National

Rudd-Gillard era disunity driving PM's 'iron fist' rule

By Callum Godde and Andrew Brown

Jul 27, 2026

Kevin Rudd and Anthony Albanese (file image) — Anthony Albanese learned how damaging disunity can be during Kevin Rudd's era, a historian says. -AAP Image

The Rudd-Gillard era of disunity has likely influenced Labor's approach to prioritise unity over potentially fractious public debate, a political historian says.

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Factional leaders blocked public discussion about the party's position on Israeli actions, including a reference to "genocide" against Palestinians, on the conference floor during a three-day meet in Adelaide that closed on Saturday.

The only debate thrashed out in the open at Labor's national conference was on expanding voluntary assisted dying to telehealth appointments, with all other changes passed unopposed.

Backroom deals on policy platform motions weren't unusual, but the conference was very managed compared to past events, prominent Labor historian Frank Bongiorno said.

"This is a government and a party that is still very wounded really by its last time in office between 2007 and 2013, when there was a collapse of unity," the University of Canberra academic told AAP.

"Going back to that period, you wouldn't say there was a strong culture of debate at conference, although they did obviously have the debate over marriage equality and also debates about selling uranium to India.

"The general drive to unity comes from the cost of disunity during those six years."

Professor Bongiorno said the party had more frequent robust conference debates in 1970s, 80s and 90s, including on privatisation.

"It was taken for granted that when you had something that was particularly contentious that there was going to be some sort of debate," he said.

"I think back to someone like (prime minister Paul) Keating making the case on the floor in 1984 for allowing foreign banks into the country.

"There just doesn't seem to be that kind of culture ... it's clearly wound down and I suspect the media environment is part of the reason for that."

The policy adopted by Labor delegates noted the party's opposition to Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories and called for illegal settlement activity to end.

Former cabinet minister Ed Husic, now a backbencher, led the push for the party to publicly have it out over the party's policy.

But Gaza hadn't universally split Labor's left and right factions in the same way other foreign policy issues had in decades past, Prof Bongiorno said.

"Look at who the major, open dissenter is: someone who comes from the NSW right in Ed Husic," he said.

"That would have been utterly unheard of back in the 1980s and 90s, for someone from that faction to take that kind of position."

The prime minister, who originates from the party's left faction, on Sunday defended Labor limiting debate, declaring the meeting the "most transparent political conference in Australia by far".

"The party has changed and one of the things that's happened in the party is we are more cohesive, more united than we've ever been before," he said.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam said the prime minister ruled his party with an "iron fist" and any dissent at the conference was quickly shut down.