Labor conference: Right divided over national executive makeup

Labor’s Right faction has been divided over who should sit on the party’s all-powerful national executive.

National Union of Workers UW national secretary Tim Kennedy.

Labor’s Right faction has been divided over who should sit on the party’s all-powerful national executive, which has delayed a vote by several days, while the Left stands ready to reach a deal without a ballot if the Right can agree on its ticket.

The Right is split over whether to back former senator Stephen Conroy or Tim Kennedy, the national secretary of the National Union of Workers, for another term on the national executive.

Senior Right figures say Mr Kennedy has not always eagerly backed the Right at national executive meetings and a looming merger between the Right-aligned NUW and Left-aligned United Voice has further raised suspicions about his reliability.

Some in the Right are also pushing for a ballot of national conference delegates, believing they can win 11 of the 20 positions to be elected.

Right faction leaders have been negotiating with independent delegates and believe they could win over a Left delegate or two.

Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese, a leading Left faction chief and leadership aspirant, has stood down from the party’s national executive after a 15-year term.

But his key factional rival, senator Kim Carr, has secured his spot on the Left’s ticket and will win another term.

The Left’s agreed ticket includes the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union’s Michael O’Connor and Michael Ravbar, United Voice’s Dave Gray, the Finance Sector Union’s Wendy Streets, the Health and Community Service Union’s Tim Jacobson and the assistant secretary of the Australian Services Union, Linda White.

Also elevated by the Left to the national executive will be NSW Labor assistant secretary Rose Jackson, replacing Mr Albanese, while Senate candidate and former Australian Manufacturing Workers NSW secretary Tim Ayres and West Australian senator Sue Lines will be re-elected.

Currently, the Left and Right factions are evenly split on the executive, with 10 positions each, and Bill Shorten as leader of the party is an ex officio member with a casting vote if the factions are deadlocked.

The Left is prepared to do a deal with the Right if the executive remains 10-all, negating the need for a ballot, but will not agree to the Right having 11 positions.

There was no vote for the nat­ional executive at the party’s last national conference in 2015 as the factions reached agreement.

Under party rules, there is meant to be a ballot of all 397 voting delegates to conference to determine positions on the national executive.