Labor leaders Penny Wong, Richard Marles, Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen. The party’s latest national party platform describes Australia as an ‘active middle power’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPView image in fullscreenLabor leaders Penny Wong, Richard Marles, Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen. The party’s latest national party platform describes Australia as an ‘active middle power’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPLabor’s draft party platform more assertive on China and omits mandatory jail term stance Exclusive: the 2026 document is designed to provide ‘scaffolding’ for a long-term Labor government
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Labor’s longstanding opposition to mandatory jail terms has been omitted from the first draft of its new national party platform, after the Albanese government backed minimum sentences on several occasions.
An early working draft of the ALP’s updated platform also includes more assertive language on China and seeks to position Australia as an “active middle power” in an increasingly fraught and contested world.
Guardian Australia has obtained a copy of the “initial draft” 2026 national platform, which will be refined over the coming months before it is debated at Labor’s triennial national conference in Adelaide in July.
The national platform sets out Labor’s beliefs, priorities and aspirations although the parliamentary party is not strictly bound to follow it.
While the 2023 document was viewed as laying the foundations for Anthony Albanese’s second election victory, the 2026 iteration is designed to provide the “scaffolding” for a long-term Labor government.
Previous national platforms have included a section opposing mandatory sentencing, a practice the party has long believed undermined the independence of the judiciary without reducing crime.
The Albanese government has flouted the platform on several occasions to support minimum sentences, including on laws cracking down on antisemitism and the displaying of hate symbols.
1:28Fuel excise to be halved for three months, reducing cost by 26 cents a litre – videoThe breaches of the party’s platform have caused internal unrest and prompted criticism from Labor elder Kim Carr.
The platform is developed by an internal working group called the National Policy Forum (NPF), which is chaired by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and national president, Wayne Swan, and includes a mix of federal MPs, unionists and branch members.
The “initial” draft was based on feedback after its first meeting last year.
The NPF met again in Melbourne on 19 March to discuss amendments to the document, which is expected to be circulated to the wider party membership for consultation next month.
Read moreIt is unclear if a reference to mandatory sentencing has been included in the latest update.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, who is responsible for sentencing laws, declined to comment.
Senior Labor sources would not confirm details about the platform’s development but stressed the first draft had “no status” and was subject to revision.
In another notable omission, the first draft doesn’t mention carbon, capture and storage after the 2023 version suggested the controversial technology might be an option to reduce pollution in hard-to-abate sectors.
The 2026 version is set to include new language on foreign policy that reflects the Albanese government’s response to the shifting geopolitical landscape – including China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.
In two points that weren’t part of the 2023 platform, the first draft said Labor recognised that China’s “size and weight” made it central to global challenges and that it would continue to assert Australia’s interests in the “face of China projecting power in the region”.
The document re-stated that the US remained Australia’s closest security ally and reaffirmed Labor’s support for Aukus.
The $368bn submarine pact is an ongoing point of tension between the Albanese government and sections of the grassroots membership, which is expected to flare again at July’s national conference.
The latest platform does seek to recast Australia as an “active middle power” that works with traditional and new partners to ensure that “no country dominates, and no country is dominated” in the international power struggle.
“Labor’s foreign policy will start from who we are as Australians – because that is what we seek to project and protect,” the opening line to the chapter on foreign policy states, reflecting Albanese’s vision for a progressive form of patriotism.
The platform’s position on Israel and Palestine has long been a point of tension among different parts of the Labor movement.
The draft document has been updated to reflect the Albanese government’s decision last year officially recognise a Palestinian state.
“Labor supports an enduring and just two-state solution where Israel and Palestine live in peace within secure borders, as the only pathway to a secure and prosperous future that respects the aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis alike. We will continue to engage with the international community, Israel and the Palestinian Authority towards a two -state solution,” it stated.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, declined to comment.
