State ALP likely to let members elect leader

THE NSW Labor Party has moved closer to allowing its members to elect the party leader.

THE NSW Labor Party has moved closer to allowing its members to elect the party leader, after Labor's Left faction resolved to push for the change at the party's NSW conference next month.

Removing the power of MPs to select the leader has support in the Right faction, making it likely NSW Labor will adopt this radical reform, at least in principle, if agreement is reached on a transition timetable and an election model.

After strong debate behind closed doors at a pre-conference meeting on Saturday, the Left resolved to support the principle that the NSW parliamentary leader be chosen by a broader franchise, before a model was agreed upon.

At the weekend, NSW Labor leader John Robertson called for debate on the idea of members electing the leader, but his Right faction has lost the edge on this major reform, as the Left have already adopted it in-principle.

NSW Labor assistant secretary and Left leader John Graham told The Australian that if the conference adopted the reform: "We would attract new members to Labor and allow our leaders the stability to focus on the public, rather than the backroom."

NSW Labor secretary Sam Dastyari supports the idea, but his Right faction has not formally resolved to support the change.

Senior Right faction MP and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen wrote in The Australian recently that MPs should have half the votes in leadership contests and the party's members exercise the remaining half. He said "radical organisational reform" was necessary to "ensure the party survives". Labor strategist Bruce Hawker also strongly advocates this reform.

The British Labour Party allows MPs, members, unions and affiliated societies to vote in leadership elections. The Democrats in the US use an open primary selection process where party members and non-members vote to decide presidential candidates. The Canadian New Democratic Party and other centre-left parties across Europe also use member-based leadership election models.

Left operatives argue that unless Mr Dastyari, and the Right faction he leads, commits to support the direct election of the party leader at the conference next month, then his commitment to reform will ring hollow.

The Left has not agreed upon a model, but is likely to favour a British-style electoral college that weights the votes of members, unionists and MPs.

NSW Labor premier Jack Lang was the last leader elected by the membership, at the party's annual conferences from 1927. But after years of division and claims of a dictatorial leadership style, the party ended his leadership at the 1939 conference when it voted to restore the right of MPs to select the leader. Subsequently, caucus chose Bill McKell to replace Lang.

Senior Left and Right sources say it will add pressure over time to force a change in other states and nationally. Julia Gillard said party reform was "dealt with" by the December national conference and would not be revisited under her leadership.