Exclusive : Former treasurer’s pitch will draw on his public campaigning on inequality

The former treasurer and Queensland rightwinger Wayne Swan has confirmed he will face off against the leftwing Labor frontbencher Mark Butler for the ALP presidency.



Swan said on Saturday he had entered the field “because I want to make a contribution to winning the battle of ideas with the radical right that have taken over the Liberal party of Australia”.

The right faction’s candidate was expected to be the union official Tony Sheldon, but Swan has been prevailed upon by colleagues to run because he is likely to attract support from left-leaning rank and file party members.

Mark Butler to run for Labor president again as left pushes reform Read more

Swan, from the backbench, has pushed Labor to adopt a more assertively progressive and redistributive position on economic policy and tax, periodically tweaking the nose of his successor in the treasury portfolio, Chris Bowen.

“Millions of Australians rely on us to be an effective political force, they want us to fight inequality and restrict the power of vested interests, and I want to work with you to make our Labor party bigger, better, and more effective,” Swan said on Saturday.

Play Video 1:03 Wayne Swan confirms he will run for ALP president - video

Butler, who confirmed at the beginning of the month that he would seek the presidency for a second term to push a democratisation agenda before the party’s mid-year national conference – has infuriated the right faction with his front-running.

The opposition spokesman for shadow climate change went on the offensive at the opening of the political year, delivering two significant speeches warning that Labor needed to do more to empower rank and file members and diminish the relative power of factional and union leaders.

He said that despite repeated calls by many for the ALP to democratise and allow party members a vote in processes such as the selection of Senate candidates, “not enough reform has happened since then”.

“Still, too many important decisions are taken by a few factional power brokers, rather than by our many members,” Butler said when confirming his candidacy.

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Historically, within Labor culture, rightwingers resist proposals for democratisation because such moves could boost the internal power of the left in party forums.

Left candidates generally prevail in open party ballots because rank-and-file membership skews left in big inner-city branches.

Butler’s public provocations triggered the push to get Swan to run, and there were reports that officials could also seek a rule change banning Labor frontbenchers from contesting the party’s presidency – an apparent response to Butler’s positioning.

The internal view was Butler would have prevailed easily in a vote where Sheldon was his opponent, but Swan’s decision to step forward makes the party presidency a contest.

Swan’s pitch to party members will draw on his public campaigning on inequality since leaving the Labor front bench. On Saturday he said: “Over the years I’ve stared in the eyes of the plutocrats who run the Liberal party, I know we need a united effort to beat them.”