Democratic Labour Party (Australia, 1978)

The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which began in 1954.^[14] The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H. V. Evatt, and the majority of the Victorian branch, which was dominated by a faction composed largely of ideologically driven anti-Communist Catholics.^[15] Many ALP members during the Cold War period, most but not all of them Catholics, became alarmed at what they saw as the growing power of the Communist Party of Australia within the country's trade unions. These members formed units within the unions, called Industrial Groups, to combat this alleged infiltration.^[16]

The party renamed itself the Democratic Labor Party in 1957.

The party's policies were traditional Labor policies such as more spending on health, education and pensions, combined with strident opposition to communism, and a greater emphasis on defence spending.^[17]

Following the departure of Whitlam from ALP leadership in 1977, recognising that the split had assisted the rise of the radical left Whitlamite faction in the ALP, many DLP members rejoined the ALP. This greatly strengthened its right wing faction and subsequently helped the moderate Bob Hawke to take control of the ALP a few years later.^[18]

By 1978 DLP branches in all states other than Victoria had ceased to operate. In March 1978, the Victorian branch voted to dissolve^[19] The vote to dissolve was purportedly carried by 110 votes to 100.^[20] However, some members of the party disputed the validity of the vote and instead formed a continuity DLP, which sought to continue the policies and objectives of the original DLP.^[19]

This re-established DLP contested its first Victorian state election in 1979.

At the 2006 Victorian state election, the DLP won parliamentary representation for the first time since the 1970s when it won a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council, after fielding candidates in the eight regions of the reformed Council, where proportional representation gave the party the best chance of having members elected. The DLP received 2.7 per cent of the primary vote in the Western Victoria Region, enough to elect Peter Kavanagh on ALP preferences. The party briefly looked set to have a second member elected, party leader John Mulholland, in the Northern Metropolitan Region on 5.1 per cent, but that result was overturned after a recount.^[21] Following the election of Kavanagh, attention was given to the DLP platform of opposition to abortion and poker machines.^[22]

The Labor government required an additional two non-ALP upper house members to pass legislation, which gave the balance of power to the Greens who held three seats. Kavanagh failed to retain his seat at the 2010 Victorian election.

In late August 2009, Melbourne newspaper The Age reported that the DLP was facing several internal divisions between Kavanagh's faction, which also sought to include evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants within the party, and 'hardline' conservative Catholics. Right to Life Australia President Marcel White and a close associate, Peter McBroom, were reported to be emphasising Catholic doctrinal and devotional concerns, like Marian apparitions, Catholic prayer, praying the rosary and campaigns against the "evils of contraception". Kavanagh was reported as threatening to leave the organisation if the 'hardline' elements were to triumph within the Victorian DLP.^[23] In the end, the minority 'hardline' group was expelled from the party and it returned to its former non-sectarian position.

Shortly after counting began in the aftermath of the 2010 federal election, DLP candidate, federal DLP vice-president, and state DLP president John Madigan looked likely to be elected as the sixth and final Senator for Victoria, which was confirmed a few weeks later. Preference counts indicated that the primary DLP vote of 2.33 per cent (75,145 votes) in Victoria reached the 14.3 per cent quota required by gaining One Nation, Christian Democratic and Building Australia preferences to edge out Steve Fielding of the Family First Party who received a primary vote of 2.64 per cent. The DLP received Family First preferences, and when the Australian Sex Party candidate was excluded, the DLP gained Liberal Democratic Party preferences, overtaking the third Liberal/National candidate and gaining their preferences to win the last seat.^[24][25][26]

Elected for a six-year term from 1 July 2011, Madigan was the first Senator to be elected as a federal member of the Democratic Labor Party of Australia since the 1970 Senate-only election.^[27] Madigan was in a balance of power position following the 2013 election where an additional six non-government Senators were required to pass legislation. In his maiden speech to the Senate, Madigan denounced Victoria's "inhumane" abortion laws and committed to help restore Australia's dwindling manufacturing sector. He called for a "good Labor government that will bring something better to the people". He said that the DLP and ALP differed in a number of ways.^[28][29]

In December 2011, Madigan launched the Australian Manufacturing and Farming Program, with Senator Nick Xenophon and MP Bob Katter, an initiative to provide a forum for discussion of issues impacting manufacturers and farmers, together with politicians.^[30] As a representative of the DLP, Madigan took an unashamed anti-abortion stance.^[31] His additional publicly stated positions on behalf of the DLP included opposition to same-sex marriage;^[32] opposition to the sale of public infrastructure;^[32] opposition to a carbon tax, stating "We're not in favour of a carbon tax because we believe it's a tax on people and a tax on life";^[32] an advocate for shops closing at midday on Saturdays;^[31] and at the Inaugural Jack Kane dinner in July 2011, Madigan advocated Chifley protectionist economics.^[33] Also, Madigan has publicly expressed his concern for human rights in West Papua.^[34][35]

It was reported in June 2010 that the party was on the brink of collapse, with rampant party infighting and less than $10,000 in the bank. On 18 March 2011 the Victorian Supreme Court handed down a reserved judgment confirming John Mulholland's valid removal as secretary.^[36] This decision was subsequently reversed by the full bench of the Victorian Supreme Court however the Court also rejected Mulholland's claim that he was still the secretary of the DLP at the time the ruling was handed down.^[37] A Senate petition in August 2011 from Mulholland requested that current DLP Senator John Madigan be removed from the Senate, with the petition lodged using a residual standing order of the chamber that has not been deployed successfully by anyone for more than a century. In his petition, Mulholland says Madigan put himself forward in the 2010 election as a DLP candidate "although the DLP federal executive did not authorise or recognise his candidacy or have any part in his nomination".^[38]

In September, 2014 Madigan resigned from the DLP and became an independent, citing long-term internal party tensions and claiming he had been undermined by a member of his staff.^[39] DLP federal president Paul Funnell strongly rejected Madigan's claims and demanded that he resign from the Senate so that his seat could be taken by a DLP member.^[40]

The DLP was elected to the upper house region of Western Metropolitan, with candidate Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins winning 2.6% of the vote, despite suffering a 0.5% swing.^[41] On 26 June 2017, Carling-Jenkins resigned from the DLP to join Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives.^[42][43][44]

In-fighting continued throughout the decade to 2022, with purges of the South Australian, New South Wales and Victorian branches by the federal executive, including repeated expulsions and high profile resignations. This culminated in yet another purge of the Victorian executive and their supporters in January 2022, causing the loss of many Victorian branches. This led to a significant decline in DLP membership levels over the decade in those states. However from 2020, recruiting drives in the ACT and later in Tasmania and NSW led to a substantial increase in memberships in those states, partially offsetting these losses and helping to refocus the party on contemporary policy issues including housing affordability, energy cost and reliability and the growing threat posed by China.

Victorian upper house MP Bernie Finn joined the DLP after his expulsion from the Liberal Party.^[45] Former Labor-turned-independent MP Adem Somyurek also joined the DLP just weeks before the state election, having resigned from parliament only days prior.^[46] At the 2022 Victorian election, the DLP received 7.66% of the vote in its best seat and 3.51% (131,600 votes) overall in the upper house. This was the fifth highest vote of any party in Victoria and the best result the DLP had achieved since its re-establishment in 1978.^[47] Adem Somyurek was elected to the upper house region of Northern Metropolitan with 4.75% of the vote. However, despite winning 5.16% of the vote, after preference distribution Bernie Finn narrowly missed out on re-election in the Western Metropolitan Region by only 210 votes, with Legalise Cannabis Party preferences instead electing a second Liberal candidate.^[48]

Despite its strong performance in the state election, following a review of its membership by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) in 2024, the Victorian DLP was unable to prove it had more than the required 500 members and it was deregistered.^[49]

On 25 March 2024, immediately following the announcement by the VEC that it intended to deregister the DLP, Somyurek resigned from the party.^[50] The party was deregistered by the VEC on 16 May 2024.^[51]

• John Madigan (Vic), 2011–2014 (Left the party)

• Peter Kavanagh (2006–2010)
• Rachel Carling-Jenkins (2014–2017) (Left the party)
• Bernie Finn (2022)
• Adem Somyurek (2022–2024) (Left the party)

• John Kavanagh (2004–2014)

• Democratic Labour Party
• Australian Labor Party

• Official website