All's not quite Right in the new look ALP

He may be new to the job, but if Labor leader Anthony Albanese can find a way to keep both sides of his party happy over the next three years he might just have the making of a PM after all, writes Dennis Atkins.

Labor’s modern day factional operation has its genesis in the early 1980s after the party cemented proportional representation for the election of all internal positions.

Prior to that, the Right and Left factions existed in an arrangement of both coalescence and enmity. After 1983 the system became formal and mostly rigid. New South Wales left-winger and sometime party historian Rodney Cavalier described what happened in ‘83 as a new form of Labor governance — “a troika of Prime Minister, Cabinet, and faction”.

Bob Hawke, a lion of the Right, was prime minister at the time and every leadership contest since has seen a candidate from that dominant faction stand for election.

Until now, in 2019.

On Wednesday, the Right Caucus faction met in Canberra and none among them has had the apparent urgent ambition or courage to put their hand up for party leadership.

This vacuum has been filled by a warrior of the Left from Sydney, Anthony Albanese.

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When the history of the Right is written in decades ahead, 2019 will be a dark date, looming as a time of ignominy.

Anthony Albanese, warrior of the Left, is now the Labor Party’s new leader. Picture: AAP/Darren England

Back in ‘83, Cavalier said that in exchange for allowing the prime minister and Cabinet to run the country, the factions could hold sway over an extraordinary array of patronage. “The factions took it upon themselves to manage many of the issues of potential conflict and assumed the monopoly right to provide and to select every position from Cabinet to a trip to Western Samoa”.

This all-powerful rule by factional might and right has existed ever since, regardless of the nonsense often spoken by Labor politicians that these groups had nothing to do with this or that. The only time it was challenged seriously was when Kevin Rudd was PM.

He thumbed his nose at the factions, they hated it and when they got a chance, they cut him down.

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Of course, the way factions operate has changed over the decades.

After the Hawke government was elected in March 1983, three factional bosses, Graham Richardson from the NSW Right, the Victorian Right’s Robert Ray and Gerry Hand representing the national Left sat down and carved up all 27 ministerial positions.

It had never happened before in the ALP’s history and such a closely knit supremacy only lasted while this trio was in their essentially self-appointed positions.

Senator Don Farrell — seen here talking with Senator Mathias Cormann — was expected to be the next Senate deputy leader for the Labor Party, but stood aside for Kristina Keneally. Picture: supplied

Fast forward to now and we have a Right faction that can’t even find someone to challenge the Left to lead. Instead, they have Victorian Richard Marles, a former ACTU official from Geelong who is a self-proclaimed national security hawk, as deputy.

South Australian “godfather” Don Farrell wanted to remain as Senate deputy leader but he was pushed aside through a back room deal between the NSW Right and Left, greasing the wheels to allow the ambitious former Premier Kristina Keneally to leapfrog her way into the deputy’s spot.

One unkind right-winger, who can’t hide bitterness about how things have turned out, said Marles “wouldn’t light up a room if he walked in with a can of petrol and some matches”.

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Farrell likes getting his way but was outsmarted by the Sussex Street crew. As far as Farrell’s demise is concerned, not one tear would have been shed if he didn’t.

This last minute switch might see Ed Husic remain on the front bench after he volunteered to stand aside for Keneally.

Former ACTU official Richard Marles is set to take on the role of deputy opposition leader. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian

While the allocation of ministry spots under Albanese’s leadership is some time off — and it will happen with a keen eye to the factions — people are already talking about what happens to vanquished leader Bill Shorten. One group says he should be shunted to the backbench in the hope he will leave parliament. Shorten wants to hang around and would like to be health spokesman.

Those who do think Shorten can play a role suggest he’d be better placed taking on the national disability insurance scheme and go up against Queenslander Stuart Robert.

These are small fry issues compared with what has to be a root and branch examination of what went wrong in the lead up to and during the election campaign for Labor. That was undertaken by senior party figures, former premiers Bob Carr and Steve Bracks and Senate veteran John Faulkner, but key findings were hidden and remain confidential.

Any new review should be undertaken by professionals — such as the NSW and Queensland state secretaries Kaila Murnain and Julie-Ann Campbell.

This side of things should happen with some urgency while Albanese should ease back on the TV event-a-day approach he’s rolled out so far.

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Update: this article has been revised to reflect Don Farrell’s announcement that he would not run for the position of Senate deputy leader.