A culture of bullying and harassment has dominated ACT Young Labor with a "broken" culture in need of reform, left delegates say.
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ACT Labor's annual conference on Saturday passed a number of changes to the structure of ACT Young Labor aimed at stamping out poor behaviour.
The conference also voted in favour of mandating that 50 per cent of preselected candidates for territory elections were women, as well as ending the quota for men.
The changes to Young Labor are likely to move power away from ACT Labor's right faction in the youth branch, which opposed ditching the role of president.
The changes were designed to decentralise power within ACT Young Labor after "unacceptable behaviour" from past presidents.
Under the changes two co-conveners - one of which must be a woman - will be elected at an annual general meeting.
The secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, senior and junior vice presidents as well as the two conveners will form the executive of ACT Young Labor.
The conference heard ACT Young Labor was a boys club and meetings - dominated by screaming matches - would frequently end in tears. "Young Labor is fundamentally dysfunctional," a delegate said.
Young Labor left delegate Grace Flannagan said a number of members left last year and regretted ever joining Young Labor. She said the poor culture meant activism and friendship were not encouraged and people were pitted against each other.
Another delegate said bullying and harassment was rife and people were ostracised for speaking out.
A member of Young Labor's right said the move to ditch the role of president in favour of co-conveners was not supported by Young Labor members in its meetings.
He said the addition of co-conveners would not solve the toxic culture.
But another delegate said many members supported the changes but did not feel comfortable to come to meetings.
"Young Labor is so broken, it literally could not be worse. ACT needs to lead a national charge to change the culture of Young Labor," a delegate said.
Under the changes, the number of ACT Young Labor meetings will be halved, with the aim of reducing inappropriate conduct and promoting collaboration on policy.
Labor also passed an affirmative action rule that will bring the quota for preselected women to 50 per cent and remove the 40 per cent quota for men.
"Today's the day when we're never going to have to put up with an attitude that says 'chicks should be happy with less'," Labor backbencher Bec Cody said. "Sure, we're probably going to hear it in this debate but we're not going to have to put up with it, because from here on in we are never going to put up with less again."
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A move from the Lanyon Branch to select the party's secretary through an administrative committee instead of being elected at conference was voted down.
CFMEU organiser Zach Smith said the resolution would signal the corporatisation of the party. Delegate Ben Halliday said members should retain the right to elect a secretary, claiming the move was a personal vendetta for the sake of factional scoring points.
Former MLA and member of the right John Hargreaves spoke in support of the move. He said despite the success of the branch, it should not have to be "managed by well meaning amateurs". "What is wrong with us having a good business model?" Mr Hargreaves said.
Delegates backed a proposal urging federal Labor to push for reform to national advertising standards to stamp out the use of sexualised material, particularly on building sites. Ms Cody sought to link the push directly to construction giant Geocon, before members agreed that the crackdown should target all developers.
"The sexism in advertising that we are seeing in our own city is actually appalling, but it doesn't just stop with one company," one delegate said. "We need to bring to the forefront the abhorrent nature of the advertising that is happening across these hoardings."
ACT Labor's policy platform now includes support for free travel on public transport for students carrying a MyWay card, after delegates agreed to the proposal at Saturday's conference.
Delegates also called for the elimination of involuntary unemployment through a federally funded guarantee to provide a full- or part-time job to anyone who wants one.
