Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is one of the major political parties in Australia. It is also the oldest active political party in the country, having been founded prior to federation.¹

Fast Facts:

1. Leader and Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd
2. Deputy Leader: Julia Gillard
3. Party President: Mike Rann
4. Founded: 1891
5. Headquarters: Centenary House, 19 National Circuit, Barton, Australian Capital Territory 2600
6. Political Ideology: Democratic socialism, Social democracy,
7. Political Position: Center-Left
8. International Affiliation: Socialist International

Positions

The Australian Labor Party supports a strong national government, stating in their platform that "government has a critical role in ensuring fairness by: ensuring equal opportunity; removing unjustifiable discrimination; and achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and status."²

2007 Election

After an 11-year hiatus, the Australian Labor Party, led by Kevin Rudd, returned to power in the federal election of November 2007. The party also was elected to power in all eight state and territory legislatures.

Rudd's Government

1. Rudd signed the Kyoto Protocol
2. On February 13, 2008, he apologized to indigenous Australians for the stolen generation
3. Rudd plans to overhaul Howard's WorkChoices program.³
4. Rudd has announced that he will withdraw Australia's troops from the Iraq War.⁴

Quotes

"Competitive markets are massive and generally efficient generators of economic wealth....But markets sometimes fail, requiring direct government intervention through instruments such as industry policy...Parties of the Centre Left around the world are wrestling with a similar challenge -the creation of a competitive economy while advancing the overriding imperative of a just society. Some call this the `third way'...it is a repudiation of Thatcherism and its Australian derivatives...It is...a new formulation of the nation's economic and social imperatives." -Kevin Rudd, 1998⁵

"We are constantly being told that we've never been wealthier. And many of us are. On average we all are. But that's just the problem.. no one is average." -Julia Gillard⁶

"The very men who say that giving a woman a vote would degrade her, have not the slightest compunction about making her a drudge...It is not degrading for her to scrub a floor or to be turned into a stuffy kitchen to cook for a man...but to give her a voice in the government of the country will degrade her! That is what the opponents of female suffrage tell us." -James Stewart, 1902⁷

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