http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/new ... se-begins/
"These rules literally mean that a person could hang on as Labor leader and as prime minister even if every member of cabinet, the body that should be the most powerful and collegiate in the country, has decided that person was no longer capable of functioning as prime minister," she writes. "A person could hang on even if well over half of their parliamentary colleagues thought the same."
The new scheme does seem cumbersome, and did seem to be designed to help K Rudd stay in power once he had regained it, more than anything else.
The ALP may be better "democratised" if they looked at the Liberal model:
1. The elected parliamentary members select the leader.
2. The local members have sole say in electing the candidate in their seat from those who nominate.
3. Outside organisations - business interests, unions, other MPs, or other party officials - have no say at all in choosing the local candidate.
(Other than through trying to influence the opinion of the voting membership in any given seat.)