Responses to the ALP leadership election result

On the plus side Shorten will make a very articulate leader. And he has credibility with regards his support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme; as he was instrumental in popularising the policy within the former ALP government, and to the general population.

But he has to overcome the 'Bill the Knife' tag. He needs to break through against those perceptions early on to stop it from undermining his position. On the night Shorten switched to support Rudd he looked like a ghost. Perhaps we will never know all that happened that night. But I am certain it was a very difficult decision which weighed heavily on him.

With such a close vote the pressure needs to be on within the ALP to implement further internal democratic reform quickly - starting immediately; With such a strong rank and file vote for Albanese, Shorten needs to move quickly on the democratic reform both candidates promised (though Albanese was more forthright there) to maintain morale and ensure the party's cohesion at this point and into the future.

Albanese overwhelmingly won the rank and file vote on the basis of unequivocal support for rank and file direct election to Conference and other reforms. Shorten supported such reforms too - giving personal guarantees to the membership and to the 'Local Labor' organisation – which numbers over 800 members on Facebook alone.

Although it should be noted that there are arguments against the much-discussed option of future 'US primary-style' community pre-selections. There is the danger of exhausting the ALP's human resources, and exhausting the financial resources of the broader labour movement. There is also the threat that 'money will talk', and the fundraisers will dominate the show. (as in the United States)

But if ALP reformers achieve direct election for National Conference the victory for internal Party democracy will still be great from their perspective. That is - so long as the Parliamentary Party then accepts the policy parameters set by Conference.