Senior Left sources inside the Victorian ALP have accused conservative forces aligned to the Shop Assistants union of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for shutting down debates on gay marriage and asylum seekers at Saturday’s state conference, vowing swift and bitter revenge when the issues shift to the federal arena later in the year.

In scenes reminiscent of the worst of student politics, representatives of the so-called “shoppies” are alleged to have staged a co-ordinated walk out on Saturday afternoon, following addresses from Prime Minister Julia Gillard and state Labor leader Daniel Andrews.

A series of urgency motions — exclusively revealed in Crikey on Friday — addressing same-s-x unions, the Malaysian Solution, the carbon tax and workforce participation were left stillborn, as delegates from the so-called ‘Rebel Right’ apparently used their numbers to prevent their airing in public. Another motion calling on the federal party to respect the “innate dignity of all Australians … without disparaging any members or section of our community” in the course of the welfare-to-work debate was also blackballed.

Senior representatives of the Socialist Left were scathing in an interview with Crikey this morning:

“The fact that the Taliban disappeared put into stark reality that the social conservatives in this party have literally nothing to say.

“If the rebel Right had the courage of their convictions they would have brought the debate on. This is just a blatant unwillingness to engage in the debate they are clearly so passionate about having. It is inexcusable that significant issues including marriage equality, asylum seekers, an important economic policy committee report, the anti-dumping motion and party reform weren’t dealt with.

“There is just an admission that this had nothing to do with the issues and was more about raw power. It’s a clear indication that the issues don’t matter to them. But they’re not going to go away and will be a major feature of the next state conference in October and the national conference in December. The Left can take great heart that they won’t be able to pull any more quorum stunts then.”

The SDA controls 46 state conference delegates. Alongside its Federal Electorate Area allies, it also receives support from the Health Services Union, the National Union of Workers and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, bringing total rebel right representation to about 200 of 606 delegates. For a motion to be debated, Victorian Labor requires 152 delegates to be present in the room. About 300 attended on Saturday.

“It was pretty disgusting watching those little shits play young Labor politics with the those issues,” added a senior federal Left source. “They all hung around just outside conference floor.”

However, the rebel Right hit back this morning, claiming the Left — which maintains an alliance with forces tied to Stephen Conroy and Bill Shorten under a 2009 stability pact — had dug their own grave because they failed to ensure enough of their own 350-strong contingent were in the room. They denied that a co-ordinated walk out had taken place, and said that quorum was always going to lapse after lunch as delegates got weary and headed for the car park.

However, the Left pointed out that rebel Right-aligned former Tim Holding electorate officer Steven Staikos — who moved the gay marriage motion — issued a plea from the podium for his acolytes to re-enter the hall but that fell on deaf ears.

The socially conservative shop assistants, who have charged themselves with keeping the twitching corpse of Tony Abbott favourite B.A. Santamaria alive within Labor, have become a burgeoning political force in recent years, intervening in the Kororoit by-election in 2008 and recently pursuing court action in an attempt to dislodge Frank McGuire in Broadmeadows.

Critics have accused the union of preserving their power by pursuing sweetheart deals with employers, in which annual wage claims are deliberately suppressed in exchange for the employer plugging the union during staff induction sessions. The union rejects the suggestions.

Other reports from Saturday’s proceedings were more positive, with anger over the lack of gourmet sandwiches failing to quell praise for Daniel Andrews’ address, described by one senior source as the “best speech I’ve heard a state Labor leader deliver”. Andrews broke with former party leader John Brumby by admitting mistakes in the past, but maintained Labor had the goods to govern in the lead-up to the 2014 state poll.

Meanwhile, the ALP’s national Left will convene in Canberra this weekend to discuss tactics for December’s national conference, hoping to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s debacle.