The Victorian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as Victorian Labor, is the Victorian state branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Victorian Labor comprises two major wings: the parliamentary wing and the organisational wing. The parliamentary wing (formally referred to as the State Parliamentary Labor Party) comprises all elected party members in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, which when they meet collectively constitute the party caucus. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the caucus, and party factions have a strong influence in the election of the leader. The leader's position is dependent on the continuing support of the caucus, and the leader may be deposed by failing to win a vote of confidence of parliamentary members. By convention, the Premier sits in the Legislative Assembly, and is the leader of the party controlling a majority in that house. The party leader also typically is a member of the Assembly, though this is not a strict party constitutional requirement.
When Victorian Labor wins sufficient seats to be able to control a majority in the Legislative Assembly, the party leader becomes the State Premier and Labor will form the Government of Victoria. When the party is not in government, the party leader becomes the Leader of the Opposition. To become a Premier or Opposition Leader, the party leader must be or within a short period of time become a member of the Legislative Assembly.
At the 2014 state election, Victorian Labor obtained a majority with 47 of the 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and formed government. The party then increased its share of seats in the Assembly to 55 after the 2018 election. The party currently holds 15 of the 40 seats in the Legislative Council. Since 28 July 2026, the leader and deputy leader of Victorian Labor have been Ben Carroll and Gabrielle Williams, respectively.
History
Formative years While struggling to balance an uneasy alliance of trade unionists and progressive social reformers during the 1890s, the political labor movement in Victoria underwent several changes of name. It was called the Progressive Political League between 1891 and 1894, the United Labor and Liberal Party of Victoria from June 1894, the United Labor Party from 1896 and the Political Labor Council of Victoria from 1901; before becoming the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.
Labor members were first elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1894, but the actual numbers are uncertain. They stood as part of the United Labor and Liberal Party, formed in 1894 to replace the Progressive Political League, which won 18 of the 95 seats. At the 1897 election Labor candidates stood as the United Labor Party and won 8 of the 95 seats, all of which had to be contested. Its representation went to 9 of the 95 seats at the 1900 election. Labor candidates contested the 1902 election as the Political Labor Council of Victoria and won 12 of the 95 seats.
George Prendergast and George Elmslie At the 1904 election Labor won 17 of the 67 seats, becoming the second largest party in the Assembly, and became the Opposition. George Prendergast took over as leader of the parliamentary Labor party from Frederick Bromley after Bromley had resigned due to ill health six days after the election. At the 1907 election it slipped to 14 of 65 seats; and increased to 21 of 65 seats at the 1908 election. At the 1911 election Labor won 20 of the 65 seats, to 43 for the various factions of the Liberal Party. Prendergast resigned the leadership because of ill-health in 1913, to be succeeded by George Elmslie, who had been elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1902 and became deputy leader in 1912.
In December 1913, the Liberal Premier, William Watt, resigned after a dispute with the rural faction of his own party. The acting Governor, John Madden, surprised the Liberals by sending for Elmslie, who on 9 December formed Victoria's first Labor government. Elmslie's tenure as Premier lasted only 14 days, by which time the Liberal factions re-united, and Watt moved a no-confidence motion in Elmslie and resumed office on 22 December. Watt resigned in June 1914 to enter federal politics, and Alexander Peacock returned to leadership. The 1914 election was fought after World War I was declared, and Labor increased its seats to 22, while the Liberals retained 43.
The 1916 Labor split occurred over the issue of World War I conscription in Australia which saw pro-conscription Labor members expelled from the party and running as National Labor candidates at the 1917 election. That election also saw the emergence of the Victorian Farmers' Union (the forerunner of the Country Party) as a party. There was also a split in the Nationalist party into rural and city factions and both factions fielded their own candidates. However, Victoria introduced compulsory preferential voting before this election, and most of the preferences resulting from multiple Nationalist candidates were kept within the party. At that election, of the 65 seats, the pro-Ministerial city faction of the Nationalists won 13 seats, while the rural faction won 27. Labor won 18 seats, National Labor won 3 and the VFU won 4. After the election the rural Nationalist faction took control of the party, ousting Premier Alexander Peacock. The Nationalists reunited under Bowser. Elmslie died in 1918 and Prendergast returned to the party's leadership. At the 1920 election Labor won 20 seats to the Nationalists' 30. VFU became a force, holding the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly with 13 seats, a position it held until 1952. In 1920, it supported the conservative Nationalist government. In 1921, the VFU voted with Labor against the Nationalist government when it abolished the compulsory wheat pool operating in the state, leading to a dissolution of Parliament and the 1921 election, which maintained the same balance of power.
In April 1924, the VFU, now called the Country Party, again withdrew its support from the Nationalist government when it tried to legislate a reduction in the rural over-representation. Peacock, back in government, called the 1924 election in June, at which Labor won 27 seats, the Nationalists 20 and the Country Party 13. The Country Party supported the minority Labor government in exchange for a number of policy concessions. Prendergast became Premier at the age of 70 – the oldest man ever to take the office for the first time. The only real talents in his government were Edmond Hogan as Minister for Agriculture and Railways and William Slater as Attorney-General. John Cain was an Assistant Minister. The Prendergast government was the first Labor government in Victoria able actually to govern. Immediate action was taken to provide shelter for unemployed Victorians, while the government set up royal commissions into the causes of a major police strike in 1923, the prices of bread and flour, and the soldier settlement scheme. Increased expenditure was made available for rural roads, while reductions were made on rail freights and fares. With the support of the Country Party, he was able to pass several bills assisting farmers, but the Country Party would not support anything which benefited Labor's urban working-class base. This was a frustrating situation for Labor ministers, and several urged Prendergast to call another election in the hope of improving their position, but Prendergast was too timid to run the risk. In November the Country Party patched up its differences with the Nationalists, and the two parties joined forces to defeat Prendergast in the Assembly. The Country Party leader, John Allan, succeeded him as Premier.
Labor in Victoria in the early federal period was much weaker than in the other states, and there had never been a majority Labor state government. This was partly due to the continuing attraction of Deakinite liberalism among middle-class voters in Melbourne, partly because Victoria did not have the huge pastoral and mining areas that the other mainland states had. The Parliamentary Labor Party remained small and contained limited talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state throughout the 1920s, due to the gross over-representation of rural areas in the Legislative Assembly, and the strength of the Country Party in rural areas and the Nationalist Party in middle-class Melbourne seats. Labor's parliamentary representation was confined to the industrial areas of Melbourne and a few provincial towns. There was little talent in the Parliamentary Labor Party and few regarded Prendergast as likely ever to win a state election. Most notably, however, the lack of a Labor majority government was due to the high degree of rural over-representation existing in the state's electoral system, which strongly favoured rural electorates to the disadvantage of inner-city electorates, where Labor's vote was concentrated.
Edmond Hogan Hogan had been elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1913. His was not a natural Labor seat, but it was heavily Irish-Catholic, which helped Hogan, an active Catholic, retain it. In 1914 he was elected to the Labor Party's state executive and in 1922 he became State President. Prendergast resigned as Labor leader in 1926 and was succeeded by Hogan.
Hogan was a fine speaker and soon became a leading figure in a parliamentary party which was thin on talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state and in the 1920s there seemed little chance it would ever win a state election. When Prendergast stepped down in 1926, Hogan was the obvious choice to succeed him. His main drawback was his close association with the Melbourne horse-racing, boxing and gambling identity John Wren, who was widely suspected of corruption. The Wren connection alienated many middle-class voters from Labor through the 1920s and 1930s.
Nevertheless, at the 1927 election Hogan was able to capitalise on resentment against rural over-representation in the state Parliament and consequent domination by the Country Party. Labor won 28 seats to the Nationalists 15 and the Country Party's ten. Hogan was able to form a minority government with the support of the four Country Progressive Party and two Liberal members. But this alliance broke down in 1928 in the face a prolonged and violent industrial dispute on the Melbourne waterfront, and in November he was defeated in a confidence vote and resigned, being succeeded by the Nationalist William McPherson with the support of the Country Party.
In 1929 the Country Party withdrew its support from the McPherson government, resulting in the 1929 election, fought just as the Great Depression was breaking over Australia. Hogan led Labor to its best result yet, winning 30 seats to the Nationalists' 17 and the Country Party's 11. A collection of Country Progressives, Liberals and independents held the balance, and they agreed to support a second Hogan government. Tom Tunnecliffe was Chief Secretary, John Cain was Minister for Railways and William Slater was Attorney-General.
The Great Depression in Australia had a devastating effect on Victoria's economy and society, since the state was heavily dependent on agricultural exports, mainly wheat and wool, for its income, and these industries collapsed almost completely as demand in Britain dried up. By 1931 most Victorian farmers were bankrupt and about 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed. Hogan's government, in common with all other governments, had no solution to this disaster. Even if the Labor government was minded to attempt radical solutions, it was dependent on Country Progressive support in the Assembly, and had only six members in the Legislative Council.