Disclosure - I am a member of the Liberal Party

One thing that strikes me about this article is the management gobbledegook in which the author speaks. You cannot become more relevant to people by telling them that you will "fold [their] perspectives into an appropriate governance strategy". They are not encouraged by promises to "work publicly and transparently with the groups to meld ... basic tenets into an ALP 'vision'".

The Labor Party's basic difficulties are twofold: failure of leadership, and failure in relevance. Using some sort of Newspeak more suited to bureaucracies is a classic way of alienating people. In fact, it is one of the most effective ways of excluding people. That problem is all the more acute in the face of an opponent (the PM) who is widely seen to speak the same language as the electorate. That goes to a failure to be relevant.

The failure in leadership is by far the greater problem. The ALP's problem is its factionalism but the answer is not to indulge them. By indulging the factions you have, you signal to others that there will be a spot at the table form them as well; in other words, it is a recipe for greater factionalism. All you do by holding workshops to find out what everyone thinks is give everyone a false hope that their agenda will be prioritised.

Undeniably, two great success stories of centre-left party reform of the last 20 years are Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. In each case, they sought leadership and imposed a vision - one which commanded majority support in the community and which the majority of their respective parties could live with.

The leader of a political party has to take his/her party with him/her; not pander to every little interest group inside it.

I'm not a member of any political party, but I agree with Nick Ferrett's response. The ALP, particularly under Beazley, is more interested in 'selling' its policies to the electorate than it is in listening to what the electorate wants in the way of policies.

I agree that the author has defined himself as a devious nitwit by his use of obscuring language, but I think everyone misses the point about the Labor Party. It is about power and Democracy.
As long as obscure committees are allowed to overturn democratic ballots after the result is in and foist unknowns on the Labor Party members in safe seats, members will continue walking away. They know they don't own the party. The history suggests that these committees are not good judges of candidates, and the continual dealmaking ensures that the pool of candidates they select from is even smaller than what is left of the membership.
The rules must be changed so that the party officials cannot continually circumvent democracy. This will encourage members back in, provide a broader range of talent in Parliament, and through fewer available rewards and less dealmaking power, discourage the corrupt manipulators who have such a grip on the party.
I have also been a Liberal Party member, but I believe we need a choice available.

Yes, there ought be a role for factions in the modern ALP. It is inevitable in any party that groups of a similar ideological outlook will join together to further their shared interests and objectives. Nevertheless, Julia Gillard was right some time ago in noting how, in the ALP, factionalism has degenerated into 'fractionalism'. Blocs of votes around particular personalities are forming with the intent of securing parliamentary seats and of undermining those of a similar ideological outlook - even if it means dealing with those to whom they are diametrically opposed. That said, factions need to be inclusive in order to head off the kind of discontent that leads to this situation. In particular, the Left in Victoria needs to reunite with discipline, and on the basis of inclusion, not patronage and exclusion. Furthermore, the Right needs to abandon the politics of 'vendettas' which has arised in the wake of Latham's exit from the Labor leadership. The deals and counter-deals that are going on in today's ALP have little to do with ideology - and that is the crux of the problem. It's about hate, spite, power, patronage. Let the factions return to their proper role of pursuing policy outcomes in the ALP in an inclusive and democratic fashion. Only then will the ALP stop tearing itself apart.

Tristan

Of course the Liberal Party does not have factions, e.g. wet and dry, Big L, small l, etc.

The Labot Party should have only two factions, they should be the employee faction, and the small business faction. Sadly the big business faction seems to have captured both the Liberal and Labor parties completely, leaving the rest of us out in the cold, withing someone would either drag the Labor Party back to the centre, or establish a new "centre" party.

Leigh, like your style mate.....

Gillard has no problems with factions unless hers is beaten, Crean comes from one and runs with another.
Yes leadership is the problem ,and it seems Kim has followers who bank policys untill the eve of elections, he and they should go if they are afraid to put them out for review.
The ALP is much closer to goverment than many think, but some may not be around to see it on todays front bench.
ALP followers should never ever give in, its closer than you think.