Carmen Lawrence Elected ALP National President

In the first-ever direct vote by party members, Dr. Carmen Lawrence has been elected National President of the Australian Labor Party.

In a ballot of almost 20,000 members, less than half of the party's membership, Lawrence polled 6,517 votes, ahead of the former president, Barry Jones, on 5,329. Warren Mundine came in third with 2,343 votes.

Under new party rules passed at the 2002 National Conference, Lawrence will serve as President from January next year and the position will then rotate to Jones in 2005 and Mundine in 2006.

Lawrence garnered the votes of the Left as well as ordinary branch members who responded to her call for the party to adopt a more definitive and moral approach to policy development. Jones, a long-time party favourite, drew on similar sentiments. Mundine was the candidate of the NSW Right.

Lawrence, the Federal member for Fremantle, is a former Premier of Western Australia and minister in the Keating government. Jones is the former Federal member for Lalor and a former member of the Victorian Parliament.

Lawrence becomes the first female president of the ALP and the first to be chosen directly by the members. She resigned from the Shadow Ministry last year, saying she was "not able to continue to support and defend policies which, in my view are devised with one eye on the polls, and another on media impact". Her comments on ALP policies and strategy will be closely examined by the government and the media in the coming months as the 2004 election looms.

---

This is the text of a media release from Tim Gartrell, National Secretary of the ALP.

ALP presidential ballot

The result of the national ballot to elect the ALP president was declared today.

Almost 20,000 party members took part in the Party's first direct rank and file presidential election.

Carmen Lawrence, Barry Jones and Warren Mundine have been elected to the national presidency and vice presidency for year-long terms to be served on a rotational basis.

Of the eleven candidates, Carmen Lawrence polled the highest number of votes and will become the first woman to represent the organisational wing of the Labor Party.

The vote for all candidates was as follows:

Carmen Lawrence 6,517
Barry Jones 5,329
Warren Mundine 2,343
Mary Easson 957
Susan Ryan 945
Duncan Kerr 733
Michael Samaras 563
Grace Grace 555
Sarah Burke 456
Monica Gould 339
Shelley Archer 130

Carmen Lawrence will take up the presidency at the Party's national conference in January next year for a 12 month term. Barry Jones will become Senior Vice President and Warren Mundine, Junior Vice President. They will, in turn, subsequently serve a term each as President.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------