Electing the party leader

On 8 July 2013, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced proposed changes to the way in which the Australian Labor Party elects its leader. The changes included votes by the party membership and votes by the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party (FPLP), weighted at 50% each, and processes for when and how a leader can be challenged and the amount of Caucus support needed to mount a challenge to the leader. The special meeting of Caucus on 22 July 2013 endorsed the proposals but agreed that a petition challenging the leader should require 60% Caucus support rather than the 75% proposed by Rudd. It was also agreed that, in the period between the federal election and the ALP election of its leader, the deputy leader or the highest ranked House of Representatives member would act as leader.

Melbourne by-election results for the Greens

Collins Street, Melbourne CBD
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

A by-election was conducted for the Victorian state electorate of Melbourne on Saturday 21 July 2012. Vote-counting and rechecking has now been completed, with the ALP emerging as the winning party with 51.51 per cent of votes after distribution of preferences. 

Casual vacancies in the Senate

On 27 February Labor Senator Mark Arbib announced his intention to resign from the Ministry and the Senate. His resignation from the Ministry took effect from 2 March, and he resigned from the Senate on 5 March.

This FlagPost lists recent casual vacancies and describes the steps for filling them.

ALP Leadership

On 23 February 2012 Prime Minister Gillard announced that there would be a special meeting of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party on Monday 27 February at 10am, to conduct a ballot to decide the leadership of the Party.

The following table provides details of Federal Parliamentary Labor Party leadership changes and challenges since 1982:

The Australian Greens 2008-2011

Image source: The Greens

The Parliamentary Library has recently published a research paper which examines the electoral fortunes and parliamentary activities of the Australian Greens from 2008 to the end of the first year of the 43rd Commonwealth Parliament in 2011. The paper updates and expands on an earlier paper, The rise of the Australian Greens, published by the Library in 2008. It presents a brief introduction to the structure, ideological underpinnings and policies of the Australian Greens, and includes a brief history of the development of Green politics internationally and in Australia.