Just days before the Labor Party gathers in Adelaide for its first national conference since 2023, the Prime Minister has flown into Darwin to officially launch large scale war games hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force, known as Exercise Pitch Black.
It’s an appropriate warm-up setting for Anthony Albanese who has for years subjected his MPs to military-style discipline and he will again be pushing for similar strict uniformity at this week’s meeting of party powerbrokers in the City of Churches.
During past ALP national conferences however, Mr Albanese was one of the leading instigators of dissent over various controversial policy areas including asylum seekers and climate change — now he’s doing his best to keep a lid on any divisions.
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Before the conference formally opens on Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s closest supporters insist their party’s triennial exercise in democracy remains alive and healthy despite growing expectations of no major policy fights on the conference floor.
“Yes, in years past, we’ve had big political stoushes over policies, but many of those have occurred in opposition when it’s important to work out what has gone wrong politically,” one minister close to Albanese tells The Nightly.
“A lot of work has already been done over recent months to settle many of the contentious issues,” the frontbencher insists, while acknowledging that the PM enjoys supreme authority after clinching 94 seats in last year’s election.
Another Cabinet member points out that the two States sending the largest delegations to this year’s national conference, Victoria and New South Wales, are preparing for imminent elections so are not as focused on federal policy fights.
Back in 2009, when Labor was last in power under Kevin Rudd, party insiders say then cabinet minister Anthony Albanese was instrumental behind the scenes agitating for change on policies such as same-sex marriage and Palestine.
“There were no formal divisions at conference that year, although we did have votes on policies, but all major disputations were sorted behind closed doors — and Albo was right amongst it,” one Labor veteran recalls.
“He climbed the greasy pole as an ultra-leftist by being militant — but now that he’s in the office of Prime Minister’s he’s moved significantly to the right and doesn’t tolerate dissent,” they add.
In 2015, Albanese opponents say he did his best to undermine then-leader Bill Shorten but ultimately lost a policy fight over the controversial debate on boat turn backs, only to keep undermining him until the 2019 election.
“Never forget that Albo refused to play by the rules in opposition — shadow ministers put speeches and media releases through the leader’s office to be checked, approved and then distributed,” a party insider recalls.
“He refused to do any of it when Bill Shorten was leader”.
During the party’s 50th national conference this week there will still be debates among delegates, including over gambling advertising, Israel and Palestine as well as a push from unions for tighter worker protection clauses for artificial intelligence.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese publicly launched Exercise Pitch Black 2026 during a visit on the first day of flying operations. Credit: Unknown/Department of Defence
Senior minister Murray Watt, a member of the Prime Minister’s dominant left faction on Monday also argued that Labor’s latest conference would still involve health policy debate.
“I think it’s a healthy thing for us to be having discussions about our tax policy, about our energy policies at our national conference,” he told Sky News.
“We only have these conferences once every three years, and it’s a good opportunity for different views to be aired.”
On Monday Israel’s embassy in Canberra also took aim at Labor ahead of the national conference, warning that a draft of the ALP’s policy platform put too much responsibility for the conflict on the Middle East away from Hamas.
“The root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in our neighbours’ refusal to accept the existence of the state of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, in any borders,” the embassy said.
“The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel, especially Jude and Samaria.”
“If the international community seeks lasting peace, it must focus on holding the Palestinian leadership accountable for terrorism and incitement, which are the real obstacles to peace.”
One of the few voices of dissent during the second term of the Albanese Government has been former minister Ed Husic, who was removed from the frontbench during a brutal factional move last year.
Some of the NSW MP’s colleagues say he can now proudly boast to be the “new Albo”, helping to push the party’s conscience on issues ranging from AI to Palestine and the debate over gas tax.
“The factional system is no longer about ideas — but Ed has proven he’s willing to push debates on important topics for blue collar workers — which is important in the current environment given the rise of One Nation,” a Labor colleague remarks.
“That’s the whole point of national conference — telling the executive about the issues that need real attention before voters are pushed away”.
