Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has been told to get his priorities straight after warning the party could split in two unless it reconciles the views of inner-city and regional voters.
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Mr Fitzgibbon has been extremely outspoken since the party lost the last federal election.
The right faction frontbencher, from coal country in NSW, is a vocal critic of Labor's climate policies.
Mr Fitzgibbon has accused Labor of sending mixed messages on mining and ostracising working-class people.
In his latest public intervention, Mr Fitzgibbon again challenged Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to drag the party back to the centre.
"Labor needs to develop a middle-ground message for a broad and diverse community in order to win government," he said on Thursday.
His comments come at an awkward time for the opposition.
Labor was beginning to gain momentum as it highlighted flaws in the Morrison government's response to coronavirus outbreaks in aged care.
Now, the uncomfortable internal debate threatens to overshadow the next fortnight's sitting of federal parliament.
Labor left frontbencher Tanya Plibersek blasted her right wing colleague.
"It's beyond me why anyone is talking about this when we have vulnerable people dying in nursing homes," Ms Plibersek told AAP.
"People need to get their priorities straight."
Speaking to the media outside a NSW nursing home, Mr Albanese was not keen to be dragged back into the climate debate.
However, the opposition leader said it was not as simple as where people lived.
"It is not an issue of where people live because wherever people live, they're impacted by climate change," Mr Albanese told reporters.
He pointed to the National Farmers' Federation calling for Australia to set a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050: "The same policy that I announced for the Labor Party."
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers, often touted as a future Labor leader, also dipped into the climate debate during a speech in regional Queensland on Thursday.
Dr Chalmers argued climate change "isn't some inner-city preoccupation".
"Climate change is a big part of the story here as well," he told the Warwick Chamber of Commerce.
"We need to mitigate risks by ensuring that we continue to proactively work on both adaptation and climate change mitigation strategies."
Liberal frontbencher Mathias Cormann is delighted with Mr Fitzgibbon for throwing a cat among the pigeons.
"I always enjoy reading Joel Fitzgibbon's contributions to our daily political affairs. I would encourage him to speak openly more often," he told reporters in Perth.
Stephen Jones, a left Labor MP from the NSW Illawarra, pointed out the city-country divide was nothing new.
"We do best when we focus on the issues that unite these groups; income, cost of living, and a plan to bring the whole country forward," he said.
Australian Associated Press
