Talk:Australian Labor Party

White Australia Policy and the ALP

I wish you conservatives would stop deleting any reference to the White Australia Policy and the ALP. Like UGHHH? Why are you so worried about "Two Wongs don't make a White"? Why do you have to constantly rewrite history? --Ed

I think this is the paragraph in question:

The ALP was also committed to a platform of racialist political theories, as well: the White Australia Policy -- a political platform that discriminated against anyone not from a white, Anglo-Saxon background -- was one of the ALP's central political planks for more than 50 years, and prolonged and extended the genocidal treatment of Australian indigenous people for much of the 20th Century.

While I believe that this deserves mention, despite my anger that any policies like this were ever supported by a mainstream political party in Australia. However, I think a lot of the language (genocidal?) used is just inflammatory and understates the actions of Labor politicians in dismantling these policies (Gough Whitlam, Don Dunstan to name just two). The paragraph also fails to note that the White Australia Policy was bipartisan. I am not trying to alter history, just preventing it being "spun" in a way that suits the political persuasions of editors. I'm also unimpressed about being called conservative, but I'll leave that to another day. - Aaron Hill 08:31, Oct 26, 2004 (UTC)

In every single Australian State, ALP governments carried out assimilationist, genocidal policies against Australian indigenous people. If you care to examine any of the current claims lodged by indigenous people for their back wages that were appropiated by various State or Federal governments, ALP governments figure prominently.

Personally, I think that omitting the White Australia Policy from an 'encyclopedia' article on the ALP is remarkably like writing an essay on Adolf Hitler and neglecting to mention that he wasn't overly enamoured with Jews, Gypsies or Communists.

--Red ted 09:34, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I'm not supporting its omission, I just object to the current language being used. Provide proof of your claims, I do not doubt that they are true and I am ashamed of my party's heritage, but verify controversial claims first. - Aaron Hill 10:06, Oct 26, 2004 (UTC)

The entire process of 'assimilation' -- adopted by the ALP and other conservative governments -- fits the UN definition of 'genocide' to a tee. The breeding out of 'inferior races', the destruction of traditional cultural and familial identities, and the destruction of traditional labour patterns all fit the UN definition, however you care to examine it. --Edward 05:03, Oct 27, 2004 (UTC)

Labor v Labour

What enlightened these folks to skip the inefficient spelling in their name? --Jia ng 05:35, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)

One of the members of the first federal Parliamentary Labour Party was an American called King O'Malley, who I have been meaning to write an article about. O'Malley was a spelling reform enthusiast, and persuaded his comrades that the "Labor" spelling was more "progressive" and would soon become the standard. By the time it became obvious that this was not going to happen in Australia, the spelling was an established tradition and is now maintained as a matter of perverse pride. Adam 05:59, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Does this article not cover the current importance of the party in the parliament or is it just that I am too blind to see it? Get-back-world-respect 19:23, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Factions

I've been hearing a lot about factional issues of the Labor party recently. What factions are there and what are the differences between them?

Thats a difficult question! Broadly, there is the socialist left and the labor right, but the actual factions differ from state to state. In South Australia (where my knowledge is centered), there is the Labor Unity faction which is part of the labor right and used to be led by Martyn Evans and David Cox (who both lost their seats at the election), the "Duncan Left" which was a centre to centre-left faction led in its heyday by the old member for Makin, Peter Duncan and the left faction which used to be led by Nick Bolkus who quit before the election. If that sounds complex, remember that SA's factional system is far far less complex than that in NSW and Victoria... -- Aaron Hill 22:41, Oct 20, 2004 (UTC)

The section about factionalism probably needs to be expanded; i might borrow out The Machine and get on to that. But the thing to note, as Aaron says, is that factions are overwhelmingly state-based: the National Right and the National Left are really (very!) loose coalitions of state groupings. In many states, the Right and/or the Left factions are split (for example, the Right in Queensland is divided into Labor Forum - Wayne Swan, Con Sciacca, Joe Ludwig etc, and Labor Unity - Arch Bevis and Kevin Rudd). The Centre Left (ie. a grouping between the Right and Left), whose most prominent member is Barry Jones, had prominence at a national level especially during the Hawke years but has since faded. Lacrimosus 20:41, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)