Left’s power grab inside Labor leaves fate of key policies uncertain

Tax cuts, turning back asylum seeker boats and recognising Palestine are among federal government policy positions under threat due to a seismic shift in the power balance of the ALP.

Asylum seeker boat turnbacks, tax cuts and the recognition of Palestine are among a slew of contentious federal government policy positions under threat after a successful power grab by the ALP Left.

The Left is set to seize control of federal Labor’s national conference for the first time in decades following a collapse in the Right faction of the ALP in Queensland and Victoria.

The seismic shift in the power balance of the governing party will put contentious policy positions such as immediate recognition of Palestine and the end of offshore processing and boat turn-backs on the agenda at next year’s national conference.

The ALP Left is also on the record opposing the Government’s stage three tax cuts, which are set to come into ­effect next year.

In the past, Labor leaders have been able to rely on the Right faction’s majority control of national conference to water down leftist proposals but the ascendant Left in two of the bigger states will make it far more difficult for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to impose control, insiders said.

Labor government ministers meet in the Cabinet Room at Parliament House. Picture: Andrew Taylor

Earlier this month Labor’s Right wing faction suffered a landslide collapse in its vote for delegates to Queensland Labor’s state conference, which will choose the delegates to next year’s national conference.

A senior Queensland Labor source said while the Right had been going backwards there in recent years, it had previously managed to hold it together.

“The results are a Queensland disaster that will now ­impact the national Right,” he said.

“The Right has always supported the ALP leader and maintained the balance, now they won’t be strong enough to do that any more.

“It means electorally toxic policies will be pushed through by Left delegates keen to chase the Greens inner city vote – that won’t work in the suburbs or the regions.”

A federal Left minister agreed the change in Queensland was likely to change the balance of power at National Conference.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese during a press conference with QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk Picture: Liam Kidston

“They really have fallen off a cliff,” the minister said.

Party sources across the factional spectrum agree the situation may be even worse for the Right in Victoria.

The branch was suspended in 2020 over branch stacking allegations aired by 60 Minutes.

Labor’s national executive recently passed a resolution that decreed Victoria must hold a state conference by the end of next May.

Party figures across all factions agree that in the subsequent two years the Right has lost numbers across the party branches as well as on-the-ground organisational muscle.

The Right’s union base in Victoria has also declined.  

“The Queensland numbers alone will be enough to tip ­National Conference to the Left even before we can quantify our collapse here,” a senior Right operative in Victoria said.

A Left minister agreed the faction was likely to make gains in Victoria saying “everyone is guessing” about how much would change “but it’s going to be bad for the Right”.

A senior Right minister from another state said it might improve its position in South Australia and Western Australia.

“It doesn’t automatically mean a Left takeover but it makes it more likely,” he said.