By any objective measure, Labor's federal election campaign in WA was a failure.

Five Liberal-held seats were targeted in WA, but Labor won none of them and fewer than 30 per cent of West Australians voted for them.

Bold pre-election ambitions, from a party which has long struggled at a federal level in WA, ended with Labor going backwards in three of the five electorates on its hit list, and barely holding its own ground in Anne Aly's marginal seat of Cowan.

But the scale of Labor's woes in WA might not have been obvious from reading the scathing review of the party's nationwide election failure.

"I think it's telling that the review mentions Western Australia a mere 10 times, while Queensland gets 66 references," Labor member for Burt Matt Keogh said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 5 minutes 3 seconds 5 m Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill release the ALP election autopsy.

The review panel, led by Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill, did briefly look at what went wrong in the west.

Focus on the wrong issues

The party had "high hopes" for WA, the review stated, fuelled by Mark McGowan's landslide state election win in 2017 and Labor's improved showing in the previous federal poll.

But its campaign focused on delivering WA a bigger share of GST revenue and Commonwealth infrastructure funding, issues that faded in relevance.

"The political salience of this campaign faded after an overhaul of the GST distribution was passed by the Senate in November 2018," the review stated.

"Ultimately, Labor did not gain any seats from the Liberals and suffered a -0.89 per cent statewide swing."

According to the party's federal MPs from the state, Labor's WA woes run deeper than that assessment.

The failure to adopt clear messages and policies specifically for WA hurt badly, those involved in the campaign said.

"Next election we have got to have more WA policies, more things for Western Australia that put WA back on top," Perth MP Patrick Gorman said.

Bill Shorten high fives a child on the campaign trail in Perth. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )

And Mr Gorman was far from alone in that view.

"Western Australians wanted to hear more West Australian voices in what Labor was saying," Mr Keogh said.

Lack of WA voices at the top

Many in WA Labor bemoan the fact that, while the federal Liberals have a significant number of West Australians in high-profile and powerful positions, they do not.

In Scott Morrison's 23-member cabinet there are five West Australians, including two of the Government's highest-profile ministers in Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Attorney-General Christian Porter.

Christian Porter, an ex-WA treasurer, is one of the most senior members of the Liberal cabinet. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )

But in Anthony Albanese's shadow cabinet there is just one West Australian out of 23.

Labor MPs defend that by noting it is an increase on former leader Bill Shorten's shadow cabinet, which had a total of zero sandgropers.

But it is still a sensitive topic for Labor in the west and a source of immense frustration for some party figures in the state.

The sole West Australian in Mr Albanese's core team is shadow trade minister Madeleine King, the member for Brand.

She conceded that the lack of focus on WA hurt the party badly in May.

"A national campaign needs to be sympathetic to Western Australia," Ms King said.

"It needs to have a WA focus and involve WA people."

Questions set to linger

The lack of West Australians in federal Labor's senior ranks is not a new problem.

Between the Rudd and Gillard governments, 34 people served in Labor cabinets between 2007 and 2013.

Just three of them were West Australians.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 30 seconds 1 m 30 s Anthony Albanese spells out his vision for the Labor Party

The party's continued struggles in WA are an obvious factor in the low number of MPs who make it to the top of federal politics.

The party holds just five of the 16 Lower House federal seats in WA, while it has been 29 years since Labor won a majority of the House of Representatives electorates in the west.

Fewer MPs in caucus means fewer chances for West Australians to climb the ladder.

Given the continued low WA representation in Mr Albanese's shadow cabinet, questions will likely linger about whether that problem will be fixed before voters head back to the polls.