[1] James McCombs proposed that an office in the Labour Party should not be held by one member for longer than one Parliamentary term at a time, which was seconded by Sullivan.

[3] Many supported him as leader due to his stern emphasis on teamwork and majority rule which gave his colleagues a certain amount of freedom to speak out on issues themselves, so long as they didn't directly contravene Holland himself.

[2] Sullivan next stood for the Deputy-leader role, but was defeated by Holland's preferred candidate Michael Joseph Savage 11 votes to 16.

[4] Sullivan's failure to secure the Leader and Deputy-leader positions signaled to the moderate wing of the Labour Party that they were clearly the caucus minority.

[2] After his election as the deputy-chair, Savage proposed that the votes for leadership positions be held at the start of every new parliament rather than annually.