British spellings of words are generally considered more 'correct' in Australian English, but American spellings are treated as an acceptable alternative. I'm a school teacher and we are supposed to use British spellings ourselves, and teach British spellings as standard, but to accept American spelling as valid (ie, a student would not be marked incorrect for using them, or lose marks because of it). Newspapers also tend to use American spellings as well, nowadays, although more academic works still tend towards British spelling.
The Labor Party is a special case, however. They adopted the American spelling as part of their name in 1912 when British spellings were still standard in Australia. They did this because of the influence of a man named King O'Malley who was a prominent member of their party and Parliament, as well as a Cabinet Member. O'Malley claimed to be Canadian at the time which made him a British subject and eligible to be a Member of the Australian Parliament, although he is now believed to have been American born, and he believed in 'spelling reform' to make English spelling simpler. He persuaded his party that 'Labor' was a more modern way to spell their name, and so they adopted it as official.
How civilised. :-)
Thanks for the history lesion.
I was wondering today, is Australia in as dire straits as the USA these days? I am looking for a country who would like a few million Americans who will work hard to make themselves and their new country a success. I was just in Britain and was troubled by the Muslim influence that seems to be gaining strength. What do you think? Just askin’.