandoned its traditional role of advancing the interests of unions in
Australian politics. 21 Labourism, however, was a response to changes in society and
the economy that were also apparent in the union movement, which transitioned
from being dominated by blue-collar to white-collar unions. 22 Labourismisstilla
significant feature of the Labor Party today. It can be seen in the party’s acceptance
that the private sector is critical to creating wealth. 23
16 McAllister 1982, 68.
17 Economou 2006.
18 Economou and Ghazarian 2010.
19 See Singleton 1990.
20 Manning 1992, 14.
21 See, for example, Jaensch 1989b.
22 Manning 1992, 27.
23 Manning 1992, 14.
108