Australia is a democratic country that has two major political parties. They are the, ‘Australian Labor Party’ and ‘The Australian Liberal Party.’ These two parties were in the ruling position for several times. They have the age-old tradition of their own. Each of the parties has huge public support and they are almost equally popular. You can explore the rich history of both parties by going to their corresponding websites. A comparative study of both parties is what we will look at here.
Party Histories
The Labors are known as ALP for short and this is Australia’s current governing party. They have been in the ruling position since the 2007 federal election. The party's federal parliamentary leader is Kevin Rudd and he is also the Prime Minister of Australia. Labor Party was founded by the emerging labor movement in Australia in 1891 and is the country's oldest active political party. While ‘The Liberal Party of Australia’ was founded after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, they are in opposition to the ALP since losing the 2007 federal election. The leader of this party is Tony Abbott with Julie Bishop as deputy.
Policies
The policy of the Australian Labor Party is based on its national platform. It is approved by the delegates of the party in the national conference which are held every three years. The platform gives a general indication of the policy direction that a future Labor government would follow. On the other hand, freedom of activity and social independence are the two policies upon which the Liberal party is based. Previously, for most of the social liberal reforms, Liberal government was answerable which even included indigenous rights referendum of Harold Halt in 1967. Although Liberal party members influence party policy to some degree, but still most of the decisions are taken by the parliamentary parties itself.
Achievements
The ALP history says that this party contributes a lot in the political history of Australia since its foundation. The ALP adopted its formal name "Australian Labour Party" in 1908, but changed the spelling to "Labor" in 1912. From its formation until the 1950s Labor and its supporting organizations were the strong defenders of the ‘White Australia Policy’. They were against the non-European immigration till 1967. On the other hand, the Liberals have always been dominant for long periods at the state level except in Queensland. In the year 2004, when federal elections were held Liberals became the first federal government by strengthening its preponderance in the Lower House and this aspect of gaining mass in Senate transpired after twenty years.
Summary
- The Labor Party is the current ruling party of Australia while the Liberals are the main opponents.
- The Australian Liberal Party succeeded in achieving the majority of the senate in 2004 federal lection.
- Both the parties have a strong and rich political history.
