If that still holds true Anthony Albanese may yet emerge as the greatest Federal Labor leader in decades. This is because the party is on the cusp of an existential crisis.

It faces more dangers from within and without right now than at any time since the 1955 split that led to the formation of the Democratic Labor Party.

That was made obvious in May when Labor polled just 33.3 per cent of the primary vote nationally compared to 41.4 per cent for the Coalition and 10.4 per cent for the Greens.

This was almost 10 per cent lower than the 42.8 per cent the ALP vote fell to at the height of the DLP crisis under "Doc" Evatt.

Labor's current crisis, which Mr Albanese tried to address in his third and final "vision statement" for the year on the weekend, is not dissimilar to the circumstances behind the DLP split.

Members of the ultra-conservative national civic council, concerned at what they saw as the capture of the party and its policies by communist fellow travellers, went to war with the rest of the party 64 years ago.

Fifty-one members, including 14 government ministers and a state premier, were expelled from the party. They controlled the balance of power in the Senate from 1955 to 1974 and kept Labor out of office for a generation.

The current schism, which was beyond Bill Shorten's powers to heal, is between the significant number of ALP voters attracted by a commitment to socially and economically progressive policies, including direct action on emissions and climate change, and the party's more traditional blue collar and union-dominated base.

Mr Albanese made it quite clear during his speech on Saturday he felt the shrillness and ideological intolerance that has come to be a defining characteristic of some leading voices in the former group did the ALP no favours in the May election.

He, like the Coalition number crunchers on the other side of the divide, is well aware the poll was lost in the mining electorates of Queensland and the working class suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Albanese would also be aware many rusted on traditional Labor voters can be just as intolerant, xenophobic and immigration averse as the most hardline One Nation supporter.

The overwhelming majority of the 17 seats which came down against same sex marriage during the postal survey two years ago were held by the Labor Party.

It is not surprising then that the new leader used Saturday's speech to urge those on the more extreme left to wind back the rhetoric so as not to scare off the more conservative elements within the constituency.

"This increased volume of anger and misinformation is robbing our political debates of civility and making the public's poor opinion of our political system much worse... those of us who advocate change need to understand the viewpoints of those who will feel insecure by that change," he said.

So far so good. But how do you make this marriage of different minds work? Unless Labor shows clear leadership on climate change, indigenous recognition and social equity it will continue to leach votes to the Greens.

While bipartisanship and consensus have their place, the ALP cannot allow itself to morph into a socially moderate form of "Liberal lite". That would be fatal.

The way forward must involve strong leadership and a willingness to challenge the views of those on both sides of the crowded house that is today's ALP.