The Australian Labor Party must continue internal reform after a "respectable" election loss, senior strategist Bruce Hawker says.
Mr Hawker, who was Labor leader Kevin Rudd's political director, said the party needed to find fresh leaders and continue with its internal reform.
"People like Jason Clare, Tanya Plibersek really are the face of the future," he told Fairfax Radio on Sunday.
"There's no excuse for Labor not to say `time to move on'.
"We must make sure that the old factional system of running things goes, that party members get much more say."
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Mr Hawker said the loss on Saturday was not as bad as some had feared.
"It was, if I can say this, a more respectable loss than it might have been," he said.
"It could have been a lot worse ... a few months ago the reality is we were looking at absolute Armageddon."
