Labor Senator Stephen Conroy labels Kevin Rudd's new leadership-selection rules a 'farce'

Updated

Senior Labor Senator Stephen Conroy has slammed former prime minister Kevin Rudd's new rules for choosing the ALP's leader, labelling them a "farce".

The new rules stipulate that the leader must be elected jointly by the party membership and by Caucus, with each given equal weighting.

Mr Rudd announced an overhaul of the ALP's leadership-selection process after he returned to the prime ministership in June.

Bill Shorten, a right-wing factional leader, announced on Wednesday that he would run for the leadership, while Anthony Albanese - from Labor's left - has yet to announce whether he will run.

If there is more than one candidate the leadership will go to a vote, but the party-member ballot would take a month to complete.

Opposition split on leadership vote

Meanwhile, the Federal Opposition is split over whether there should be a leadership ballot.

Mr Shorten would likely win a ballot of caucus members owing to his right faction having the numbers.

However, Mr Albanese's left faction has dominated membership ballots for the party presidency and could win overall under the new rules which also give party members a 50 per cent say.

Frontbencher Mark Dreyfus, meantime, is backing Mr Shorten and has told Sky News that he's happy to see a vote.

"I think there's nothing wrong with a bit of democratic process, and if there's a contest, there's a contest, and that's a good thing," he said

Nominations for the Labor leadership open tomorrow and close a week later.

Any ballot would take a further month.

Labor left 'helpless' by Rudd's rules

Mr Rudd's rules were approved by Caucus, but Senator Conroy told Sky News that they make Labor a "laughing stock".

Senator Conroy, a fierce supporter of former prime minister Julia Gillard, said the party's leadership needs to be resolved quickly.

He said the Coalition are "getting away with murder" while Labor's leadership remains in a vacuum.

"We've got no leader, no frontbench, no shadow spokespersons who are able to lead the debate for us, and this will descend into complete and utter farce," he said.

"We have a situation where the US might bomb Syria [and] we have no official party spokesman, we have no leader.

"These new rules were a farce when they were put in place - rules that have left us helpless."

Mr Albanese, who served on Ms Gillard's frontbench and rose to deputy PM under Mr Rudd, is expected to make his leadership ambitions known within days.

If Mr Shorten is elected to the leadership, left-wing Sydney MP and former minister Tanya Plibersek would most likely be deputy leader.

Labor MPs will gather in Canberra tomorrow to discuss the leadership.

No election credit for Rudd

Meanwhile, Senator Conroy credited clever campaigning by local MPs, rather than Mr Rudd, for Labor's better-than-expected election result.

Labor defied polls to hold almost all of its seats in Queensland and western Sydney.

Mr Rudd's return to the leadership saw an improvement in the polls for the ALP, but Senator Conroy put Labor's result down to good campaigning from local MPs and state branches.

"The forecast massive losses in western Sydney, in Victoria, and in Queensland didn't eventuate and that's a tribute to the on-the-ground campaigning of the MPs in their seats - it's a tribute to the state branches," he said.

ABC/wires

Topics: government-and-politics, political-parties, rudd-kevin, alp, australia

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