Australian Young Labor is the youth wing

Youth wing

A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous or independently-allied front of a larger organization that is formed in order to rally support and allegiance for that organization's campaigns from members and potential members of a younger age...

 of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. All ALP members aged under 26 are automatically members. Australian Young Labor is the peak youth body within the ALP. It represents about 9500 members in every state and territory in Australia. Former Presidents of AYL have included former NSW Premier Bob Carr

Bob Carr

Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...

, Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke

Tony Burke

Anthony Stephen 'Tony' Burke is an Australian politician representing the Labor Party, and the current Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . He first entered public office in 2003 as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council...

, Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner

John Faulkner

John Philip Faulkner is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Australian Senate since 1989, representing the state of New South Wales. Following a period serving on various Senate Committees and as Deputy Whip, he was a Minister in the Keating Labor government 1993-96...

, former Australian Workers Union National Secretary and current Member for Maribyrnong and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation; Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten

Bill Shorten

William Richard "Bill" Shorten is an Australian politician, the Member for Maribyrnong in the Australian Parliament, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Superannuation and Financial Services. He was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children's Services in the Rudd/Gillard Government...

 as well as dozens of State Ministers and MPs. The current national president is Ben Maxfield, from Melbourne, Victoria

Ideology

Young Labor emulates many of the functions of the senior party. Yearly national conferences are held in Canberra, as well as conferences at a state level, where policy is submitted and debated by elected delegates and members of Young Labor.

The ideology of Young labor can be classified as Centre left to left. Although aspects of both economic liberalism and social concerns can be found in Young labor policy, social policy dominates the agenda, often at the expense of economic liberalism.

Organisation

Each state has its own branch of Young Labor, functioning as a party unit (referred to as New South Wales Young Labor, Victorian Young Labor, etc). Nationally, the branches are federated to the National organisation, which has its own President and executive.

Regional branches

Region Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia

President Jules Zanetti David Latham Brett Murphy Chaiy Donati Larissa Harrison Stuart Benson Michael de Bruyn Dom Rose

Secretary Michael Hiscox Amber Setchell Morgan McWhirter Shane McKenna Jessica Nitschke Jessica Bowley Dominique Ottobre Ben Dineen-Dickinson

Activities and Roles

Young Labor is most active during state and federal elections, campaigning in marginal seat

Marginal seat

A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....

s. The youth wing of the party may organise members to door knock an electorate or set up a stand in shopping centers to hand out political party notes. Members are often also asked to 'letterbox' party advertising.

Each year Australian Young Labor holds a conference in Canberra. The conference is held at the Australian National University and typically features guest speakers from the ALP.

At the conference several positions are elected by delegates chosen from state branches. Fifteen executive positions are also elected. The National Young Labor President is a non-voting representative to the National Executive of the Australian Labor Party.

• President
• Secretary
• Senior VP
• Junior VP (Two)
• Woman's Officer
• International Secretary

Criticism

On 8 December 2004, the Sydney Morning Herald published allegations that factional leaders within the Labor Party in New South Wales were “petty, faction obsessed and vindictive.” The article, authored by Aubrey Belford, then a member of the ALP and former editor of the Sydney University student paper, Honi Soit, laments a Young Labor dominated by factional infighting, “Put simply, the party culture encourages young people to devote their energy to pursuing objectives that ultimately have no impact on the real world, and to pursue them through ritual political violence.”