About the ALP

Victorian Head Office

Membership Benefits

Decision Making

Labor and the Unions

WWW Links to Other ALP and Union Sites

Progressive Business

Victorian Branch Rules


Victorian Head Office

How to contact the Victorian ALP

The Victorian Branch Head Office is located at:

360 King Street
WEST MELBOURNE VIC 3003

Postal Address:
Locked Bag 3240
Melbourne VIC 3001

Telephone (03) 9933 8500
Fax (03) 9933 8560
Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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Office Holders of the Victorian Branch

State President: Bill Shorten
Senior Vice-President: Andrew McKenzie
Junior Vice-President: Jaala Pulford
State Secretary: Stephen Newnham
Assistant State Secretary: Kosmos Samaras
State Organiser: Nathan Murphy

Membership Benefits

Free legal advice

Victorian ALP members are entitled to free legal advice with one of four leading legal firms as follows:

  • Free phone advice on any legal matter during office hours
  • Free first interview up to thirty minutes on any legal matter
  • Free standard will for member and spouse

For further information or contact details for the firms, please contact State Office.

Information for Members

All members receive the Labor Herald quarterly in addition to regular information from State Office. Information on policies and Victorian Branch activities is readily available to members either through our website www.vic.alp.org.au or by contacting State Office.

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Join the ALP

The Victorian ALP has about 13,000 members with branches throughout Melbourne and country Victoria.

As a branch member, after a qualifying period, you will have a vote in selecting candidates to represent the ALP in local, state and federal elections and you can participate in local branch meetings. All members can contribute to policy discussions, and assist the Labor Party in winning elections.

If you live in Victoria, and are interested in joining the ALP, complete the on-line application form. Click here.

Decision Making Structures

State Conference

State Conference is the supreme policy-making and governing body of the ALP.

It is composed 50% of delegates elected by branch members, and 50% of nominees of affiliated unions. State Conference meets twice a year in Spring and Autumn.

In addition to State Conference, there are also annual Conferences of country members, and members under 26 years of age, being Victorian Young Labor.

ALP Committees

  • Administrative Committee
  • Rules Revision Committee
  • Public Office Selection Committee
  • 14 Policy Committees
  • Agenda Committee

Members of these committees are elected by the State Conference.

These Committees can be contacted through State Office.

Branches

When you join the Labor Party, you have the option to join a branch in the area you live in.

As a member of a local branch you will have the opportunity to meet people and get involved in political campaigns. Guest speakers are often invited to branch meetings who have interesting insights on topical state and federal issues.

Branches provide the opportunity for Members of Parliament, Councillors and candidates to meet with members of the party and get important feedback, as well as campaign volunteers.

As a branch member you will also become eligible to vote and stand in internal party elections.

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Labor and the Unions

  • Organisational Affiliations
  • Unions and Divisions Affiliated to the Victorian Branch

Organisational affiliations

Many - though not all - Australian unions are formally affiliated to the ALP.

Affiliation is a recognition that trade unions will not achieve all their industrial objectives in the industrial arena alone - that some conditions of employment are controllable by political action. Association with a political party gives the union an additional avenue in which to pursue its aims for its members.

Affiliation to the ALP is at the state level - state branches of the unions are affiliated to state branches of the ALP. Affiliated unions give financial support to the ALP, and have voting rights at State Conference, where they nominate 50% of delegates.

The union movement is also involved in politics through its peak bodies - the ACTU and the VTHC.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the supreme governing body of the trade union movement in Australia representing about 2.5 million workers from over 160 unions. Unions affiliated to the ACTU represent workers in all types of employment - from truck drivers, butchers and teachers to metal workers, pharmacists and bank clerks.

The ACTU is not affiliated with the ALP. It therefore does not contribute to policy formation nor to funding the ALP.

The Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) is one of six branches of the ACTU and represents the Victorian Trade Union Movement. Like the ACTU, the VTHC is not affiliated to the ALP, although most of its member unions are.

Unions and Divisions Affiliated to the Victorian Branch

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

  • Metals Division
  • Printing Division
  • Vehicle Division

Australian Services Union

  • Victorian Authorities and Services Branch
  • Victorian Private Sector Branch

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union

Australian Workers Union

  • Victorian Branch
  • Technical Administrative Professional Staff Branch

Blind Workers Union

Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia

  • Communications Division Postal and Telecommunications Group
  • Communications Division Technical and Services Group
  • Electrical Trades Division
  • Plumbing Division

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union

  • Construction & General Division
  • Forestry & Furnishing Products Division
  • Forestry & Furnishing Products Division No. 7 Branch (Pulp & Paper)

Health Services Union of Australia

  • Victoria No. 1 Branch
  • Victoria No. 2 Branch (Health and Community Services Union)
  • Victoria No. 3 Branch (Australian Health Professionals Association)
  • Victoria No. 5 Branch (Health and Community Services Staff Association)

Institute of Marine & Power Engineers

Liquor, Hospitality & Miscellaneous Workers Union

Maritime Union of Australia

National Union of Workers - Victorian Branch

Rail, Tram & Bus Union

Shop Distributive & Allied Employees' Association

Textile, Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia

Transport Workers Union

United Firefighters Union

Website/Email addresses for Unions and Divisions Affiliated to the Victorian Branch

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WWW Links to Other ALP and Union Sites

Note: All sites open in a new window.

ALP Sites

Peak Union Groups, Directory Sites

Affiliate Unions to the Victorian branch of the Party

International Links

The following are links to the Socialist International, which the Australian Labor Party is a member of, and to other full member parties where the English is an official language.

The Labor Herald

The Labor Herald Website

Australian Labor Party Victorian Branch Rules - September 2005

The ALP Victorian Branch rules are available for download as an Adobe Acrobat (pdf format 798 Kb) - Large file warning.

Please note: If you have Acrobat Reader installed and wish to save the file to disk, right click and select Save target/link as. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed it is available here. (New window)

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