Labor powerbroker Paul Howes has launched a savage attack on former prime minister Kevin Rudd, saying he strangled the life out of Labor and turned it into a party of zombies.

Mr Howes made his comments after senior Labor Senator John Faulkner used a speech in Sydney last night to offer a damning assessment of modern Labor, accusing it of being "anaemic", too reliant on focus groups, and at risk of losing a generation of voters.

Senator Faulkner warned the policy debate that was once the backbone of his party risks being "stifled" by "factional fixes, log-rolling and back-room deals".

Mr Rudd quickly tweeted his approval of Senator Faulkner's speech, and called for more internal debate and said the party's factional powerbrokers needed to be "got rid of".

But Mr Howes, the Australian Workers Union national secretary and one of the "faceless men" who led last year's coup against Mr Rudd, said the former prime minister was himself one of the worst offenders.

He said Mr Rudd's biggest mistake as party leader had been to crack down on internal debate and impose his views across the parliamentary party.

He said Mr Rudd's call for "the voice of the party's members [to be] heard loud and clear across the councils of the party" was more of a case of "Do what I say, not as I did".

"It certainly didn't happen under his leadership. The way the party was run from 2007 to 2010 strangled the life out of it. Doug Cameron described it as a party of zombies," Mr Howes said.

"You couldn't have any internal dissent, there couldn't be any disagreement with the leadership, pretending we were all one big happy family.

"In the last national conference there was not a single debate or a single ballot on any particular issue. That was because the then-prime minister, Kevin Rudd, ordered that there be no debate and no vote at the conference."

Mr Howes agreed factional powerbrokers needed to be reined in, despite his role as one of the Right's most powerful figures.

"The time for party powerbrokers running the show, stifling internal debate or selecting candidates is over. It has to change.

"It's not in the interests of the party. It's not in the interests of Australia and I think that's what John was highlighting last night."

And he pledged to heed Senator Faulkner's call to limit the role of the factions in Labor, saying he will try to give up his "old habits".

"I've been a product of the factional machine, many of us have. The challenge for us now is to actually give up our old habits and move forward in a way that ensures that Australia moves forward as well." Mr Howes said.

He says he was one of the few people during the term of Mr Rudd's prime ministership who "challenged the leadership on the status quo".

"I think I was the only significant Labor leader who spoke out on the issue of refugees."

Mr Howes says if anyone in the parliamentary party had spoken out during the Rudd years there would have been consequences.

"The difference between me or a backbench MP or even a branch member is that I have a platform and the protection to be able to do that. There's very little that I can be punished with.

"The problem is we don't have that protection built in for others in the movement."

NSW Right powerbroker and sports minister Mark Arbib denied Senator Faulkner's criticisms were aimed at him, saying they have a "very good friendship".

"There is a lot in his report which makes sense. We've got to make sure we are a party in touch with our grass roots," Mr Arbib said.

He would not be drawn on Mr Rudd's comments that factional powerbrokers are a "cancer", saying everyone in the party is entitled to their opinion.