I feel much the same as Paul Kelly.   The AWU Conference played out over 4 days last week showed the workings of Julia Gillard's Labor Party.   The fealties, the indulgences and the unashamed display of power were clear to see.   Bill Ludwig displayed his trophy PM - the surprise was that it was so openly exhibited.

What struck me was the thirst for power, influence and prominence.   But why?   To what end?   Why does Labor want power, what will it do with it, will it represent all of us?   Or is the nation now suspicious that Labor's power is used to benefit Labor itself and to maintain a dynastic cadre of former union officials creating nothing but drama and living high off other people's money.

Julia Gillard's Labor Party was on display this week - the Prime Minister and Wayne Swan on the Gold Coast at the Australian Workers Union conference, winning declarations of support from Bill Ludwig and Paul Howes with pledges the AWU would mobilise its members in marginal seats, drawing upon Obama campaign techniques. It was union power on Labor's behalf, an idea that has had its day.

Gillard is more dependent on trade union support for her internal position as Prime Minister than were Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd. The irony of modern Labor is that as trade union coverage of the workforce has declined dramatically, its influence within the Labor Party has only grown. What does this convey?

The current polls permit only one conclusion: that beneath criticisms over election timing, Craig Thomson, ministers quitting, the mining tax and abandoned budget surplus, Labor is tarnished as a political brand with voters unwilling to trust the party as an institution. The crisis of confidence has penetrated to identity.

Labor is on the edge of an existential crisis that is repeatedly deferred by the mindless mantra of "just do something", or waiting upon another Tony Abbott blunder or some good news that gives a temporary poll boost. Yet the reckoning day is getting close.

It's a very thoughtful column, the sort that only Paul Kelly could write.    

I think we are slowly deciding we no longer need a Labor Party.   It was formed when working people needed strong combined representation.   There's now apparently so little of that to do that Labor seems to concern itself with cosying to the Greens and asylum seekers.

Gillard personifies so much that is wrong with Labor itself and her personal trajectory is a reasonable proxy for Labor's standing over the past few years.  

The near term prospects don't augur well then for Labor.