Senior federal Labor MP Kate Ellis has played down an opinion poll showing a majority of people think the party should distance itself from the union movement following construction industry corruption claims.
A Fairfax-ReachTEL poll, published on Monday, shows 52.5 per cent of people believe the ALP should limit its relationship with the unions, while only 25.6 per cent back the status quo.
The poll comes after allegations construction union officials have been involved in improper deals, including bribery and kickbacks.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has flagged a royal commission into union corruption.
Despite being "deeply concerned" about the allegations, Ms Ellis defended the relationship between Labor and the unions.
The Labor Party already has gone through significant reform in recent months by opening up the party leadership to members, she said.
"We'll never walk away from the fact that we believe that it is important that we work to protect workers' rights," she told Sky News on Monday.
She said the ALP and unions would work as a labour movement: "Making sure that we never ever see a return to WorkChoices or to any of the other very outdated industrial relations policies".
Labor MP Bernie Ripoll said his party had been restructuring its relationship with the unions and he also pointed to the party's leadership reforms.
"We're now more democratic as a party than any other party I would say in Australia," he said.
"We've been working very hard to make sure that we continue to modernise, to democratise, to involve the community, to involve branch members."
