The Queensland Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland) and commonly referred to as Queensland Labor or simply Labor, is the branch of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
(ALP) in the state of
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. It has functioned in the state since the 1880s. The Queensland branch of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
was the first
Labour Party to win government in the world, when, in December of 1899, following the resignation of the
Dickson ministry, Queensland Labour leader
Anderson Dawson accepted an offer by
Lieutenant-Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor ā a " second-in-com ...
Samuel Griffith to form a government.
History
Trade unionists in Queensland had begun attempting to secure parliamentary representation as early as the mid-1880s.
William McNaughton Galloway, the president of the Seamen's Union, mounted an unsuccessful campaign as an independent in an
1886 by-election. A Workers' Political Reform Association was founded to nominate candidates for the
1888 election, at which the
Brisbane Trades and Labor Council endorsed six candidates.
Thomas Glassey won the seat of
Bundamba at that election, becoming the first self-identified "labor" MP in Queensland. The Queensland Provincial Council of the
Australian Labor Federation was formed in 1889 in an attempt to unite Labor campaign efforts.
Tommy Ryan won the seat of
Barcoo for the labour movement-run People's Parliamentary Association in 1892, and the Labor Party was formally established in Queensland following the first Labor-in-Politics Convention later that year.
The Queensland branch subsequently formed the first Labor government in Australia, albeit briefly, when
Anderson Dawson took office for a week in 1899 after a falling out between the non-Labor forces.
Since 1989, when the party came back to power after thirty-two years in Opposition, all its leaders have become Premiers despite two spells in Opposition in 1996ā98 and 2012ā2015.
As of 2020, the Queensland branch has three factions: the right, headed by
Annastacia Palaszczuk
Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...
, the left, headed by
Steven Miles, and the centralist faction, the Old Guard. Discounting Speaker
Curtis Pitt, of the 47 Labor MPs, 24 belong to the Left, 16 to the Right, and 7 to the Old Guard.
As of the
2020 state election, Queensland Labor's seat distribution was as follows:
Membership and voter base
Historically (1910sā1960s) Queensland Labor's voter base and membership has been distributed fairly equitably across the metropolitan, urban, and rural areas of the state, although maintaining a demographic majority within the
South East region.
Beginning in the 1970s, Queensland Labor's voter base in particular has swayed more heavily toward the metropolitan and urban areas of the state such as
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, the
Sunshine Coast, the
Gold Coast, and
Townsville
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
, with the
Country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
(later National) and
Liberal parties competing with Labor in both regions as an electoral bloc.
[
]
Membership figures
Ideology
Historically, the Queensland Labor Party was rooted in socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
principles, advocating for state socialism and agrarian socialism
Agrarian socialism or agricultural socialism is a political ideology that promotes social ownership of agrarian and agricultural production as opposed to private ownership. Agrarian socialism involves equally distributing agricultural land among ...
, with the party being broadly left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
. Prior to 1908, the party also had a radical liberal faction, which split to form the Kidstonites in 1908. Over time, like other Labor/Labour parties, the party has shifted towards the centre-left
Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
of the political spectrum
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...
. The platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...
, while observers describe the Queensland Labor Party as social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
, supporting labourism, which prioritises the rights and conditions of workers, fair wages, and secure employment
Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
.
Factions
The Labor Party internal politics has a variety of internal factions; however, since 1989, it has been organised into formal factions. In Queensland the parties factions Include The Left, Labor Unity (also known as 'Old Guard'), and Labor Forum (also known as the right).
Local government
Labor contests Brisbane City Council elections, and has done so since the inaugural election in 1925. It has been in opposition to the LNP (and before that, the Liberal Party) since 2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. The last Labor member to serve as Lord Mayor of Brisbane
The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is the chief executive of the City of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, and the head of the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner of the Liberal National Party was sworn in o ...
was Tim Quinn, who was defeated in 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
.
Historically, Labor also endorsed candidates outside of Brisbane, including in Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
, Townsville
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
and Toowoomba
Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...
.
The current Labor leader on Brisbane City Council is Jared Cassidy, who has served in the position since September 2019.
Leaders
Leader
The full list below is the official record of parliamentary leaders:
Election results
State elections
Federal elections
References
Notes
Citations
{{Authority control
1892 establishments in Australia
Political parties established in 1892
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
Political parties in Queensland
Memory of the World Register in Australia