Left’s power grab inside Labor leaves fate of key policies uncertain

Tax cuts, turning back asylum seeker boats and recognising Palestine are among federal government policy positions under threat due to a seismic shift in the power balance of the ALP.

Asylum seeker boat turnbacks, tax cuts and the recognition of Palestine are among a slew of contentious federal government policy positions under threat after a successful power grab by the ALP Left.

The Left is set to seize control of federal Labor’s national conference for the first time in decades following a collapse in the Right faction of the ALP in Queensland and Victoria.

The seismic shift in the power balance of the governing party will put contentious policy positions such as immediate recognition of Palestine and the end of offshore processing and boat turn-backs on the agenda at next year’s national conference.

The ALP Left is also on the record opposing the Government’s stage three tax cuts, which are set to come into ­effect next year.

In the past, Labor leaders have been able to rely on the Right faction’s majority control of national conference to water down leftist proposals but the ascendant Left in two of the bigger states will make it far more difficult for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to impose control, insiders said.

Read the article by James Campbell in The Daily Telegraph.