Pratt gives Bullock parting shot
Labor senator Louise Pratt has launched a blistering attack on her running mate Joe Bullock, calling him an anti-choice homophobe who had betrayed the ALP.
Senator Pratt, who will today concede defeat in WA's re-run Senate election, told _The West Australian _ she was the victim of factional power play that ignored the interests of the rank and file.
"The emerging result is a great disappointment to me and the overwhelming majority of Labor supporters," she said. "The prospect of being replaced by Joe Bullock who is someone who has proven himself, over many decades, to be deeply homophobic, anti-choice and indeed disloyal to the very party he has been elected to represent.
"It's deeply concerning a factional power grab was privileged over principles deeply held by an overwhelming number of party members."
Senator Pratt, an openly gay women from Labor's Left, lost the top spot on the ALP ticket a year ago when the left-wing United Voice union backed Mr Bullock, secretary of the right-wing shop assistants' union.
With almost 79 per cent of the vote counted, Senator Pratt - aligned to the left-wing metalworkers' union - is unlikely to retain her Senate seat. The Liberal Party's Linda Reynolds will instead claim the State's sixth spot.
Senator Pratt was at the top of the ALP's Senate ticket in the 2007 election, when Labor collected 36 per cent of the primary vote.
At this month's special election, the ALP's primary vote slumped to less than 22 per cent.
The ALP campaign was rocked when comments made by Mr Bullock in November emerged. He said he was unsure whether Ms Pratt was a lesbian "after her partner's sex change" and described Labor as "untrustworthy" to working families.
Since the election, United Voice has called for Mr Bullock to resign. Senator Pratt said the union's call was bizarre.
She said the issue around ALP preselection had to change.
