Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsLobbyistsTrade UnionsHistoryThe Trade Unionists' [sic] Defence Committee (aka Trade Unions' Defence Committee) was formed in 1961 by left wing union members of the Australian Labor Party ostensibly to counter Democratic Labor Party (DLP) leverage in unions following the ALP split in the 1950s. It became a powerful vehicle in internal ALP affairs and by the mid 1960s it was able to control State Conference through its 'official ticket', and its attitudes were adopted and enforced by the State executive of the Party. [See Ross McMullin, `The Light on hte Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991', OUP, 1991, p.297.]
Trade Unionists' Defence Committee. University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 25/04/2026, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/61710
