Australian Labor Party National Executive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Executive is the highest elected body of the Australian Labor Party, one of the major political parties in Australia. The Executive is elected by the party's National Conference, held every three years, and represents the party's state and territory branches. Many of its members are officials of trade unions which are affiliated to the party. Some are members of federal or state Parliaments. The National President and the federal Parliamentary Leader are automatically members. The party's National Secretary, the two Vice-Presidents and the state and territory secretaries are non-voting members.

The Executive concerns itself mainly with organisational matters. It does not decide party policy (which is determined by Conference). It does not elect the party's Parliamentary leaders (this is done by the Parliamentary Caucus). It does not elect the National President or Vice-President (this is done by the Party's members). Its most public role is to act as the final arbiter of disputes about parliamentary candidacies (pre-selections). On these matters the Executive usually votes on factional lines.

The national executive, as of 2007, went from minority right to majority right controlled.^{[citation needed]}