Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was warned by senior Labor Party colleagues about the potentially disastrous consequences of leaving right-wing unionist Joe Bullock at the top of the West Australian Senate ticket.

Before the meeting of Labor’s national executive last year to confirm the ticket, colleagues warned Mr Shorten it would be difficult to “hide” Mr Bullock in an election re-run that would shine a spotlight on “usually invisible” Senate candidates.

Endorsed: Joe Bullock (pictured) was described by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as exactly the sort of person Labor should have in Parliament. Credit:Aaron Bunch

Leaked minutes of the ALP national executive meeting on November 16 by teleconference showed opposition transport spokesman Anthony Albanese and the NSW secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Tim Ayres failed to defer the automatic endorsement of Mr Bullock as Labor’s number one candidate.

A number of Labor MPs are blaming Mr Bullock for the party’s catastrophically low primary vote of 22 per cent in Western Australia. Labor is likely to win just one of the six Senate seats, with incumbent Labor senator Louise Pratt missing out, according to ABC election analyst Antony Green.