Reform call sees Kevin Rudd out to spoil Julia Gillard's party

WHILE Julia Gillard is keen to talk about overturning the ban on uranium exports to India and supporting a conscience vote on gay marriage ahead of Labor's national conference next month, her predecessor looks set to zero in on another subject.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has agreed to do the Brisbane launch of Troy Bramston's new book, Looking for the Light on the Hill, in Rudd's electorate of Griffith, Queensland, on November 27.

The book - not always complimentary to Rudd - is a call to arms for significant reform within the Labor Party, an issue that Rudd has been vocal about in the past.

What role, if any, should unions continue to play? Do the factional leaders need to have their power diminished, and if so how? Exactly how sick is Labor's backroom culture?

These may well be some of the topics Rudd tosses into the political mix when he launches the book, in time for robust debate before the party's national conference, starting on December 2.

If he does, it would be an unwelcome distraction for a Prime Minister fighting back from record low polling numbers.

While lifting the uranium ban gives a sop to Labor's Right just as supporting a conscience vote on gay marriage offers a sop to the Left, serious organisational reform is a much tougher topic.

That may be why Gillard avoids focusing on that space just as Rudd thinks it needs greater attention.