The Prime Minister chose his interventions shrewdly, speaking at the open and close of proceedings to frame it as supporting a long-term government focused on power not protest, backing AUKUS and rallying the party faithful for the voice referendum campaign.
Albanese is a veteran of these tribal gatherings and used a mix of prime ministerial power and astute factional management – by intervening and not intervening – to shape the party in his own image and to buttress his leadership.
The bitter contest for Labor’s national executive was revealing. The ballot resulted in 10 seats for both the Left and Right factions, allowing Albanese to maintain a casting vote even though he has never exercised it.
He marshalled most of the Left on the most contentious issue (nuclear defence) and relied on the Right. It should be no surprise that the once Hard Left faction firebrand attended dinners hosted by both factions on the same night. This would be unthinkable 20 or 30 year ago.
The conference was, overall, a stage-managed event. There were set-piece speeches, flashy video presentations and almost every motion was watered down from the pre-conference sabre-rattling drafts in the name of unity and consensus beneath the sign “Working for Australia”.
The only outbreak of party disunity was on the trilateral AUKUS defence pact. But it was a restricted and controlled debate. Not everyone who wanted to speak was given the call. Still, the refreshing boos and cheers woke the largely listless 402 delegates.
Labor MP Josh Wilson and ETU national secretary Michael Wright showed commendable courage in voicing their convictions in opposing nuclear powered submarines. They made a sober, rational, thoughtful contribution.
But the debate turned ugly when Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy likened Wilson and Wright, and the vast rank-and-file membership who oppose AUKUS, to those who favoured appeasement in World War II.
Conroy was later condemned by his colleagues in the conference corridors. The attack also went against the respectful negotiations led by Defence Minister Richard Marles with MPs, unions and party activists for months.
The AMWU talked up a big game of opposition to AUKUS before the conference, but folded like a cheap deck chair and claimed a win with concessions it already had on jobs and industry. The ACTU also opposes a nuclear defence industry but it too went weak at the knees in support of labour movement unity. Its swords remained sheathed.
It was the first national conference for Albanese as leader and prime minister, and the first for Labor in government since 2011. It is still early days for the Albanese government and no one wanted to rock the boat too much, especially with a constitutional referendum looming, but life will get tougher for Labor the longer it is in power.
Already there are calls for the government to be much bolder and adventurous in policy with big spending programs, especially from the Left, which argued for a course correction in its conference journal, Challenge. And AUKUS remains deeply unpopular within broader Labor ranks.
And while the factional balance has been maintained in the party’s senior councils, Victoria remains a basket case, with the Left and Right both split. Labor MP Sam Rae, from the Right, danced with the devil and won votes from the Industrial Left in the national executive ballot and earned himself the enmity of comrades.
All of this will require even more careful management, negotiation and compromise by Albanese and his team to ensure that the 50th national conference is as relatively tranquil and successful as the 49th has been.
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