When I was elected as Labor leader 10 years ago, it was against the concerted opposition of the most powerful union-based factions of the party. And this came 40 years after Whitlam's famous confrontation with the faceless, factional men of the party's federal executive. Yet 50 years after Whitlam's reforms, the power of these factions remains as strong as ever.

For Labor to form government from opposition, its leaders need to rise above the demands of the union-based factions, to broaden the progressive tent beyond the sectional interests of the faceless men and to appeal to the best instincts of the Australian people writ large.

We should be the party of union members, of working families, of small business, of small businesses with an ambition to become big businesses, for those who can't find a job and those who want decent conditions in the jobs they have, of those with disabilities and those with none, of those who have no home and those who aspire to buy their first. We should be the party of our first peoples, of those who come to our country to start a new life and those from across society concerned about the sustainability of the planet that sustains us all. Above all, we should always be the party of the future, with a path forward for all people, not just the few. And doing so fully mindful of fundamental economic disciplines so that social justice is not delivered by fine speeches, but by sustainable fiscal measures.

With declining union membership, and the radically changing nature of work, there is less and less prospect of the party winning without embracing an ever-broadening political constituency. We cannot simply conclude that the party will win the next election by default. Or that victory will be delivered off the back of the flailing efforts and rolling contradictions of the most ineffective conservative Prime Minister we have seen since Billy McMahon. The Liberal Party are not sentimentalists. They will not sail happily into the next election with a leader taking them steadfastly into political oblivion. They will act.