The Australian Labor Party National Executive, often referred to as the National Executive, is the executive governing body of the Australian Labor Party, charged with directly overseeing the general organisation and strategy of the party. Twenty members of the National Executive are elected by the party's National Conference, which is the highest representative body of the party's state and territory branches. The other eight members are party ex-officio members.

Labor Party National Executive
Location
Key people

Members on the Executive may be officials of trade unions affiliated to the party, members of federal or state Parliaments, or rank-and-file ALP members. The ex-officio members are the National President, the National Secretary and two National Vice-Presidents (who are directly elected by Labor members), and the Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party,[1] but of these only the party Leader has a vote.

The National Executive is concerned mainly with organisational matters. It does not decide party policy, which is determined by the National Conference. The National Executive does not elect the party's parliamentary leaders, which is done by a ballot of both the Parliamentary Caucus and by the Labor Party's rank-and-file members. The National President or Vice-President are elected by party members. Its most public role is to act as the final arbiter of disputes about parliamentary candidacies (preselections). On these matters the National Executive usually votes on factional lines. The Labor Right faction holds a majority on the National Executive,[2] though it did not hold a majority at the 2015 National Conference.[3]

The power of the National Executive extends to the reorganisation of a State Branch. For example, in 1970 to improve the party's chances of electoral success, the National Executive intervened in the Socialist Left controlled Victorian Branch, involving the sacking of State officers and dissolution of the Branch. Less drastic forms of intervention are more common, such as the final arbiter of preselection disputes.[4] The executive has authority over policy as it can interpret the party’s constitution, platform and conference decisions.[2][5]

Members of the National Executive

As of September 2023, the current members of the National Executive are:[1]

Member type Member name Position Faction State/territory Voting member
Ex-officio members Wayne Swan National President Right[6] Queensland
No
Paul Erickson National Secretary Left Victoria
Susan Close MP Vice-President Left[6][7] South Australia
Mich-Elle Myers Vice-President Left[8] New South Wales
Manu Risoldi National President of Young Labor Right New South Wales
Trish Marinozzi National Labor Women's Network Co-Convenor Right New South Wales
Kay Densley National Labor Women's Network Co-Convenor Left Northern Territory
Anthony Albanese MP Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party Left[9] New South Wales
Yes
Elected members Senator Tim Ayres Senator for NSW Left[10] New South Wales
Gary Bullock Queensland State Secretary, National Director of Politics and Vice President, National Executive Committee for United Workers Union Left Queensland
Melissa Donnelly National Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union Left Queensland
Josh Peak Secretary of the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association South Australian Branch Right South Australia
Senator Raff Ciccone Senator for Victoria Right Victoria
Kate Doust MLC Member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia Right Western Australia
Gerard Dwyer National Secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association Right New South Wales
Dylan Wight Member of Victorian Legislative Assembly Left Victoria
Michelle O'Byrne Member of Tasmanian House of Assembly Left Tasmania
Sandra Doumit NSW Branch Vice President of the AWU Right NSW
Graeme Kelly NSW State Secretary of the United Services Union Right New South Wales
Sam Rae MP Member of Australian Parliament for Hawke Right Victoria
Zach Smith CFMEU construction division secretary Left Australian Capital Territory
Stacey Schinnerl Right Queensland
Carolyn Smith Left Western Australia
Senator Karen Grogan Senator for WA Left South Australia
Gerard Hayes National President of the HSU Right New South Wales
Wendy Streets Queensland State Secretary of the Finance Sector Union Left Queensland
Shannon Threlfall-Clarke Victorian State Vice President of the Australian Workers Union Right[11] Victoria
Linda White Former Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Services Union Left[12] Victoria

Executive leaders

National Presidents

National President Period
John Ferguson 1950–1953
Denis Lovegrove 1953 – 1 May 1955
Joe Chamberlain 1 May 1955 – 1961
James Stout 1961 – July 1962
Jim Keeffe July 1962 – August 1970[13]
Tom Burns August 1970 – 7 June 1973
Bob Hawke 7 June 1973 – 2 August 1978
Neil Batt 2 August 1978 – 8 September 1980
Neville Wran 8 September 1980 – 3 July 1986
Mick Young 3 July 1986 – 7 April 1988
John Bannon 7 April 1988 – 25 June 1991
Stephen Loosley 25 June 1991 – 6 June 1992
Barry Jones 6 June 1992 – 31 July 2000
Greg Sword 31 July 2000 – 1 January 2004
Carmen Lawrence 1 January 2004 – 1 January 2005
Barry Jones 1 January 2005 – 28 January 2006
Warren Mundine 28 January 2006 – 10 January 2007
John Faulkner 10 January 2007 – 27 February 2008[14]
Mike Rann 27 February 2008 – 27 December 2008
Linda Burney 27 December 2008 – 30 July 2009[15]
Michael Williamson 30 July 2009 – August 2010
Anna Bligh August 2010 – 1 July 2011[16]
Jenny McAllister 1 July 2011 – 17 June 2015
Mark Butler 17 June 2015 – 18 June 2018
Wayne Swan 18 June 2018 – present

National Secretaries

National Secretary Period
Cyril Wyndham 1963–1969
Mick Young 1969–1973
David Combe 1973–1981
Bob McMullan 1981–1988
Bob Hogg 1988–1993
Gary Gray 1993–2000
Geoff Walsh 2000–2003
Tim Gartrell 2 September 2003 – 20 September 2008
Karl Bitar 17 October 2008 – 16 March 2011
George Wright 19 April 2011 – 30 August 2016
Noah Carroll 26 September 2016 – 26 July 2019
Paul Erickson 16 August 2019 – present

References

  1. ^ a b "Australian Labor Party National Executive". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b The Australian, 2 July 2015: Vote change to shift Labor’s power to the Left
  3. ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2015: Labor powerbrokers lose control with reform back on the agenda
  4. ^ ABC News, 4 November 2015: ALP national executive pulls rank on WA branch attempt to dump MPs Gary Gray and Alannah MacTiernan
  5. ^ The Age, 27 July 2005: Labor Left accuses Right of stacking branch rules
  6. ^ a b "NATIONAL PRESIDENT ELECTION". Australian Labor Party. 18 June 2018. Archived from the original (Press release) on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  7. ^ Kenny, Mark (17 June 2015). "Left's Mark Butler wins ALP presidency". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  8. ^ Carey, Adam (13 April 2018). "Unions dump Butler, back one of their own in run for ALP president". The Age. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Crikey List: which MPs were involved in student politics?". Crikey. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  10. ^ Morris, Sophie (19 July 2014). "Faulkner expects state conference defeat on party reform". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ^ Willingham, Richard (12 May 2011). "Young Labor, same old rifts". The Age. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  12. ^ Hannan, Ewin (8 December 2009). "Unions at war over ACTU leadership". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  13. ^ Senate Biographies - Keeffe, James Bernard
  14. ^ "Australian Labor Party : Labor MPS, Senators & Officials". www.alp.org.au. Archived from the original on 5 February 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Australian Labor Party : Labor MPS, Senators & Officials". www.alp.org.au. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Australian Labor- Who We Are". www.alp.org.au. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  17. ^ "Records of the Australian Labor Party, Federal Secretariat".
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