Labor factions at odds over SA Senate

29 Oct 2012, 2:03 pm   -   Source: AAP
Federal Labor is in turmoil after Penny Wong was placed second on the South Australia Senate ticket. (AAP)

Federal Labor is in turmoil after Penny Wong was placed second on the South Australia Senate ticket. (AAP)

Labor factions are at odds over the preselection of parliamentary secretary Don Farrell over Finance Minister Penny Wong for the SA Senate ticket.

Labor factions are at odds over a weekend vote which put a low-profile senator ahead of Finance Minister Penny Wong on the South Australian Senate ticket.

Parliamentary secretary and key Right faction figure Don Farrell will head the Labor ticket, relegating Senator Wong, from Labor's Left, to second.

Left faction figure and cabinet minister Anthony Albanese plans to ask the party's national executive, of which he is a member, to review the decision.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she expected both senators would be returned to parliament at the next federal election, but would not enter into the debate on ticket placement.

"Penny Wong is an incredibly important member of my team," she told ABC radio on Monday, adding Senator Farrell was "serving the government well".

But Ms Gillard would not say whether she thought Senator Wong should head the Labor ticket or whether she supported national executive intervention to reverse the state conference decision.

The prime minister said she admired Senator Wong's abilities and had deliberately promoted her to finance minister "putting her at the centre of government decision-making and our economic team".

Asked about the vote on Monday, Senator Wong told the Seven Network she wasn't going to respond other than to say she was "very honoured" to be pre-selected.

Senator Farrell was serving as a parliamentary secretary in South Australia focused on the pivotal state issue of water, Ms Gillard said.

Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne said Senator Wong's placement on the ticket proved Ms Gillard did not really care about sexism despite attacking Tony Abbott over the issue.

"If there was any truth at all to the idea that the government thought misogyny or sexism was an important issue in Australia, Penny Wong would not have been placed down the ticket as a cabinet minister behind one of the faceless men in Don Farrell," Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

South Australian Labor MP Nick Champion said he was proud to have voted for Don Farrell, saying the senator represented traditional Labor, while Senator Wong was from "progressive" Labor.

"It's just a reflection of those two different traditions," Mr Champion said.

"It wasn't a brawl."

Mr Albanese has yet to formally write to the ALP national executive spelling out his concerns.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the ticket placement showed the "faceless men" of the ALP remained in charge.

"The only possible explanation for putting an unknown parliamentary secretary at the top of the Senate ticket ahead of one of the government's most senior ministers is that the faceless men are calling the shots," he told reporters in Canberra.

The prime minister would not take them on at the ALP national executive meeting because she depended on them to get her the job and needed them to keep it, he said.

Cabinet minister Bob Carr said Senator Wong was a respected minister and was in a winnable position.

He said the proportional voting system used to select Senate candidates for the ALP in South Australia was fair and had worked in her favour.

The left faction was in the minority in SA, and if such a voting system was not in place it would have been "winner take all" for the right faction.

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