Branch stacking has been a problem for a long time in Australia, and changing it will take a genuine will to make party processes more open and accountable.
Tony Abbott’s ‘Warringah motion’ for party reform was passed by 748 votes to 476.
Daniel Munoz/AAP
For his own good, Malcolm Turnbull can’t get out of the country quickly enough. He’s off on Wednesday to the G20 in Germany and, if he has any sense, while he’s abroad he’ll try to avoid being drawn on…
Tony Abbott has called for reform to the way the NSW branch of the Liberal Party preselects election candidates.
AAP/Lukas Coch
As the changing nature of political participation presents increasing challenges for parties, we are likely to see more experimentation with new forms of participation, not less.
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley moved a motion for Labor to review its ‘socialist objective’, which dates back to 1921.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Given that retaining the socialist objective hasn’t prevented the ALP from developing pro-market policies, why is it still seen as such a significant issue?
The ALP’s national conference, held in Melbourne over the weekend, was Bill Shorten’s first as Labor leader.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The Conversation’s experts respond to the ALP national conference on matters of asylum seekers, health, education, party reform and more.
Not all of the bold initiatives for internal party reform that Bill Shorten laid down in 2014 appear on the ALP’s national conference draft agenda.
AAP/Julian Smith
As a decision-making forum, the Labor Party’s national conference is not naturally suited to deep, system-wide organisational reform.
The problem confronting Labor and federal leader Bill Shorten is not so much the ties with unions as the centralisation of power in the party and a handful of affiliated unions.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Proposed reforms in the Australian Labor Party aim to give members a greater voice in party governance and policy development. This is driven by the need to reverse the party’s shrinking support base after…
Gough Whitlam took principled revisionism to the very top of Labor politics.
AAP/Sergio Dionisio
There was nothing inevitable about Gough Whitlam’s rise to the top. He had to fight every inch of the way. The fight was not only against born-to-rule Liberals who thought he had betrayed his class but…
Bill Shorten’s reference to party reform was once-over-lightly when he addressed the NSW ALP conference on Sunday. Shorten said Labor had to “rebuild as a party of members, not factions”. Members had to…
It seems things are not yet bad enough in the Labor Party to make significant reform, such as John Faulkner’s proposed changes to preselection, likely.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Labor senator John Faulkner does not anticipate that his moves to reform the party’s preselection processes will succeed at this weekend’s NSW State Conference. Faulkner is hoping to have the rules changed…
Senator John Faulkner is a voice for Labor Party reform.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Labor Party guru senator John Faulkner has called on the NSW ALP to “front up and apologise” for the corruption that has tainted state politics – and to embrace reforms to prevent it ever happening again…
Bill Shorten’s objective of an ‘inclusive’ Labor Party is hard to argue against in theory, but achieving it in practice is likely to prove fraught.
AAP/Julian Smith
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has outlined his vision for a rejuvenated Labor Party. His speech earlier this week was a call to arms for the reform of federal Labor’s organisational rules. While Shorten’s…
Labor senator John Faulkner is one leading voice to call for reform of the party in response to recent poor electoral performances.
AAP/Alan Porritt
In the wake of the ALP’s poor result in the recent Western Australia Senate election, The Conversation is publishing a series of articles looking at the party’s brand, organisation and future prospects…
What do we know so far of the policy positions of new opposition leader Bill Shorten?
AAP/Lukas Coch
In his pitch to Labor’s rank and file for the right to lead the federal parliamentary party, Bill Shorten declared that his aim - should he become prime minister - would be to serve on behalf of: … the…
Bill Shorten is the new ALP leader, after an election contest where the votes of the rank and file party members were included for the first time.
AAP/Lukas Coch
So the election between two middle-aged, middle class, white men with broadly shared policy agendas is over. In this case, it is not the federal election between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, but the month-long…
New Zealand’s new Labour leader David Cunliffe has been elected in a process involving direct voting by the party membership.
NZN/Laura McQuillan
While Australia’s Labor Party is digesting a significant electoral defeat, the New Zealand Labour Party, in opposition since 2008, has gone through another leadership change and is positioning itself to…
Reform of the ALP has been raised by several key figures such as former leader Mark Latham, and implemented in some form by current prime minister Kevin Rudd.
AAP/Alan Porritt
In his recent Quarterly Essay, Mark Latham compared Labor parliamentary representation to the rotten boroughs of the 18th century. Though union membership has fallen away, suggested Latham, union officials…