Australian Young Labor

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Australian Young Labor is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party. 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, Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke, Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner, Parliamentary Secretary and former Union boss Bill Shorten as well as dozens of State Ministers and MPs.^[1]

[edit] Ideology

Young Labor emulates many of the functions of the senior party. Yearly federal 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.

[edit] Organization

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. The current federal President is Sam Crosby.

[edit] Regional branches

Young Michael Danby (third to the right) and Young Peter Costello (first on the left) in the Balaclava Branch of Australian Young Labor Movement.

[edit] Activities and Roles

Young Labor is most active during state and federal elections as a campaigning tool in marginal seats. The party may organise members to doorknock an electorate or set up a stand in shopping centres to hand out political party notes. Members are often also asked to 'letterbox' party advertising. Generally Young Labor is a valuable campaigning tool to under-resourced candidates that have limited funds.

[edit] 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.”^[2]

In 2000, Young Labor were also embroiled in electoral fraud claims when a member of NSW Young Labor who worked for a Federal MP was found guilty of fraudulent enrollment. At the time, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie attempted to explain the fraud, “oh well, all parties do it.”^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

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