Party's conscience should put on the gloves and get back in the ring

JOHN Faulkner knows how to pack a punch.

If he were a professional boxer he would be an "out-fighter" someone who fights from a distance but rarely fails to land a powerful jab. Over time they tend to wear down their opponent with sheer tenacity.

The former Keating, Rudd and Gillard government minister has launched a blistering attack on the ALP for lacking the courage to pursue key integrity reforms and for allowing systemic factionalism to corrode the party from within.

As a Labor elder, Faulkner oozes credibility and authority in a party where these virtues are in very short supply. When he speaks, people listen.

What drives this stinging attack is Faulkner's unfinished agenda from his term as special minister of state to improve transparency, accountability and integrity in government and as co-author of a largely ignored blueprint for internal reform of the ALP.

The speech is loaded with barbs against those who have failed to carry the baton of reform to the next level. And it's hard to disagree with.

The ALP has ignored most of the recommendations on party reform Faulkner championed. Still, he wants to go further and subject party rules to the courts, streamline dispute processes and dilute the power of "self-interested factional warriors" in the parliamentary party and over candidate selection ballots.

He doesn't hold back against the allegations of corruption in the former NSW Labor government.

Faulkner often pulls his punches and eschews day-to-day political brawling. But when motivated by a cause, he can unleash his legendary indignant rage with deadly effect.

This is one of many speeches recently that affirm Faulkner's role as the conscience of the ALP.

However, it is all well and good for Faulkner to speak truth to power from a lectern. If he really wants to make a difference he needs to get back into the arena.

This is an attack on the party and the government that Julia Gillard leads. Her wisest response would be to invite Faulkner back into the cabinet and set him to work.

There are plenty of ministers who would make way for someone with a passion for reform. If called to serve, Faulkner could not say no. It's not time for the good senator to hang up his boxing gloves just yet.