Socialist Party of Australia

The Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) is a political party in Australia. The party has been in government with the left coalition at the federal level since the December 2018 election. Drunk_King_Robert has been the party's federal parliamentary leader since founding leader Youmaton's departure from the party in October 2018 to form the Social Democratic Party. The party is a federal party with branches in each state and territory. The party was founded as the Australian Labour Party, changing names to the Socialist Party of Australia in January 2019.

Factions
Under the leadership of Youmaton, the Socialist Party had three factions since its formation in June and is used as a way to gauge the proportional makeup of the party regarding parliamentary seats. The three main factions were the Socialist Left, Social Democrats, and Labour Unity. In reality, the Socialist Left faction at the time overwhelming dominated the membership of the party. Following the faction split and the merger of the Socialist Party into the Party, factions functionally ceased to exist as the party became almost unanimously led by the Socialist Left faction.

Trade union affiliation is allowed and some affiliated with a particular faction, currently the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) was the only faction affiliated with the party and supported proposals made by the Socialist Left.

Preselections in the party were usually established through the proportionality clause of the Party Constitution and the party attempted to ensure that the factional makeup of the party is reflected in the parliamentary and national executive makeup.

October 2018 faction spilt
In early October 2018, members of the Unity faction of the party voted to spilt off from the party and form their own party: Australian Unity Party. As a result, several members of the Socialist Left and Social Democratic factions also spilt from the party. The leader Youmaton and her Social Democrats faction spilt off to form the Social Democratic Party, and a section of the Socialist Left spilt to form the Socialist Party. Socialist Left leader ChairmanMeeseeks took the office of Leader.

In November/December 2018, former members of the Socialist Left faction including Drunk_King_Robert returned to the party. After ChairmanMeeseeks left the party, Drunk_King_Robert became a Senator. The party won the seat of Fairfax in the December 2018 election, with Drunk_King_Robert becoming a Senator after Youmaton’s successful move to the Senate.

Renaming
Following the December 2018 election, the Labour Party entered into a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Radical Party. On 1 January 2019, the Labour Party renamed to the Socialist Party of Australia.

Federal parliamentary leaders
The federal Leaders of the Socialist Party of Australia have been as follows (acting leaders indicated in italics):