Australian Labor Party National Executive

The Australian Labor Party National Executive is an internal body of the Australian Labor Party, one of the major political parties in Australia. 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. Members on the Executive may be officials of trade unions affiliated to the party or members of federal or state Parliaments. 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 June 2020, the current members of the National Executive are:[1]

Member type	Member name	Position / title	Faction	State/territory	Voting member
Ex-officio members	Wayne Swan	National President	Right[6]	Queensland	No
	Paul Erickson	National Secretary	Left	Victoria	No
	Mark Butler, MP	Senior Vice-President	Left[6][7]	South Australia	No
	Mich-Elle Myers	Junior Vice-President	Left[8]	Victoria	No
	Anthony Albanese, MP	Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party	Left	New South Wales	Yes
	Jason Byrne	National President, Young Labor	Right	South Australia	No
Elected members	Anthony Albanese, MP	Federal Member for Grayndler	Left[9]	New South Wales	Yes
	Tim Ayres	New South Wales branch Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union	Left[10]	New South Wales	Yes
	Chris Brown	National Secretary of the Health Services Union	Left	Tasmania	Yes
	Senator Kim Carr	Senator for Victoria	Left[11]	Victoria	Yes
	Russ Collison	New South Wales branch Secretary of the Australian Workers Union	Right[12]	New South Wales	Yes
	Senator Stephen Conroy	n/a	Right[13]	Victoria	Yes
	Gerard Dwyer	National Secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association	Right[14]	New South Wales	Yes
	Nadine Flood	National Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union	Left[15]	New South Wales	Yes
	David Gray		Left[16]	South Australia	Yes
	Tim Kennedy	National Secretary of the National Union of Workers	Right[17]	Victoria	Yes
	Senator Sue Lines	Senator for Western Australia	Left[18]	Western Australia	Yes
	Peter Malinauskas, MP	n/a	Right[19]	South Australia	Yes
	Senator Claire Moore	Senator for Queensland	Left[20]	Queensland	Yes
	Tara Moriarty	New South Wales branch Secretary of the Liquor and Hospitality Division, United Voice	Right[21]	New South Wales	Yes
	Charis Mullen, MLA	n/a	Right	Queensland	Yes
	Kaila Murnain	State Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)	Right[22]	New South Wales	Yes
	Michael Ravbar	National Vice President of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union	Left[23]	Queensland	Yes
	Michelle Roberts, MLA	n/a	Right[24]	Western Australia	Yes
	Shannon Threlfall-Clarke	Vice President of the Australian Workers Union, Victorian Branch	Right[25]	Victoria	Yes
	Linda White	Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Services Union	Left[26]	Victoria	Yes

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[27]
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 – January 2007
John Faulkner	January 2007 – 27 February 2008[28]
Mike Rann	27 February 2008 – 27 December 2008
Linda Burney	27 December 2008 – 30 July 2009[29]
Michael Williamson	30 July 2009 – August 2010
Anna Bligh	August 2010 – 1 July 2011[30]
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	2003–2008
Karl Bitar	2008–16 March 2011
George Wright	19 April 2011–September 2016
Noah Carroll	September 2016–July 2019
Paul Erickson	16 August 2019–present

• Cyril Wyndam was the first full time Secretary. Prior to 1963 the position was not full time[31]

References

1. "Australian Labor Party National Executive". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
2. 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. "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. "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. "ALP meeting leaves some unhappy" (transcript). PM (ABC Radio). Australia. 7 October 2002.
12. Summers, Anne (24 August 2013). "Master of the maze". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
13. Millar, Royce (25 November 2013). "Labor factions show scant regard for democracy push". The Age. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
14. Bramston, Troy. "The power of one faction". The Australian. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
15. Crook, Andrew. "Bonhomie thick at ALP conference as the deal-making begins". Crikey. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
16. Martin, Sarah. "Powerbrokers labour behind the scenes". The Advertiser.
17. Schneiders, Ben. "Gone with a text. The demise and possible rise of unions". The Age. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
18. Crook, Andrew (12 April 2013). "Louise Pratt shafted in WA Labor Senate battle". Crikey. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
19. Will, Daniel. "Reshuffle: Peter Malinauskas and Leesa Vlahos set to join Jay Weatherill's Cabinet". The Advertiser. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
20. Elks, Sarah. "Meanwhile, in Queensland: who's who on LNP, Labor Senate tickets". The Australian.
21. Maher, Sid (30 May 2011). "Labor heavy Tara Moriarty leans on Andrew Wilkie". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
22. Nicholls, Sean (13 February 2016). "New Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain wants to drive cultural change in the party membership". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
23. Crook, Andrew (21 August 2009). "Queensland ALP embraces intra-factional bloodsports". Crikey. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
24. "Ripper promotes leadership rival: analysts". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
25. Willingham, Richard (12 May 2011). "Young Labor, same old rifts". The Age. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
26. Hannan, Ewin (8 December 2009). "Unions at war over ACTU leadership". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
27. Senate Biographies - Keeffe, James Bernard
31. http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/4985.html