International pressures and the Australian Labor Party: understanding responses to temporary labour migration

As globalisation and transnationalism have in turn, dismantled strict border arrangements, international agreements have facilitated free movement of workers. Within the international labour market, temporary labour migration programmes have been used and promoted through a range of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Australia significantly transformed its immigration program in the 21st century to a reliance on temporary migration through these labour programmes. Yet literature on political party organisations has not comprehensively documented how major political parties in Australia have approached this phenomenon. This paper focuses on the relationship between domestic policy-making and international pressures for the Australian Labor Party. It investigates how Labor balances the international imperatives for provisions of labour movement in trade agreements with domestic electoral pressures, and how this influences party policy.