Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has taken a shot at the party's former president Warren Mundine for weighing up contesting Liberal pre-selection.
The leading indigenous advocate and businessman is reportedly considering a tilt at the marginal NSW seat of Gilmore, which will not be recontested by Liberal Ann Sudmalis at the federal election.
"When he couldn't get a seat in the Labor Party, he's looking elsewhere. I guess that's his democratic right," Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney.
Mr Mundine was Labor's national president between 2006 and 2007 but has been a strident critic of the party in recent years.
Mr Shorten said Labor's candidate for Gilmore candidate Fiona Phillips would fight on local issues, rather than personalities.
"She doesn't want a seat in parliament because she thinks that's her right, that she's owed a seat," the opposition leader said.
Ms Sudmalis announced her decision to quit in September, launching an extraordinary spray at NSW state MP Gareth Ward for running a campaign against her, an accusation he denied.
"The Liberal Party is divided. Yet again, another Liberal woman is going to be sacrificed by the powerbrokers of the Liberal Party," Mr Shorten said.
Ms Sudmalis, who was first elected in 2013, holds the southern NSW with a margin of just 0.7 per cent and has faced a preselection challenge from local real estate agent Grant Schultz.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance angrily rejected suggestions from Labor strategist Bruce Hawker he was considering a switch to federal politics in Gilmore.
"Listen you old trout. Stop peddling your lies and spin. I'm running for Bega," Mr Constance tweeted on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
