Labor elder statesman John Faulkner is pushing for all Labor senators and New South Wales upper house members to be preselected by the party’s rank and file instead of its annual conference, to stamp out corruption and reduce the influence of factional powerbrokers.



But Labor’s NSW general secretary, Jamie Clements, has already publicly opposed the plan, on the grounds it would “silence the voices of affiliated trade union members.”

In a letter to Labor party members in NSW last Thursday, Faulkner said the ALP must take responsibility for the fact that its own culture made possible the kind of corruption being exposed by the Independent Commission against Corruption (Icac).

“The party’s culture made possible their behaviour and a confidence such behaviour would not be held to account,” he wrote.

“Our present system rewards intrigue, trading favours and doing deals. Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald or their ilk would not be able to win preselection in a genuinely democratic process where all party members cast a vote. Their success depended on nothing but factional anointment, they required no support beyond the leadership of a faction,” he said.

He wrote that the party’s rules should also be changed “to clarify and strengthen the party’s ability to discipline and expel those found in breach of our standards”.

But he said that without “changing the way power is distributed in our party; such commitments will not change anything”.

“Changing the rules to include statements about integrity and ethical behaviour while leaving power within the NSW branch concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of factional leaders would be nothing but window dressing – hanging new curtains while behind the curtains the house is burning.”

But Clements immediately wrote to party members saying the plan should be rejected on the grounds it would diminish the power of the unions in the annual conference decision-making.

“Some commentators and party members … are calling for senators and members of the NSW upper house, now elected by our annual conference, to be directly elected by party members. While I welcome reform debates, I disagree with these proposals. Labor’s conferences matter precisely because their decisions are binding and they elect people. Changing that would silence the voices of affiliated trade union members and severely diminish the role of our annual conference,” he wrote.

Faulkner’s push comes as Labor’s leader, Bill Shorten, is suggesting an end to the rule requiring party members in some branches to join a union, in a bid to reduce union influence over the party.

Labor’s preselection methods were again questioned after the ticket in the Western Australia Senate rerun, led by the controversial rightwing union leader Joe Bullock, garnered a record low vote for the ALP.

It is understood reform plans such as the one proposed by Faulkner could be put to a number of state ALP conferences before next year’s federal conference.

During his brief return to the prime ministership, Kevin Rudd also announced reforms to try to stamp out corruption in the NSW branch.

He ordered the national executive to take over the branch for 30 days, saying he had been “appalled” by the allegations aired at Icac. The executive imposed a ban on property developers ever standing as political candidates and ensured that 50% of the NSW administrative committee was made up of rank-and-file members.

The "zero tolerance of corruption" reforms include establishing independent judicial oversight of the NSW branch of the Labor party and dissolving the existing “disputes and credentials committee, which has been too controlled by factions".

The proposed Faulkner reforms would take those measures further.