Outspoken Labor backbencher Joel Fitzgibbon believes Kevin Rudd was wrong to allow rank and file members a vote on the party's leadership.
The former Labor prime minister changed the rules to stop the revolving door of leaders at the time of the party's last term of government.
"I think it was a mistake," the Hunter MP told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program. "Arguably you can't have too much democracy, we have to be a democratic party, we have to give the members a say, but ... when thinking about leadership you don't want a populist."
Mr Fitzgibbon is still considering whether to stand again at the next election. "Hunter is under pressure, the Prime Minister is going after it and I might be the only one that is capable of hanging on," he said.
He also had a crack at the what Labor's parliamentary caucus has become, saying members feel unable to express their views. "If you are a backbencher, that's your only forum and people must be able to express a view ... to shout loudly about the views, interests and aspirations and challenges of their local electorates," he said.
Last week, Mr Fitzgibbon told the Newcastle Heraldwhile he felt Labor's policies on jobs and job security for the resources sectors were generally sound, it had failed to reach voters with its message during the Upper Hunter by-election. "I want to represent my electorate where up to 100,000 people rely on the coal mining industry for their livelihoods and at the same time try to persuade my party - which says it supports the coal mining industry - to be louder and clearer about that and demonstrate it in some way."
