The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a

political faction A political faction is a group of individuals that share a common political purpose but differs in some respect to the rest of the entity. A faction within a group or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, "parties within a party," ...

of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

(ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor Right is a broad alliance of various state factions and competes with the

Labor Left The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction. The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...

faction.

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 The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...

(AWU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), the

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) is the largest private sector trade union in Australia, representing retail, fast-food and warehousing workers, and has branches in every state and territory. Its membership is pre ...

(SDA) and the

Health Services Union The Health Services Union (HSU) is a specialist health union with around 90,000 members working in the healthcare and social assistance industries across Australia. The membership of the union includes doctors, and allied health professionals ...

(HSU). These unions send delegates to the conference, 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. ; Queensland * Labor Forum (dominated by the AWU). ; Australian Capital Territory * Centre Coalition. ; Victoria * Labor Centre Unity (The Shorts: consisting of branch members and unions aligned with Bill Shorten, in particular the Australian Workers Union). * Labor Unity (Formerly the Cons: Consisting largely of Branch Members aligned to and supporters of Labor Deputy Leader Richard Marles and the Transport Workers Union). * Moderate Labor (Mods: defectors from the Shoppies). * Shoppies (SDA: also known as Labor Unity, largely union-based). ; Western Australia *WA Labor Unity ( TWU,

SDA SDA or sda may refer to: Educational institutions * San Dieguito Academy, Encinitas, California, US * SDA Bocconi School of Management, in Milan, Italy Science and technology Biology * Specific dynamic action, the thermic effect of food * Str ...

, AWU). *Progressive Labor (Consists of TWU,

, AWU, MUA and

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

). 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 The Broad Left was a political faction within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS) during the 1970s. It consisted of a working relationship between the Labour Party, the Liberal Party, Plaid Cymru, the Communist Party of ...

; such as the UWU. Historically, the MUA and

have voted at State conferences in alignment with the Broad left. ; Northern Territory * Labor Unity. ; South Australia * Labor Unity (dominated by the SDA). ; Tasmania * Labor Unity.

Political views

An overriding stated theme of the more moderate wing of Labor governance is balance between progressive social change and conservative economic management as the pathway to community development and growth. Many

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s have been prominent and influential in the Labor Party, both inside and outside the auspices of the Labor Right faction. Their influence had been criticised by many older Labor socialists and Protestant conservatives for being beholden to religious authority. However, this sentiment has decreased since the 1970s with the erosion of religious sectarianism in Australian politics. The Labor Right views itself as the more mainstream and fiscally conservative faction within Labor. The faction is most famous for its support of

Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from ...

economic policies over Labor's traditional early twentieth century social democratic policies, such as the economic rationalist policies of the Bob Hawke and

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

governments, including floating the

Australian dollar The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isl ...

in December 1983, reductions in trade

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and pol ...

s, taxation reforms such as the introduction of

dividend imputation Dividend imputation is a corporate tax system in which some or all of the tax paid by a company may be attributed, or imputed, to the shareholders by way of a tax credit to reduce the income tax payable on a distribution. In comparison to the ...

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 Enterprise bargaining is an Australian term for a form of collective bargaining, in which wages and working conditions are negotiated at the level of the individual organisations, as distinct from sectoral collective bargaining across whole industr ...

, the privatisation of

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

and Commonwealth Bank, making the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. Th ...

independent, and deregulating the banking system.

Youth Wing

While the senior faction is broken into various state- and union-based groupings the Young Labor Right is organised around the various parliamentarian factional leaders and power brokers. The Victorian Young Labor Right is currently divided between the Conroy aligned (Young Labor Unity), the SDA (Victorian Labor Students), the TWU (Labor Progressive Unity), AWU (Young Labor Centre Unity), the NUW (Young Labor Action) and Moderate aligned grouping. The NSW Young Labor Right known as Young Centre Unity is the largest Labor Right youth faction.

Federal Members of the Labor Right

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

State branches

Political views

Youth Wing

Federal Members of the Labor Right

See also

References

Further reading