Australian Labor Party National Conference

The Australian Labor Party National Constitution outlines the process for the nomination and election of conference delegates, including ex-officio non-voting delegates. The national constitution is re-approved at each conference, and amendments to the constitution can be proposed as individual motions. A simple majority of voting delegates is required to pass motions amending the national platform and national constitution. Size of delegations The current national constitution, adopted in 2023 by the 49th National Conference, outlines the following process for determining the total number of delegates: ==Notable actions and policy positions==

Conscription Socialist objective and nationalisation The very first detailed and published Australian Labor Party National Platform was developed at the 2nd Commonwealth Conference in 1902. The platform held "Nationalisation of Monopolies" to be one of the party's top federal priorities, along with establishing a "commonwealth bank of deposit." The Hawke and Keating governments of 1983–1996 had seen a dramatic shift in how the party handled the issues of nationalisation and privatisation, the most notable example being the privatisation of Qantas and The Commonwealth Bank following significant debate at the 1990 Special Conference. From the 1998 platform onwards, primary party objectives speaking to socialisation or nationalisation of industries had been removed entirely and instead moved to the party's constitution. , Bill Colbourne, Gordon Brown, Arthur Calwell and William Forgan Smith Expulsion of the New South Wales branch In March 1931, a Special Federal Conference was called in response to the actions of the New South Wales state executive, which was controlled by the Lang Labor faction. The New South Wales state leader, Jack Lang, had been openly defying the federal Labor government for several months. The most immediate trigger was the state party's actions at the East Sydney by-election, where it announced that its candidate, Eddie Ward, would be bound only by the decisions of the state executive, not the federal caucus. At the conference, which the New South Wales Branch boycotted, John Curtin successfully moved for the branch's expulsion; the motion was carried by 25 votes to four. The conference also gave the Federal Executive the power to suspend or dissolve any other state branch "acting or having acted in a manner deemed [...] contrary to the Federal Constitution, Platform, and Policy of the Party". The conference subsequently moved for the establishment of a new ALP branch in New South Wales loyal to the Federal Executive, which became known as the "Federal Labor Party". As the Federal Executive had no power to dissolve the original branch (controlled by Lang), the two parties competed against each other at elections for several years. The rebellious branch was eventually re-admitted to the party at another Special Federal Conference in Melbourne in 1936. White Australia Policy The first meeting of the Federal Labor Party in January 1900 (referred to as the Political Labour League) had included a policy of "total exclusion of coloured and other undesirable races." The Hawke government established the Advisory Council for Multicultural Affairs, the Keating government amended the Racial Discrimination Act to allow determinations of the Australian Human Rights Commission (established to monitor violations of the Act) to be registered by the Federal Court of Australia and given judicial force. The most recent Australian Labor Party National Platform contains the following sections on Multiculturalism in Australia: The 2023 platform further states: "Australia is, and will remain, a society of people drawn from a rich variety of cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Australia is, and will remain, a multicultural society." Uranium mining Out of government from 1975 to 1983, the Labor Party was deeply divided over uranium mining, with tensions aggravated by continued French nuclear testing. The 1977 National Conference voted in favour of an indefinite moratorium on uranium mining. However, the 1982 National Conference changed the anti-uranium position in favour of a "one mine policy". After the ALP won power in 1983, the 1984 National Conference adopted a "three mine policy". This referred to the then three existing uranium mines in Australia, Nabarlek, Ranger and Roxby Downs/Olympic Dam, and articulated ALP support for pre-existing mines and contracts, but opposition to any new mining. The three mine policy was abandoned by the Howard government after it won the 1996 Australian federal election. At the 2007 national conference, Labor Leader Kevin Rudd supported a successful motion to remove the party's opposition to more than three mines, but adding "stringent restrictions." the platform reinforced restrictions on the export of ore to nations who had not guaranteed the uranium would not be used for nuclear weapons production: After returning to government following the 2007 Australian federal election, Labor approved a fourth uranium mine in July 2009, the Four Mile uranium mine in South Australia. Same-sex Marriage The 2011 National Conference voted in favour of recognition of same-sex marriage in Australia, and also formally endorsed a motion to allow Labor members of parliament the ability to vote in accordance with their consciences. Nonetheless, a subsequent bill to recognise same-sex marriage was defeated. Equal marriage was ultimately introduced following by a conscience vote held under the Turnbull Liberal government, following a postal survey. ==Notable conference speeches==

"The perfect illustration of the big lie" in 1948 Herbert Vere "Doc" Evatt was elected leader of the Labor Party in 1951 following the unexpected death of former prime minister Ben Chifley. He took over leadership of the party a month after the coalition government led by Robert Menzies secured another term and gained control over both houses of parliament. A significant issue during the 1951 election was the Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (which Labor had agreed to support), and the resulting High Court challenge which led to the legislation being declared unconstitutional. Several trade unions had supported the case against the anti-communist legislation, and the communist party was known to have had significant influence over officeholders in many trade unions across the country. The perceived relationship between the labour movement and communism created opportunities for the Menzies government to publicly attack the opposition and contributed significantly to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. At the 20th Commonwealth Conference in 1953, Evatt sought to solidify the Labor Party's stance against communist influence within the wider labour movement, and counter the very effective arguments made by the government in the lead up to the 1954 election. The subsequent 1966 Australian federal election was a significant loss for Calwell and Labor. The Coalition government, led by Harold Holt, had taken advantage of Labor's opposition to the Australian contribution to the war, which was still viewed positively by much of the electorate. The Coalition had adopted the election slogan "Keep Australia secure and prosperous – play it safe," and played heavily on the electorate's fears of a communist-controlled South Vietnam. Despite electoral unpopularity, Labor maintained its opposition to the war, and Calwell strongly denounced a 1967 visit to Australia by South Vietnam leader Nguyen Cao Ky, calling him a “power-hungry opportunist,” a “little Quisling gangster”, a “miserable little butcher” and a “moral and social leper.” "Equality of life and more quality in life" led the Australian Labor Party from 1967 to 1977 Gough Whitlam addressed the 1969 Commonwealth Conference in Melbourne, two years after assuming the leadership of the parliamentary party from Arthur Calwell, and just three months before the 1969 Australian federal election. His address focused on outlining the significant suite of reforms the conference had just made, a result of a "new guard" of Labor delegates (including Whitlam, Don Dunstan and Lionel Murphy among others) pushing hard for Labor to become a truly reformist democratic socialist party. Almost two-thirds of the Labor National Platform had been re-written, the most comprehensive review of their policies in decades. The new platform established the principles for universal healthcare (which would later become Medibank and then Medicare, federal aid for all schools, a national superannuation scheme, automatic annual pension increases, a welfare safety-net and ratification of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The same themes would continue throughout the election campaign, and the close result of the election would grant Whitlam momentum for further change at the 1971 conference. For Whitlam, his leadership's public focus on civil liberties, equity and fairness would begin at this conference 1969 and would continue throughout his two terms as prime minister and beyond. "If we fail, all Australians fail" served as prime minister from 1983 to 1991 Bob Hawke won a landslide victory in the 1983 Australian federal election, and followed it up with 2 more victories in 1984 and 1987, making him the only Labor leader to win 3 consecutive elections. He would go on to win a fourth in 1990. Hawke drew upon his wide popularity to win consensus for the government’s numerous systematic economic reforms. However, his prime ministership saw friction between himself and the grassroots of the Labor Party, who were unhappy at what they viewed as Hawke's iconoclasm and willingness to co-operate with business interests. The key issues of the Hawke government were globalisation, micro-economic reform and industrial relations. The opening of Australian finance and industry to global competition and the restructuring of the role of trade unions represented one of the most extensive undertakings of micro-economic reform in Australia’s first century. His speech at the 38th National Conference would serve as an important review of the government's achievements to date, which included floating the Australian dollar, the Prices and Incomes Accord, establishing Medicare, dismantling the restrictive tariff system and widening unemployment benefits and other welfare payments. However, it was also an important milestone in his efforts to maintain support within the party for continued reform into the 1990's. "My name's Kevin, I'm from Queensland, I'm here to help" as Leader of the Opposition in 2007 Kevin Rudd had been elected leader of the Australian Labor Party in December 2006, just four months before their 44th National Conference. His speech to party faithful in April 2007 was widely reported at the time, with significant focus on the opening line ''"My name's Kevin, I'm from Queensland, I'm here to help"'' framing the conference as the beginning of a fresh approach for the party leading to the 2007 Australian federal election. Rudd's speech touched on several themes that would continue into the election campaign, including the economic and geopolitical rise of China and India, the impacts of climate change, building long-term economic prosperity and national security. There was a strong focus on contrasting his own "forward-looking" approach with the "tired" Howard government, which had been in power for 11 years. "It is a campaign for those we love" in 2015 Senator Penny Wong drew wide admiration for her July 2015 speech supporting marriage equality at Labor's 46th National Conference in Melbourne. Wong had been a strong supporter of including marriage equality in the National Platform for over a decade, and was instrumental in the successful 2011 vote to include a statement supporting changing federal law. She was seconding a motion to bind members of the parliamentary Labor Party to vote in favour of marriage equality in federal parliament. She received an immediate one minute standing ovation by conference attendees prior to speaking and was moved to tears. Speaking on being bound to vote "no" on the question of marriage equality prior to the 2011 National Conference, Wong passionately reflected: "I was asked to vote for my own discrimination." Wong was the first openly lesbian member of Australian parliament when she took her senate seat in 2002. Ultimately, a compromise was achieved where the motion was passed but would not take immediate effect, meaning any vote to legalise same-sex marriage in parliament within the next term would not bind members to vote in favour. However as a result of the compromise, Labor Leader Bill Shorten pledged to introduce legislation to legalise same-sex marriage within 100 days of winning the next election, which followed his earlier introduction of a bill into the Australian House of Representatives to amend the Marriage Act. ==List of National Conferences==

• Known as the Commonwealth Conference from 1900 to 1971, and the Federal Conference in 1931, 1973 • A formal National Executive was not established until 1915. Until that time, there was no National President or National Secretary. At each conference, a president/chairman and secretary were elected from delegates present and served for the length of the conference. Special conferences Special Conferences are those which are not regularly scheduled biennial/triennial conferences, but are instead called by party leadership (either by the National Executive or the federal parliamentary caucus). These are usually called to resolve specific policy or structural party issues, and are often named as such. Intercolonial Trades Union Congresses Prior to federation and the subsequent creation of the Australian Labor Party, the labour movement consisted of dozens of trade unions organised around trades and labour councils. The first labour council in Australia was the Melbourne Trades Hall Committee, formed in 1856. The First Congress report states that "it was established that the labour organisations of Australasia were practically unanimous in holding certain opinions in social politics." Political reform remained high on the agenda of subsequent congresses, and they proved instrumental in the development of an Australian Labor Party. At the time of the first congress in 1879, there was no formalised Labor Party in any jurisdiction in Australia. By 1899, every colony had an established political labour party, with the exception of Tasmania which followed in 1903. ==List of ALP National Platforms==