Several sources on the hook-up said Mark Dreyfus was "dismayed" at Mr Fitzgibbon's constant pro-coal rhetoric.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Fitzgibbon,the opposition resources spokesman,has become the figurehead for a large rump of Right faction MPs whobelieve Labor must embrace blue-collar professions and align itself strongly with the resources sector. It has put him at odds with climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler,who on Wednesday declared Australia's future prosperitywould not be linked to fossil fuels such as gas and coal.
Several sources on the hook-up said Mr Dreyfus,alongside first-term MP Josh Burns,was"dismayed"at Mr Fitzgibbon's constant pro-coal rhetoric,with the veteran figure declaring Labor was"the party of climate change".
Mr Dreyfus told colleagues frontbenchers were bound by shadow cabinet solidarity and should not be arguing against party policy. Several MPs believed Mr Dreyfus was suggesting Mr Fitzgibbon should resign from his position for breaching cabinet solidarity.
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Mr Burns,who holds the marginal seat of Macnamara in inner-Melbourne,told the meeting he was frustrated at the climate debate and criticised Mr Fitzgibbon's comments on gas and coal. He said he would be at risk of losing his seat to the Greens if it continued,sources said.
Clare O'Neil,also a frontbencher,told the call she did not believe it was in Labor's interest to be talking about climate change constantly until the election.
But Mr Fitzgibbon also had his defenders,including Daniel Mulino,the member for Fraser in the outer north-west of metropolitan Melbourne,who has said publicly gas would have a role to play for the long term.