So-called "factional Daleks" are meant to be good at extermination. At seeing off threats to the dominant power group.

So when they fire themselves as Stephen Conroy just has, it is a major event. Certainly that is true for the frequently dysfunctional Victorian ALP and in its wider implications for Bill Shorten's leadership.

The term "factional Dalek" was an intentionally unflattering comparison to the charmless mechanoid villains in Dr Who. Its utterer, Robert Ray, was no shrinking violet himself when it came to bruising factional warfare, but he nonetheless lamented a new brand of warriors who specialised in friendly fire.

"A whole production line of soulless apparatchiks has emerged: highly proficient and professional, but with no Labor soul; control freaks with tunnel vision; ruthless leakers in their self-interest; individuals who would rather the party lose an election than that they lose their place in the pecking order," Ray said in 2006.