Two party figures say open debate at the party’s triennial conference is being shut down.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles are seeking formal endorsement for the AUKUS deal from the Labor Party faithful, as delegates air concerns about alleged attempts to tamp down dissent on the floor of the conference.
Defence Minister Richard Marles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will try to get support for the AUKUS deal from party members.The internal memo, obtained by this masthead, also included an expression of interest form for whose who wanted to debate policies on the conference floor. But a senior figure from the dominant Left subfaction, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, dismissed the concerns and said if each delegate sought to speak at the conference “we would need to extend conference by a couple of days”.
In a briefing to Labor Party members on Monday evening, Marles said the Coalition was “defence dilettantes” and pointed out the cost of acquiring and maintaining the submarines was 0.15 per cent of GDP, while the defence budget would reach 2.3 per cent of GDP over the next decade.
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