[3] Following the 2024 Tasmanian State Election, the party is led by Franklin MP Dean Winter, and since 2014, has formed the official opposition in Tasmania.

Denis Murphy attributes the poor state of the unions to a number of factors, including a more conservative workforce, divisions between various groups of workers, the smaller nature of Tasmanian industry, heavy penalties directed against a prominent early union leader, Hugh Kirk, and a lack of job security for the miners on the north-west coast.

[7][8] George Mason Burns, secretary of the Queenstown branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association, convened a small conference in September 1901, chaired by future Premier John Earle, which drew up a moderate Labor platform, and a Political Labor League formed on the north-west coast.

Labor suffered a blow when O'Keefe was defeated in the Senate at the 1906 federal election, and lost further votes at the 1909 state election—at which, however, they increased their MPs to twelve out of thirty due to the introduction of the Hare-Clark electoral system.

Jensen, Long and James Ogden were appointed to Earle's ministry, but the new government, lacking a majority, was ousted after only seven days.

Lyons' premiership saw him abandon radicalism in favour of pragmatism, and was able to secure a reasonable level of finance from the federal government.

[3] Former state Attorney-General Albert Ogilvie succeeded Lyons as Labor leader in the circumstances of Tasmania being badly affected by the Great Depression.

Ogilvie initially struggled to make an impact, flirting with Lang Labor, briefly disaffiliating from the federal party and suffering a defeat in the 1931 election.

[3] Ogilvie was briefly succeeded by Edmund Dwyer-Gray, who served a six-month stint as Premier before handing over to Robert Cosgrove, a grocer who dominated the state's politics for 19 years, save for a brief interruption when he was put on trial on corruption charges, when he was replaced by Edward Brooker.

[3] Reece's replacement, Bill Neilson, had to deal with the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis leading to the fall of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, as well as the struggle between the state and federal parties regarding the expulsion of right-winger Brian Harradine.

[3] Going into the 1982 Tasmanian state election in May 1982, the Labor Party had lost its majority and faced bitter internal divisions, with former leader and Premier Lowe sitting on the crossbench as an independent and heavily critical of his successor Harry Holgate.

Ken Wriedt, former federal Minister for Foreign Affairs during the Whitlam government, announced his candidacy for state parliament and was immediately talked about as a potential Premier in the event of a close election if Holgate was unable to secure a majority due to his hostile relationship with the crossbench.

[20][21] The Labor Party was again defeated at the 1986 Tasmanian state election, performing poorly and failing to regain any seats it had lost in 1982.

He continued as Premier after the election in a minority government with the support of the Tasmanian Greens, but resigned in May 2011 and was succeeded by his deputy, Lara Giddings.

[30] After consistently trailing the Liberal government of Will Hodgman in the polls, Green abruptly resigned from the leadership and from parliament in March 2017.

Michelle's brother David O'Byrne defeated Shane Broad in a ballot to succeed White, but resigned as leader after less than a month following allegations of historical sexual harassment.