Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's proposals for reforming the Labor Party will do nothing to prevent another Eddie Obeid or Ian Macdonald emerging in NSW, senior ALP members have warned.
Anthony D'Adam, a member of the state's ALP administrative committee, said Mr Shorten's reform package was timid when applied to NSW.
''Bill Shorten is not talking about significant reforms at the NSW level,'' Mr D'Adam said.
''It doesn't tackle the fundamental problem, which is the control exercised by union secretaries through the block vote at ALP state conferences.
''It does nothing to prevent a future Eddie Obeid being preselected or an Ian MacDonald, because a handful of union secretaries still control 50 per cent of the vote for delegates to state conference.''
Mr Shorten's proposal suggests increasing the proportion of rank and file involvement in preselections by 20 per cent, which would increase it to 70 per cent in Victoria. In NSW, the proportion is already at 100 per cent.
Mr Shorten left it open to the NSW ALP general secretary Jamie Clements to suggest NSW reforms.
Mr Clements has made it clear he is opposed to greater rank and file involvement in the election of members of the NSW upper house, federal senators or the ALP executive. He said the ALP state conference should continue to have carriage of those decisions.
''It is the supreme decision making body of the Labor Party … and it needs to elect public office bearers and the administration of the Labor Party,'' he said.
Mr Clements said the proposals are ''the most significant reforms announced by a federal leader since Gough Whitlam''.
Darcy Byrne, the mayor of Leichhardt and a candidate in Labor's community preselection for the seat of Balmain, said further action was needed in NSW.
''To break the back of [Eddie] Obeid-style cronyism in NSW, rule changes must now be adopted at Labor's annual conference this July, giving all party members a vote in determining upper house positions, the general secretary and the state parliamentary leader,'' he said.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union national secretary Bob Nanva said ALP reform should strengthen the link between rank and file union members and the party to make it more relevant. ''The ALP has an extraordinary insight into a broad social cross-section of working men and women through its trade union link,'' he said.
''There's a real risk that branch stackers and factional warlords will simply tighten their grip on the ALP if we're not careful. Trade unions provide a unique insight into the real-world concerns of working Australian.''
