Victorian Labor Party

Victorian Labor Party
File:Australian Labor Party logo.svg
Leader	Daniel Andrews
Deputy Leader	James Merlino
Youth wing	Australian Young Labor
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Australian Labor Party
Victorian seats in the House of Representatives	18 / 46
Victorian seats in the Senate	4 / 12
Legislative Assembly	47 / 88
Legislative Council	14 / 40
Victorian Local Councillors	164 / 1,480
Website
www.nswlabor.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) also known as Vic Labor is the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the members of the party caucus, comprising all party members in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. The party factions have a strong influence on the election of the leader. The leader's position is dependent on the continuing support of the caucus (and party factions) and the leader may be deposed by failing to win a vote of confidence of parliamentary members. By convention, the premier sits in the Legislative Assembly, and is the leader of the party controlling a majority in that house. The party leader also typically is a member of the Assembly, though this is not a strict party constitutional requirement.

When the Labor party wins sufficient seats to be able to control a majority in the Legislative Assembly, the party leader becomes the State Premier and Labor will form the government. When the party is not in government, the party leader becomes the Leader of the Opposition. To become a Premier or Opposition Leader, the party leader must be or within a short period of time become a member of the Legislative Assembly.

History

George Prendergast was one of the first Labor members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1894. He was defeated in 1897 by William Watt, but regained a seat in 1900. In 1904 Prendergast became the first leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party. He resigned this position through ill-health in 1913, allowing George Elmslie to become the first Labor Premier, an office he held for only 14 days. In 1902 Elmslie had been elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Elmslie became deputy leader in 1912 and leader in 1913.

At the 1911 election Labor won only 20 seats to the various factions of the Liberal Party's 43. But in December 1913 the Liberal Premier, William Watt resigned after a dispute with the rural faction of his own party. The acting Governor, Sir John Madden, surprised the Liberals by sending for Elmslie, who on 9 December formed Victoria's first Labor government. Elmslie's tenure as Premier lasted on 14 days. Under the law of the time ministers had to resign their seats and contest by-elections before they could take their seats. The Liberal factions re-united, and Watt moved a no-confidence motion in Elmslie, which Elmslie had to watch from the gallery since he was technically not a member. Elmslie was duly voted out and Watt resumed office on 22 December.

Labor in Victoria in the early federal period was much weaker than in the other states, partly because of the continuing attraction of Deakinite liberalism for many voters, partly because Victoria did not have the huge pastoral and mining areas that the other mainland states had. The Parliamentary Labor Party remained small and contained limited talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state throughout the 1920s, due to the gross over-representation of rural areas in the Legislative Assembly, and the strength of the Country Party in rural areas and the Nationalist Party in middle-class Melbourne seats. Labor's parliamentary representation was confined to the industrial areas of Melbourne and a few provincial towns. There was little talent in the Parliamentary Labor Party and few regarded Prendergast as likely ever to win a state election.

In April 1924, however, the Country Party withdrew its support from the Nationalist government of Alexander Peacock when he tried to pass a bill reducing rural representation. Peacock called an election in June, at which Labor won 27 seats, the Nationalists 20 and the Country Party 13. Labor offered a series of policy concessions to the Country Party, and the party agreed to support a minority Labor government. Prendergast became Premier at the age of 70 – the oldest man ever to take the office for the first time. The only real talents in his government were Edmond Hogan as Minister for Agriculture and Railways and William Slater as Attorney-General. John Cain was an Assistant Minister.

The Prendergast government was the first Labor government in Victoria able actually to govern. Immediate action was taken to provide shelter for unemployed Victorians, while the government set up royal commissions into the causes of a major police strike in 1923, the prices of bread and flour, and the soldier settlement scheme. Increased expenditure was made available for rural roads, while reductions were made on rail freights and fares. With the support of the Country Party, he was able to pass several bills assisting farmers, but the Country Party would not support anything which benefited Labor's urban working-class base. This was a frustrating situation for Labor ministers, and several urged Prendergast to call another election in the hope of improving their position, but Prendergast was too timid to run this risk. In November the Country Party patched up its differences with the Nationalists, and the two parties joined forces to defeat Prendergast in the Assembly. The Country Party leader, John Allan, succeeded him as Premier. Prendergast resigned as Labor leader in 1926 and was succeeded by Edmond Hogan, who formed a minority government 1927–28.

Hogan had been elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1913. Although it was not a natural Labor seat, it was heavily Irish-Catholic, which helped Hogan, an active Catholic, retain it. In 1914 he was elected to the Labor Party's state executive and in 1922 he became State President. In 1924 he was Minister for Agriculture and Railways in the short-lived minority Prendergast government.

Hogan was a fine speaker and soon became a leading figure in a parliamentary party which was thin on talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state and in the 1920s there seemed little chance it would ever win a state election. When Prendergast stepped down in 1926, Hogan was the obvious choice to succeed him. His main drawback was his close association with the Melbourne horse-racing, boxing and gambling identity John Wren, who was widely suspected of corruption. The Wren connection alienated many middle-class voters from Labor through the 1920s and 1930s.

Nevertheless, at the 1927 election Hogan was able to capitalise on resentment against rural over-representation in the state Parliament and consequent domination by the Country Party. Labor won 28 seats to the Nationalists 15 and the Country Party's ten. Hogan was able to form a government with the support of the four Country Progressive Party and two Liberal members. But this alliance broke down in 1928 in the face a prolonged and violent industrial dispute on the Melbourne waterfront, and in November he was defeated in a confidence vote and resigned, being succeeded by the Nationalist William McPherson with the support of the Victorian Country Party.

In 1929 the Country Party withdrew its support from the McPherson government, resulting in the 1929 election, fought just as the Great Depression was breaking over Australia. Hogan led Labor to its best result yet, winning 30 seats to the Nationalists' 17 and the Country Party's 11. A collection of Country Progressives, Liberals and independents held the balance, and they agreed to support a second Hogan government. Tom Tunnecliffe was Chief Secretary, John Cain was Minister for Railways and William Slater was Attorney-General.

The Depression had a devastating effect on Victoria's economy and society, since the state was heavily dependent on agricultural exports, mainly wheat and wool, for its income, and these industries collapsed almost completely as demand in Britain dried up. By 1931 most Victorian farmers were bankrupt and about 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed. Hogan's government, in common with all other governments, had no solution to this disaster. Even if the Labor government was minded to attempt radical solutions, it was dependent on Country Progressive support in the Assembly, and had only six members in the Legislative Council.

Hogan adopted the orthodox economic view that governments must balance their budgets, and since the Council would not permit any increases in taxation, the only way to do this in the face of falling government revenue was to cut expenditure. This increased the burdens on the poor and unemployed, while providing no stimulus to the economy. There was little possibility of effective unemployment relief, although there were some government works to soak up unemployment, such as the Shrine of Remembrance and the Great Ocean Road.

In August 1930 Hogan attended a conference with the other Premiers and the Labor Prime Minister, James Scullin, to consider what to do. On the advice of Sir Otto Niemeyer, a senior official of the Bank of England (which controlled most of Victoria's access to credit in the City of London), they agreed to radical cuts to government spending and borrowing. This provoked a storm of protest in the Labor Party and trade unions, who regarded Scullin and Hogan as traitors.

A second conference in June 1931 produced the Premiers' Plan, which entailed further cuts in government spending, accompanied by increases in taxation on the wealthy. In the circumstances both of these measures further depressed the economy, while not satisfying either side of politics. The New South Wales Labor Party, led by Jack Lang, rebelled and brought down the Scullin government in November, but Hogan survived with Country Party continued support from the cross benches. In any case the Nationalists, now renamed the United Australia Party (UAP) preferred to see Hogan implement the Premiers' Plan.

In February 1932 Hogan travelled to London to talk to the banks about Victoria's desperate economic plight. While he was away Tom Tunnecliffe was acting Premier, and he was much more willing than Hogan to reject the Premiers' Plan. As a result, the Country Party withdrew its support, and in April the government was defeated in a confidence vote. Tunnecliffe replaced Hogan as Labor leader and led the Labor campaign in May 1932 election, now rejecting the Premiers' Plan completely. The Labor Party Executive expelled everyone who had supported the Premiers' Plan, including Hogan, although it did not run a candidate against him. At the elections the UAP won 31 seats to Labor's 16 and the reunited Country Party's 14. Hogan and one of his ex-ministers were elected as "Premiers' Plan Labor" candidates. UAP leader Stanley Argyle became Premier.

After sitting as an independent for four years, Hogan joined the Country Party in 1935, and formed a close relationship with the Country Party leader Albert Dunstan. The result was a renewed alliance between the Country Party and Labor, brokered by Hogan, John Wren and the Victorian Labor State President, Arthur Calwell. In April 1935 Dunstan walked out of Argyle's government, and became Premier with Labor support. Hogan became Minister for Agriculture and Mines, and held these posts through Dunstan's record term as Premier until September 1943.

At the 1943 election, Labor, now led by John Cain, benefiting from the popularity of John Curtin's wartime federal government, won 22 seats.

Victorian Labor premiers

• George Elmslie (1913)
• George Prendergast (leader 1904-26, premier 1924)
• Edmond Hogan (1927–28, 1929–32)
• John Cain (senior) (1943, 1945–47, 1952–55)
• John Cain II (1982–90)
• Joan Kirner (1990–92, first female premier of Victoria, and first woman in Australia to lose an election as premier)
• Steve Bracks (1999–2007)
• John Brumby (2007–10)
• Daniel Andrews (2014-present)

Victorian Labor Party deputy leaders

Partial list of deputy leaders

• John Thwaites (1999–2007)
• Rob Hulls (2007–12)
• James Merlino (2012-present)