The notions of 'left' and 'right' don't mean a lot in today's Labor, except as groupings to dole out preselections, frontbench representation and other spoils, writes Michelle Grattan.
The conference might see an undercurrent of tensions between the pragmatists and those who would like the government to move faster on a progressive agenda, but the pragmatists will carry the day.
Victories came after struggles. In the early days of the Hawke government, then-treasurer Paul Keating had to fight at the 1984 national conference to get approval for the entry of foreign banks into Australia. The Hawke government had already defied the platform, in particular on floating the dollar, but by and large acknowledged the conference's authority and the need to win its approval.
The government's aim will be to control issues at the conference as meticulously as it does in the caucus and in Labor's presentations in the public arena.
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