STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: Labor veteran John Faulkner has called for the ALP to democratise decision making and embrace community pre-selections.

Senator Faulkner gave the inaugural Light on the Hill Society address in Sydney today, arguing for union power to be reduced within the ALP as a way of increasing grass-roots involvement within the party.

JOHN FAULKNER, LABOR SENATOR: And I say to those who resist the opening up of our structures to more participation and more democracy, because they see their control over managed and pre-negotiated outcomes slipping away: stop clinging to the wheel. You are steering us straight for the rocks.

STEVE CANNANE: This year the Labor Party trialled community pre-selections in New South Wales but Senator Faulkner called for wider reforms and the end of what he described as "a Russian doll of nested factions."

The Labor senator also called for an end to what he described as an "arms race" between the major parties over electoral fundraising.