Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has suggested former Labor minister Martin Ferguson should be expelled from the party, if he "actively co-operated" with the Coalition during the New South Wales election campaign.

Senior Labor figures are furious with Mr Ferguson for supporting the Liberal Party's plans to privatise the state's electricity network at the height of the campaign, and publicly denouncing his own party's stance.

Labor senator Sam Dastyari accused Mr Ferguson of a "bastard act" and the party is now considering a motion to expel him.

Speaking from China, Mr Shorten said Mr Ferguson's views on the issue were well known and noted he held no position of authority within the Labor Party.

However, he said the TV advertisements were a serious issue and there was legitimate passion and frustration within the party about them.

"Is it the expression of individual long-held views, or is it working with another political party to undermine your own political party?" he asked.

"There is a counter point of view which says that people who consciously work with your opposing political parties, that's a different issue."

Mr Shorten said it was up to the Labor administration to investigate whether Mr Ferguson had worked to deliberately damage Labor's chances but he had "laid a couple of markers".

"If there's been active cooperation with another political party to undermine Labor's electoral chances, then that's a different issue altogether," he told Sky News.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott weighed in, accusing Mr Shorten of lacking leadership.

"Martin Ferguson has said nothing that wasn't said by Paul Keating, a former prime minister, by Morris Iemma, a former premier, by Michael Costa, a former head of the NSW trade union," Mr Abbott said.

"So Martin Ferguson is on a unity ticket with some Labor legends and Bill Shorten can't make up his mind on whether he should be in or out of the party."

Online interview used in Liberal advertisement

Mr Ferguson — the former federal resources minister, now the head of a peak oil and gas industry group — gave an interview to an industry website in which he said "this misinformation we've got, led by my own party — the Labor Party of NSW — is just a bald lie".

The author of the website, not Mr Ferguson, gave permission for the interview to be used in a Liberal attack advertisement.

In response, the Victorian Trades Hall Council executive voted to expel Mr Ferguson.

A Labor disputes panel is expected to rule on the motion within the next month.

The secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Kevin Bracken, is a long-time critic of Mr Ferguson and said this latest incident was the final straw.

"For him to be criticising what the policies of the party are, it's just very, very damaging, and it forfeits any right that he's got to be a member of that party," he told the ABC's AM program.

"He's being paid large sums of money to advocate for these corporations, and he's doing it blatantly, and he's not advocating any interests of working people at all."

However Labor giant Bill Keelty, former secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, called for calm.

"Martin Ferguson has made a wonderful contribution to the Labor movement. He deserves the right, as all members of the Labor Party deserve the right, but he in particular deserves a right to have a different view," he told AM.

Mr Keelty said it would be an "incredibly sad occasion" if Mr Ferguson was expelled from the party.

"It will do the Labor Party enormous harm. It will represent a short-term, emotional reaction to an issue," he said.