Labor conference braces for fight over gambling rules, gas export tax and AI
Delegates arriving in Adelaide this week are preparing to reopen some of Labor’s sharpest internal arguments. Gambling reform is at the centre of the fight,
Delegates arriving in Adelaide this week are preparing to reopen some of Labor’s sharpest internal arguments. Gambling reform is at the centre of the fight, with rank-and-file members pushing for a tougher national regulator, while gas export taxes and artificial intelligence are also on the table.
The party’s 50th national conference opens on Thursday, and members will debate and vote on amendments to Labor’s policy platform. That makes the meeting more than a set-piece political gathering. It is where the party will test how far it wants to go on reform, and how much internal resistance the government is willing to absorb.
Gambling reform returns to the floor
Labor members are moving to revive the push for a stronger national gambling regulator, arguing the government’s current changes do not go far enough. The pressure has built again ahead of the Adelaide conference, with concerns over gambling harm shaping the debate.
The push comes from within the party rather than from the opposition benches. That matters. When Labor’s own members and unions press for a national body with sharper oversight, they are signalling discomfort with the pace and reach of the government’s response. The issue has become a test of how seriously the party wants to confront an industry that has long enjoyed political caution.
Senior minister Murray Watt has already tried to lower expectations. Speaking to ABC TV on Wednesday, he said reforms were already being debated in parliament and added that the government had taken “serious action already”. But he also left the door open to a lively conference floor, saying he did not want to pre-empt the meeting and expected people to put forward a range of views.
The language from both sides points to a familiar Labor dynamic. The leadership can point to legislation. The base wants more. And this week, both will have their say in public.
Gas, AI and other flashpoints
Gambling is not the only issue likely to rattle the room. Members and unions are also gearing up for fights over a gas export tax and the impact of artificial intelligence, both of which have drawn attention as Labor figures gather to settle the party’s policy stance.
The gas proposal is especially sensitive because it reaches into the broader debate over how Australia handles its resources sector. A tax on gas exports would have implications well beyond Labor’s internal platform and would be watched closely in energy markets and across trading partners that rely on Australian supply. The fact that it is on the conference agenda shows how far the party’s policy conversation has moved from narrow domestic politics into questions with international reach.
AI, meanwhile, has become a fast-growing political issue in many countries, and Labor’s delegates are now confronting the same tension that governments elsewhere face: how to encourage new technology without leaving workers and communities to absorb the risks alone. The source material does not spell out the exact amendments under debate, but the fact that AI is listed among the fights suggests the party is still working out where it wants the guardrails to sit.
There are also brewing disputes over local government funding and superannuation. Party powerbrokers and unions are in talks on a separate cluster of issues too, including improving dental access through Medicare, extending compulsory superannuation to under-18s, and creating an independent aviation body. That list alone shows how broad the agenda has become. Nothing small about it.
What the conference can change
Labor’s national conference will not only stage arguments. It will decide them. Delegates are set to debate and vote on amendments to the party platform, giving the meeting formal weight beyond the usual political choreography.
That matters because party platforms shape what governments say they stand for, even when ministers do not adopt every proposal immediately. A stronger line on gambling regulation would increase the pressure on the government to sharpen its approach. A conference endorsement of a gas export tax would sharpen the internal expectation that Labor should at least keep the idea alive. And a tougher party position on AI could help define how the government frames the technology to voters who are hearing more about disruption than opportunity.
The wider backdrop is political and practical at once. Labor is trying to manage its own internal coalition of members, unions and officials while also governing. Conference week often exposes those tensions in public. This one looks set to do the same, only with more at stake than usual.
Hundreds of delegates have already converged on Adelaide for the triennial summit, and the arguments are only just beginning. As Watt put it, the government has “taken serious action already” — but the party floor may well decide that serious is not enough.
