Labor Right

Not to be confused with Labor rights.

Labor Right Labor Unity/Unity
Eureka Flag used by Labor Right branches[1][2][3][4]
Abbreviation	LR | LU
National Convenors	Matt Thistlethwaite Don Farrell Raff Ciccone[5]
Ideology	Third Way[6] Minority: Social conservatism[11]
National affiliation	Australian Labor
Colours	Red
Seats in the House of Representatives	42 / 151
Seats in the Senate	11 / 76
Federal Caucus	53 / 103
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Labor Right (LR), also known as Labor Forum, Labor Unity or simply Unity, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by liberal economic policies, and competes with the Labor Left faction, which leans toward democratic socialism.^[12]

Labor Right is composed of autonomous groups in each state and territory of Australia. The groups within the Labor Right come together as a broad alliance at the national level.^[13] The faction includes members with a range of political perspectives, including centrism, partial privatisation, Keynesianism, Laborism, and social conservatism.^[14]

State branches

Factional power usually finds expression in the percentage vote of aligned delegates at party conferences. The power of the Labor Right varies from state to state, but it usually relies on certain trade unions, such as the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union (PPTEU) and the Health Services Union (HSU). These unions send delegates to the conferences, with delegates usually coming from the membership, the administration of the union or local branches covered by their activists.

State-based factions (national sub-factions) which make up Labor Right include:

New South Wales

• Centre Unity^[1]

Queensland

• Labor Forum (dominated by the AWU)^[15][16][17]

Australian Capital Territory

• Centre Coalition^[18]

Victoria

• Labor Centre Unity (AWU: Consisting of Branch Members, Student Clubs, both federal and state members of parliament aligned with the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers' Union, and representatives from the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union)^[19][20]
• Labor Progressive Unity (The Cons: Consisting largely of Branch Members aligned to and supporters of Labor Deputy Leader Richard Marles and the Transport Workers Union)
• Labor Unity (The Shoppies: Consisting largely of branch members aligned to and supports of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association)

Western Australia

• WA Labor Unity (AWU, SDA, TWU).
• Progressive Labor (Consists of AWU, SDA, TWU and CFMEU)^[21][22] An alliance between WA Labor Unity and the 'Industrial left' unions of WA, formed in 2019 for the purpose of binding at State conferences against some subgroups within WA's Broad left; such as the UWU. Historically, the MUA and CFMEU have voted at State conferences in alignment with the Broad left.

Northern Territory

• Labor Unity

South Australia

• Labor Unity (dominated by the SDA).^[23]

Tasmania

• Labor Unity

Political views

The faction is most famous for its support of Third Way policies such as the economic rationalist policies of the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating governments, including floating the Australian dollar in December 1983, reductions in trade tariffs, taxation reforms such as the introduction of dividend imputation to eliminate double-taxation of dividends and the lowering of the top marginal income tax rate from 60% in 1983 to 47% in 1996, changing from centralised wage-fixing to enterprise bargaining, the privatisation of Qantas and Commonwealth Bank, making the Reserve Bank of Australia independent, and deregulating the banking system.^{[citation needed]}

Federal Members of the Labor Right

Name	Parliamentary seat	Other positions	State/Territory	Sub-faction/union
Richard Marles[24]	Member for Corio	Deputy Prime Minister Minister for Defence	Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Dr Jim Chalmers[24]	Member for Rankin	Treasurer	Queensland	AWU
Don Farrell[25]	Senator for South Australia	Special Minister of State Minister for Trade and Tourism	South Australia	SDA
Tony Burke[24]	Member for Watson	Minister for Home Affairs Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Minister for Cyber Security Minister for the Arts	New South Wales	SDA
Chris Bowen[24]	Member for McMahon	Minister for Climate Change and Energy
Amanda Rishworth[26]	Member for Kingston	Minister for Social Services	South Australia	SDA
Bill Shorten[27]	Member for Maribyrnong	Minister for Government Services Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme	Victoria	AWU
Mark Dreyfus KC[24]	Member for Isaacs	Attorney–General		AWU
Jason Clare[25]	Member for Blaxland	Minister for Education	New South Wales
Michelle Rowland[26]	Member for Greenway	Minister for Communications
Madeleine King[28]	Member for Brand	Minister for Resources Minister for Northern Australia	Western Australia
Ed Husic	Member for Chifley	Minister for Industry and Science	New South Wales	CEPU (CWU)
Clare O'Neil[27]	Member for Hotham	Minister for Housing Minister for Homelessness	Victoria	AWU
Matt Keogh[28]	Member for Burt	Minister for Veterans' Affairs Minister for Defence Personnel	Western Australia	AWU
Anika Wells	Member for Lilley	Minister for Aged Care Minister for Sport	Queensland	AWU
Kristy McBain	Member for Eden-Monaro	Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories	New South Wales
Justine Elliot	Member for Richmond	Assistant Minister for Social Services Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence
Matt Thistlethwaite[29][30]	Member for Kingsford Smith	Assistant Minister for Defence Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs Assistant Minister for the Republic		AWU
Emma McBride	Member for Dobell	Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health
Anthony Chisholm	Senator for Queensland	Assistant Minister for Education Assistant Minister for Regional Development	Queensland	AWU
Tim Watts[31][32]	Member for Gellibrand	Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs	Victoria	'Cons'
Glenn Sterle^‡[28]	Senator for Western Australia	Chair of Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee	Western Australia	TWU
Steve Georganas[26]	Member for Adelaide		South Australia
Shayne Neumann[25]	Member for Blair	Chair of Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Chair of Standing Committee on Procedure	Queensland	ASU
Alison Byrnes	Member for Cunningham		New South Wales
Deborah O'Neill	Senator for New South Wales	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Deputy Chair of Select Committee on Work and Care Deputy Chair of Standing Committee of Privileges	New South Wales	SDA
Helen Polley	Senator for Tasmania	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement	Tasmania	AWU, SDA
Rob Mitchell	Member for McEwen	Chair of Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests Chair of House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources	Victoria	'Cons'
Catryna Bilyk	Senator for Tasmania	Chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Senators' Interests	Tasmania	ASU, TWU
Peter Khalil	Member for Wills		Victoria	AWU
Milton Dick	Member for Oxley	Speaker of the House of Representatives Chair of Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings Chair of Selection Committee Chair of Standing Committee on Appropriations and Administration	Queensland	AWU
Matt Burnell	Member for Spence		South Australia	TWU
Meryl Swanson	Member for Paterson	Chair of Standing Committee on Agriculture	New South Wales
Luke Gosling	Member for Solomon	Chair of Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport	Northern Territory	SDA
David Smith	Member for Bean	Government Whip	Australian Capital Territory	Professionals Australia
Raff Ciccone	Senator for Victoria	Deputy Government Whip in the Senate Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee Deputy Chair of Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills	Victoria	SDA “Shoppies”
Dr Daniel Mulino	Member for Fraser	Chair of Standing Committee on Economics	Victoria	SDA “Shoppies”
Josh Burns	Member for Macnamara	Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights	Victoria	'Cons'
Marielle Smith	Senator for South Australia	Chair of Community Affairs Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Community Affairs References Committee	South Australia	SDA
Tony Sheldon	Senator for New South Wales	Chair of Education and Employment Legislation Committee Deputy Chair of Education and Employment References Committee	New South Wales	TWU
Dr Mike Freelander	Member for Macarthur	Chair of Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport	New South Wales
Cassandra Fernando	Member for Holt		Victoria	SDA
Jana Stewart	Senator for Victoria		Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Sam Rae	Member for Hawke		Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Varun Ghosh	Senator for West Australia		Western Australia	SDA
Andrew Charlton	Member for Parramatta		New South Wales
Sally Sitou	Member for Reid		New South Wales
Dan Repacholi	Member for Hunter		New South Wales
Joanne Ryan	Member for Lalor	Chief Government Whip	Victoria	'Cons'
Michelle Ananda-Rajah	Member for Higgins		Victoria	TWU, 'Cons'
Tania Lawrence	Member for Hasluck		Western Australia
Sam Lim	Member for Tangney		Western Australia
Gordon Reid	Member for Robertson		New South Wales

‡ Sterle was formerly a member of the now-defunct Centre Left.

See also

• Labor Left
• Category: Labor Right politicians, current and former parliamentary members of the Labor Right
• Moderates – Centrist faction in the Liberal Party of Australia
• New Democrats – centrist faction in the Democratic Party of the United States
• Blue Dogs – conservative faction in the Democratic Party of the United States
• Progressive Britain – organisation associated with the Labour Party (UK)
• Seeheimer Kreis – conservative faction in the Social Democratic Party of Germany

References

1. "NSW CENTRE UNITY". centreunity.org.au. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
2. "Queensland Labor Unity". qldlaborunity.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
3. "YOUNG LABOR UNITY". Facebook. Victorian Young Labor Unity. 18 June 2021. Archived from the original on 30 October 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
4. Cooke, Vitoria-Iris Ryan-Elaine (19 July 2024). "STRONGER TOGETHER". Facebook. Young Labor Centre Unity. Archived from the original on 30 October 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
5. Massola, James (25 June 2022). "The power behind the PM – who are Labor's powerbrokers in government?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
6. Jingjing Huo (2009). Third Way Reforms: Social Democracy After the Golden Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-521-51843-7.
7. "Labor 'Shoppies' still powerful: Senator".
8. "What's happened to the conservative wing of the Australian Labor Party?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 October 2013.
9. Brown, Greg (8 October 2018). "Kimberley Kitching caters for Labor's conservative core". The Australian.
10. Massola, James (14 February 2021). "What are Labor's factions and who's who in the Left and Right?". The Sydney Morning Herald.
11. ^{[7][8][9][10]}
12. Massola, James (14 February 2021). "What are Labor's factions and who's who in the Left and Right?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
13. Hogan, Michael (2009). "Template for a Labor Faction: The Industrial Section and the Industrial Vigilance Council of the NSW Labor Party, 1916-19". Labour History (96): 79–100. ISSN 0023-6942. JSTOR 27713745.
14. "Locking Out the Left: The Emergence of National Factions in Australian Labor". jacobin.com. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
15. McKenna, Michael (31 July 2014). "Left takes over Queensland Labor in historic shift". The Australian. Archived from the original on 30 October 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
16. "About Us". laborforum.org.au. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
17. "Labor Forum is a growing group of ALP members across QLD who believes that a progressive & practical policy agenda is crucial to the future of QLD Labor". Facebook. Labor Forum. Archived from the original on 30 October 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
18. "Contest in ACT comes down to the ALP machine versus genuine locals". Crikey. 9 April 2010.
19. "Young Labor Centre Action". Facebook.
20. "La Trobe ALP Club". Facebook.
21. Butterly, Nick; Delalande, Joanna. "WA Labor's Progressive faction fractures". PressReader. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
22. "Historic union pact formed to take on the Left". The West Australian. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
23. "Liberals' donations double Labor Party's ahead of SA election". ABC. 11 August 2017.
24. "The 12 Labor figures who will do the heavy lifting in government". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
25. Tewksbury, Marc. "Labor MP Jason Clare dismisses Otis group". news.com.au. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
26. "Labor's new-look shadow ministry". SBS News. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
27. Probyn, Andrew. "The strain within Labor's Left and Right bubbles over as the party wrestles over its future". ABC News. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
28. Hondros, Nathan. "WA Labor MPs named as part of pro-coal, right-wing 'Otis Group'". WAtoday. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
29. "Shorten stands by Gillard as leader". 9news.com.au. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
30. Chan, Gabrielle (25 July 2015). "Bill Shorten wins freedom to use boat turnbacks, but leadership split on issue". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
31. "Leaked texts show Somyurek's influence among federal Labor ranks". skynews.com.au. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
32. Ilanbey, Sumeyya (28 January 2020). "Tensions between Labor's Right and Left factions at boiling point". theage.com.au. Retrieved 7 November 2020.

Further reading

• Cumming, Fia (1991). Mates: Five Champions of the Labor Right. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-021-1. – Paul Keating, Graham Richardson, Laurie Brereton, Bob Carr and Leo McLeay recount events which shaped the Australian labour movement from the 1960s to the 1980s.
• Richardson, Graham (1994). Whatever It Takes. Moorebank, NSW: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-1-86-359332-8. – Graham Richardson recounts his career and outlines the philosophy and operation of the NSW and National Labor Right during his time in the ALP.