At various times in its history, the Australian Labor Party’s strict insistence that its parliamentarians vote along party lines or face expulsion has caused angst within the party. On the one hand, the practice means that talented party members might be lost to the ALP; on the other, party solidarity is the key to passing legislation and to maintaining cohesion. One of the early architects of Labor’s strict party discipline was J.C. Watson, who was a major figure within the labour movement between 1890 and 1916.

Born in Chile and raised in New Zealand, John Christian Watson (1867-1941) migrated to New South Wales in 1886. Initially working as a compositor on a number of Sydney newspapers, Watson became increasingly committed to the union movement and later the Labor Party, for which he served as a Member of Parliament in New South Wales (1894-1901) and the Commonwealth (1901-10). Notably, he was the first federal leader of the ALP (1901-7) and, for nearly four months in 1904, the first Labor prime minister.