NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has declared he will not go in for "fake consensus" with trade unions and that it's time the party "moved on" from its "obsessive focus" on electricity privatisation.
The comments, in an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, risk escalating a feud with Labor's affiliated unions over the future of their role in the party.
In the interview, Mr Foley hit out at a letter sent to all Labor MPs by sixteen union leaders criticising a call by the new Labor MP for Kogarah, Chris Minns, for reduced union influence in the party.
But Mr Foley ridiculed the letter. "I thought the only thing missing was an edict that he be sent to a re-education camp," he said.
In comments that risk reigniting the issue, Mr Foley said the current party structure that gives the unions 50 per cent of the vote at the Labor conference - its main policy setting forum - was "not set in stone".
While he declined to nominate a particular model, he said it is "vital that Labor consciously reaches out beyond its core constituency and engages in the widest possible conversation with the community. And that does involve reaching beyond our affiliated unions."
Mr Foley stressed that he had the greatest respect for the role of unions within the ALP.
But he highlighted his disagreement with the Electrical Trades Union over job cuts to electricity network businesses following the latest determination of the Australian Energy Regulator.
The determination guarantees lower electricity prices for households and businesses over the next four years but may lead to the loss of 2,750 jobs.
"I won't go for fake consensus," Mr Foley said. "Where, as in the case of the AER determination the wider public interest conflicts with the relevant union interest, I'll plonk for the public interest."
Mr Foley said following the March election, Labor needed to accept that "the electricity privatisation war is lost".
Labor would continue to vote against the Baird government's privatisation legislation in the parliament.
"But we then have to move on from an obsessive focus on this issue," he said.
Mr Foley said there was "a whole host of other issues and debates that are important for the future of our state. The debate around power privatisation has gone on for the best part of 20 years now. And it's been settled."
However, the secretary of Unions NSW, Mark Lennon, disagreed the letter to Mr Minns was an overreaction.
"When the voice and influence of working people is questioned, it is entirely appropriate that their elected representatives respond robustly," he said.
Mr Lennon said it was "vital to remember that the overwhelming majority of NSW residents remain strongly opposed to the privatisation of their power assets. In a democracy this means the battle is never lost."
