How has ALP factional influence changed since the 1980s?

In previous posts I have outlined the factional composition of the ALP at a state and national conference level. Those posts have focused on the previous decade. It is, however, worth understanding that the level of factional influence has changed significantly since the days of the early Hawke Government.

While there is a long history of factionalism in NSW, it was not until a series of interventions into state branches between 1970 and 1980 and the imposition of proportional representation that formalised factions truly started to emerge right across the country. In fact branches such as Western Australia and South Australia were largely unfactionalised until the 1980s.

Though the ALP Left had a rudimentary national organisation since the 1950s, there were no self-declared national factions until the 1984 ALP Conference when the National Centre-Left formed. The Labor Right had never organised beyond the state level and did not even have a formalised integrated national strategy by the end of 1986.

The following tables and charts illustrate my point. The first three tables are from a 1987 journal article National Factions and the ALP by Clem Lloyd and Wayne Swan. They provide an estimate of factional voting power at a national and state levels in 1986. Chart 1 is a compilation of publicly available figures from the 1984, 1986, 2002, 2004 and 2011 ALP National Conferences.

Table 1 – ALP National Factions (Voting Power expressed as a percentage)

	National Right	National Centre Left	National Socialist Left	National Non-aligned
National Executive before 1986 National Conference	39	28	33	–
National Executive after 1986 National Conference	43	21	36	–
National Conference 1984	30	28	41	–
National Conference 1986	41	19	39	–
National Parliamentary Labor Party (total)	41	24	27	7
Senate	29	29	38	4
House of Representatives	45	24	23	8

Table 2 – State and Territory Factions (Voting power expressed as a percentage

	Centre Unity/Labor Unity	Centre Left	Socialist Left	Centre (Qld)	Non-aligned
Queensland	25 [Old Guard]	6	45	29 [AWU]	5
New South Wales	66	–	34	–	–
Victoria	43	7 [Vic Independents]	50	–	–
Tasmania	22	16	49	–	13
South Australia	15	40	45	–	–
Western Australia	30	30 [Centre Coalition]	36	–	4
Northern Territory	45	24	23	–	15
Australian Capital Territory	40	10	47	–	–

Table 3 – ALP Ministers (Factional voting power expressed as a percentage)

	Centre Unity/Labor Unity	Centre Left/Vic Independents	Socialist Left	Non-aligned
National (Cabinet)	47	41	12	–
National (Ministry)	41	37	15	7
New South Wales	70	–	25	5
Victoria	32	21	32	15
South Australia	–	54	15	31
Western Australia	22	33	11	34

Chart 1 – Breakdown of ALP National Conference delegates by faction (factional voting power expressed as a percentage)

There are a number of conclusions that can be drawn from these tables.

Firstly, since the 1980s there has been a massive shift in factional voting power, particularly since the Centre-Left has ceased to exist. The Left has improved its position in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Tasmania. The Left has lost ground while the Right has gained ground in South Australia and Victoria. Though the Left has gained considerably, the Right gained enough to get an outright majority in the mid-2000s at a national level. The base of that majority has been its control of New South Wales.

Secondly, the sidelining of unaligned party members by factions is not a recent phenomenon at all. Arguably the Centre-Left swallowed up much of what was the unaligned vote in becoming a faction, which in turn has been swallowed up by the Left and Right. Swan and Lloyd (1987) noted that:

At the national level, the unaligned component, which was quite important even five years ago, has diminished in influence. Non-aligned delegates have disappeared from the National Conference and the National Executive.

Since the rise of national factions in the early 1980s, the level of influence by various factions has changed dramatically. Factionalisation and polarisation has spread to the rest of the country from the eastern states. The level of influence each faction will continue to change over the coming years.

The move towards greater direct elections is likely to mean less factional stability as greater contestability is introduced and increased levels of proportionality associated with these direct elections could result in the creation of new groupings. This will all depend on what occurs at the ALP National Conference in July where party reform will be debated.

Advertisement