Ask the Squiz: How factions work

Ask the Squiz: How factions work…

We're almost a month past the federal election - and the result that ended up being a lot more colourful than the campaign itself. Labor's sweeping victory and the Coalition's comprehensive defeat raised a lot of questions about how PM Anthony Albanese will govern over the coming term and how the Coalition will regroup to be competitive next time around.

We asked you what you wanted to know - and many Squizers said they wanted a better understanding of how the parties organise themselves. So in this edition of Ask the Squiz we're looking at the major parties' factions. We’ll explain:

• what they are

• how they work

• and who's in them... 

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All about factions…

Start me with the basics - what is a faction?
Put simply, a faction is a group within a larger group. And it's not just political parties that have factions - they’re everywhere from colour houses in schools to book groups… 

Hang on, book groups?
Yep… Think about the subsets of people within book groups who prefer different genres like crime, romance, or fantasy, and then try to convince each other to pick their style of book to read each month. That’s a long way of saying we come to whatever it is we do in life with a particular preference or belief - and a faction is an organised way of working with like-minded people to hone in on pursuing your agenda.

Got it. A book club is one thing but professional politics is another... 
OK, let’s dive in… We’ll start with Labor - it’s had a formalised factional system since the 1970s. At its most basic, Labor members align to the left or the right. That requires a bit of explaining…

Go on…
Traditionally, the Labor Left has been more progressive, focusing on social issues and more supportive of publicly-controlled institutions while also intervening in the private sector with regulation. 

And the Right?
The Right has been more economically dry - so more supportive of a free market - also more supportive of the US alliance, and in some cases, more socially conservative.

Can factions in Labor have a bearing on members’ political careers?
Yep… Factions play a crucial role in deciding the leader of the ALP, in allocating frontbench portfolios, in choosing who gets to run for parliament, and in deciding the party’s policy positions. 

How early do factions come into play?
By the time they’ve entered parliament, Labor MPs and Senators will have been in a faction for years as rank-and-file members. Sometimes they will have been invited to join a faction along the way or they might request to join a faction - but the actual process remains opaque…

Are there any tells about who’s in what faction?
The majority of rank-and-file members of Labor are Left-leaning - but when you look at their parliamentarians, there are usually more from the Right faction. Or certainly that has been the case until recent times... It’s something to clock.

What faction does PM Anthony Albanese belong to? 
The PM is from the Left faction - in fact when he was a young man he was in the Hard Left faction… And more of Labor's MPs are coming from the Left - so as we mentioned, they believe in more progressive policies.

What about past Labor leaders? 
To give you your bearings, Labor icons Bob Hawke and Paul Keating led governments from the Right. That brought forward a period of economic reform that was very pro-market…

Just explain that for me
It means they were putting in place the groundwork to allow businesses to thrive and make us internationally competitive. For example, they repealed rules that prohibited foreign-owned banks from operating here, they dismantled the protectionist tariff system, and they privatised several state sector industries. Those were policies the Left faction was comfortable with…

Why is it the factions instead of the party leader who chooses who’s in a Labor ministry? 
After each election, the factions make a claim to cabinet spots - and how many each side is allocated is based primarily on how many members of each faction have been elected.

So, it’s about balance?
Yes… And it isn’t just a case of Left vs Right. It’s about having an even representation of factions within the cabinet.

Who makes those decisions?
One of the most powerful people in the Albanese Government is Trade Minister Don Farrell - he's from the Right faction and he has such a history of powerbroking he’s known around Canberra as ‘the Godfather’… Other movers and shakers for the Right are Deputy PM Richard Marles and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. 

And for the Left?
There are a few... Remember Albanese is from the Left and he's a long-time factional player. Reports say the national powerbrokers on this side are Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres and Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon. And we can’t forget there are also powerful Right and Left-aligned trade unions that have a bearing on decisions made behind the scenes. The Labor movement, as they call it, is way more than the candidates who show up each election... 

And how do factions work in the Liberal Party?
If you look on the Liberal Party's website, and while there's a page called 'Our Structure', there’s no mention of any factions… Former Liberal PM John Howard used to talk about the party as a 'broad church' - he was painting a picture of a party that accommodated progressives and conservatives that was free of formalised factions - that they could be people who could operate together without a division into left or right.

So, it’s against them?
Time for a bit of a history lesson, because essentially, the Liberal Party was created as an ‘anti-Labor’ party. The Australian Labor Party is the oldest political party in Australia, and among the oldest continuous parties in the world from that side of politics. After the Second World War, Robert Menzies spearheaded a new movement to counter Labor and fight against the policies they supported. At the time, he said “Never in my life have I been so alarmed as now at the growing threat to all that is good in our beloved country”.

What was the threat?
In a nutshell, socialism - so, government control of industry, production, distribution - and his take was that it was those sorts of policies Labor supported. History shows us that Australia responded to that proposition... Not instantly - it took them about 4 years to get organised - but Robert Menzies became the longest-serving Prime Minister, from 1949 to 1966.  

And how does that relate to today’s Liberal Party?
Well, the “broad church” of anti-Labor politicians is now a more factional party, divided into moderates and conservatives, plus a centre-right group in the middle.

What puts Liberal members into those factions?
Their state of origin, or even the region they’re from, an allegiance to a powerful individual, faith, ideology, philosophical interests, and their year of election. As you can see, it's way less organised than the Labor party. But while the Libs’ factions tend to be around personalities and issues, you can also get people with similar views in different groups.

Got any examples?
Yep… So, former PM Scott Morrison would be considered a conservative by many. He's a man of faith, he had particular views on immigration, defence and how the economy should be managed. But his faction was centre-right, and that came down to who in NSW he aligned with, and the cohort of MPs elected in the same year as him.

Are there any issues the factions are clearly divided on?
Yep… One of those is climate change. So the moderates favour stronger action to mitigate it, but the conservatives count some sceptics among them. And the centre right takes a pragmatic approach. Again, we can look to ScoMo for an example of that in practice…

What did he do?
He got the party to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 ahead of the 2022 election. His view was they just had to do it because that's where the world was at in those big UN summits, and he worried it would be a contentious election issue if they didn't make the commitment.

What’s the factional make-up of the current crop of Liberal leaders?
New leader Sussan Ley is from the moderate faction. Angus Taylor, whom she beat in the leadership vote, is a conservative. By the numbers, there's a lot of conservatives in the Liberal party room, so she's going to have to wheel out her best colleague diplomacy to keep everyone inside the tent.

Got it… What about the National Party? 
The Nationals don't really have factions... It’s more about personalities with them. Leader David Littleproud, former leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, along with prominent Senators Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan - they're outspoken people and they don't always agree... But generally, as a party, they're positioned as a centre-right party. 

So, how does it all work within the Coalition?
Now that they’ve got the band back together, there are some big personalities and factions for Ley to wrangle, so she’ll have her work cut out.

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