'I demand discipline': Why Labor's second term could be harder than its first

The 13,500 number will give the public — and the media — something to measure them against.Labor's success on Saturday means there will be more than 40 Labor MPs in both houses of parliament.But while the caucus has grown, the number of seats around the cabinet table has not.Premier Peter Malinauskas now has an enormous backbench populated by some MPs with no realistic prospect of cabinet promotion.That brings with it more potential for internal division, leaks and frustration — something he largely managed to avoid in his first term.Former Liberal Premier Dean Brown was swept into power with 36 other MPs at the 1993 state bank election but struggled to deal with his enormous party room His divided party was in minority government after the next election.History shows that the Labor Party is a much more disciplined political outfit, and some on the backbench owe their political careers to Mr Malinauskas, who fired a warning shot to his caucus this week."I expect the team to have ambition to be able to serve the state," he said."And then similarly, I demand discipline."That is a culture that is enforced at every level within the party … so they [new MPs] know what the expectations are when they come in to sign up to that culture of discipline within the caucus."That will be enforced, and if people err then they'll know about that."Three MPs — Michael Brown, Nadia Clancy and newly-elected Alice Rolls — were promoted to cabinet on Tuesday at the expense of long-serving minister Zoe Bettison and Human Services Minister Nat Cook.The new cabinet will be unveiled at Government House on Wednesday.