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 most recent National Conference was the 47th conference held from 24 to 26 July 2015.^[1] Members on the Executive may be officials of trade unions affiliated to the party or members of federal or state Parliaments. Other members of the National Executive 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 are ex-officio members of the Executive,^[2] but 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,^[3] though it did not hold a majority at the 2015 National Conference.^[4]

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.^[5] The executive has authority over policy as it can interpret the party’s constitution, platform and conference decisions.^[3][6]

Members of the National Executive

The current members of the National Executive are:^[2]

Member type	Member name	Position / title	Faction	State/territory	Voting member
Ex-officio members	Jenny McAllister	National President	Socialist Left[7]	New South Wales	No
	George Wright	National Secretary	unaligned[8]	n/a	No
	Tim Hammond	Senior Vice-President	Labor Right	Western Australia	No
	Jane Garrett, MLA	Junior Vice-President	Socialist Left[9]	Victoria	No
	Bill Shorten, MP	Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party	Labor Right[10]	Victoria	Yes
	Edward McDougall	National President, Young Labor	Labor Right[11]	New South Wales	No
Elected members	Anthony Albanese, MP	n/a	Socialist Left[12]	New South Wales	Yes
	Tim Ayres	New South Wales branch Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union	Socialist Left[13]	New South Wales	Yes
	Julie Bignell	Queensland branch Secretary of the Australian Services Union	Socialist Left[14]	Queensland	Yes
	Senator Carol Brown	n/a	Socialist Left[15]	Tasmania	Yes
	Mark Butler, MP	n/a	Socialist Left[16]	South Australia	Yes
	Senator Kim Carr	n/a	Socialist Left[17]	Victoria	Yes
	Russ Collison	New South Wales branch Secretary of the Australian Workers Union	Labor Right[18]	New South Wales	Yes
	Senator Stephen Conroy	n/a	Labor Right[19]	Victoria	Yes
	Jamie Clements	Secretary of NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party	Labor Right[20]	New South Wales	Yes
	Joe de Bruyn	Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions	Labor Right[21]	Victoria	Yes
	Charlie Donnelly	National Secretary of the National Union of Workers	Labor Right[22]	Victoria	Yes
	Senator Don Farrell	n/a	Labor Right[15]	South Australia	Yes
	Natalie Hutchins, MLA	n/a	Labor Right[23]	Victoria	Yes
	Jennifer Howard		Labor Right	Queensland	Yes
	Senator Sue Lines	n/a	Socialist Left[24]	Western Australia	Yes
	Tara Moriarty	New South Wales branch Secretary of United Voice	Labor Right[25]	New South Wales	Yes
	Michael Ravbar	National Vice President of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union	Socialist Left[26]	Queensland	Yes
	Michelle Roberts, MLA	n/a	Labor Right[27]	Western Australia	Yes
	Ben Swan	Queensland branch Secretary of the Australian Workers Union	Labor Right[28]	Queensland	Yes
	Linda White	Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Services Union	Socialist Left[29]	Victoria	Yes

References

1. ALP: Welcome to the 47th Australian Labor Party National Conference
2. Australian Labor Party National Executive
3. The Australian, 2 July 2015: Vote change to shift Labor’s power to the Left
4. Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2015: Labor powerbrokers lose control with reform back on the agenda
5. ABC News, 4 November 2015: ALP national executive pulls rank on WA branch attempt to dump MPs Gary Gray and Alannah MacTiernan
6. The Age, 27 July 2005: Labor Left accuses Right of stacking branch rules
7. Osborne, Paul (25 November 2011). "Left-wing reformer elected ALP president". The Sydney Morning Herald.
8. "ALP national secretary George Wright says former government a 'gothic horror' story, tells MPs to 'get on with it'". ABC News (Australia). 29 October 2013.
9. Wilson, Lauren; Rout, Milanda (5 October 2011). "Unionist slams national presidential candidate Jane Garrett over Left values". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
10. Nicholson, Brendan (14 October 2013). "Star of the Left Tanya Plibersek helped Bill Shorten win". The Australian. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
11. "Tips and rumours". Crikey. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
12. "Crikey List: which MPs were involved in student politics?". Crikey. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
13. Morris, Sophie (19 July 2014). "Faulkner expects state conference defeat on party reform". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
14. "Left candidates pull out of contest for seats on the ALP national executive". The Australian. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
15. Milne, Glenn (19 September 2009). "Rudd's 'f***ing' rant at factions". The Sunday Telegraph (Australia). Retrieved 19 July 2014.
16. Manning, Haydon. "Mike Rann". Yes, Premier: Labor Leadership in Australia's States and Territories (Google Books). p. 215.
17. "ALP meeting leaves some unhappy" (transcript). PM (ABC Radio) (Australia). 7 October 2002.
18. Summers, Anne (24 August 2013). "Master of the maze". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
19. Millar, Royce (25 November 2013). "Labor factions show scant regard for democracy push". The Age. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
20. Balogh, Stephanie; Ferguson, John (10 April 2014). "ALP factions split on reforms". Business Spectator. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
21. Grattan, Michelle (20 March 2011). "Look right, look left as faction action gathers pace". The Age. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
22. Davis, Mark (29 July 2009). "Blokes tipping the scales of Labor’s Right". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
23. Ferguson, John (19 February 2013). "Labor leader left hanging". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
24. Crook, Andrew (12 April 2013). "Louise Pratt shafted in WA Labor Senate battle". Crikey. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
25. Maher, Sid (30 May 2011). "Labor heavy Tara Moriarty leans on Andrew Wilkie". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
26. Crook, Andrew (21 August 2009). "Queensland ALP embraces intra-factional bloodsports". Crikey. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
27. "Ripper promotes leadership rival: analysts". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
28. McKenna, Michael (30 November 2011). "ALP powerbroker to exit politics". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
29. Hannan, Ewin (8 December 2009). "Unions at war over ACTU leadership". The Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.