Labor is continuing to agonise over when to schedule its national conference, with unions launching a concerted push behind the scenes to lock in a date for the event – and sooner rather than later.
The ALP national executive was scheduled to meet on Wednesday to nail down a new date – a development that has become necessary because the so-called super Saturday byelections will be held on 28 July, on the weekend the party had planned to convene in Adelaide.
Party sources have told Guardian Australia the conference hall in Adelaide has advised the party the event can go ahead without financial penalty, but the first available date for a five-day conference would be in January.
Rightwing unions have mounted a push behind the scenes to lock in an earlier date for the conference. Some insiders say key unions are determined to schedule the event before the end of this year in an effort to strengthen the current platform commitments on industrial relations.
Bill Shorten and the shadow workplace relations minister, Brendan O’Connor, have shown every inclination in public to deliver on the lion’s share of a detailed union wishlist for policy change, but key unions want commitments locked in as platform amendments and are concerned their window of opportunity closes if the conference is pushed out beyond this year.
The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, recently warned in an interview with Guardian Australia that the ACTU’s wishlist would not get an “automatic tick”.
Shorten is said to be in favour of proceeding with the conference sooner rather than later, given his right faction is confident it will command the numbers on the floor, and senior figures are exploring whether an earlier date could be secured for a shorter conference.
As a harbinger of number crunching that could play out at the national event, the industrial left in Victoria teamed up with the Labor right to close the state conference at the weekend, shutting down urgency motions on live exports, gender inequality in superannuation, closure of offshore detention centres, the right to strike, the rate of Newstart and recognition of Palestine.
That move infuriated the left. Shorten also relied on CFMEU votes at the 2015 national conference to settle a protracted internal debate about asylum policy.
Party sources say as well as agitation from right unions, the New South Wales branch is concerned about January because of a potential clash with the launch of the campaign for the state election in March.
It is likely the national executive will convene later this week to resolve the impasse.
