A radical plan to give more power to rank and file Labor supporters and curb the influence of factions has won the backing of former party president Barry Jones and prominent frontbenchers Mark Latham and Lindsay Tanner.

Left-wing powerbroker Anthony Albanese also embraced some of the reform ideas by his right-wing rival Wayne Swan, saying faction leaders should be prepared to "give up some of their power".

Opposition Leader Simon Crean declined to reveal whether he supported the introduction of American-style primary voting for preselection candidates, saying only that he welcomed "interesting suggestions".

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said Mr Swan's idea had "some merit" but needed to be fully examined.

Mr Swan told the Fabian Society in Melbourne on Wednesday that Labor supporters should be able to choose election candidates rather than only paid-up members and factions to restore a connection between Labor and voters. Mr Jones called on Labor figures Bob Hawke and Neville Wran to consider the idea in their audit of ALP rules and find a way to protect candidates of modest means against big-spending challengers.

"It's very important to get Labor voters and supporters to feel a sense of ownership and involvement," Mr Jones said. "A lot of them don't find branch membership terriblyattractive.

"Factions don't want a large number of outsiders involved because it's very difficult to control. At the moment they can make two or three telephone calls."

Mr Latham, who has championed greater participation by voters such as Internet voting, said primary voting should be a frontline reform.

"They (voters) have a say on election day so I think it's good practice to have a say more often in the cycle," he said.

"I'd rather there be thousands of people voting in preselection ballots than dozens, which can be the case."

"Once you broaden the base of participation, factionalism weakens as a force."

Mr Tanner said although there were difficulties with primary voting, it should be considered, and he supported broader voting rules for state and federal Labor Party party officials.

Mr Albanese said he did not support primary voting because it would favour candidates with money.

"You need considerable resources and money to run and win a primary campaign and I think that's a weakness of that particular approach," he said.

"I'd also be concerned about opening up the preselection process to non-party members. The members should be the people who decide."

However, Mr Albanese said Mr Swan was "spot on" in his comments that the power of factions should be restricted.

"We need to give party members more of a direct say, not less and it's going to need people to be prepared to give up some of their power," Mr Albanese said. He said New South Wales boasted that party members cast 100per cent of the votes in preselection battles, but there was "often intervention by party officials to stop that going ahead".

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott said Mr Swan had defied Mr Crean's gag order that Labor's review should be debated in-house and it signalled a new outbreak of infighting to defend union power.

"Factions are based inside unions," he said. "The faction bosses are union bosses and it is a smokescreen. They've got to decide to break the union stranglehold over the party."