Bullock's taken his medicine: Pratt

Labor's second candidate on the party's WA Senate ticket says the man who shunted her from the top spot has "taken his medicine".

Labor candidate Louise Pratt says her running mate Joe Bullock has "taken his medicine" over controversial comments he made about her.

It emerged this week that Mr Bullock, a union official, had described Ms Pratt as a "poster child" for "leftie" values such as marriage equality, referring to her transgender partner.

Her partner Aram Hosie was born female but is now legally male, and Mr Bullock asked whether that meant Ms Pratt was a lesbian.

"She's a lesbian I think, although after her partner's sex change I can't be sure," Mr Bullock said at a function in November.

It also emerged that Mr Bullock, who shunted Ms Pratt from the top of Labor's Senate ticket, was convicted for assault in 1996 and had voted against for the Liberal party after Geoff Whitlam's dismissal.

He also called some members of his party "mad".

Ms Pratt voted below the line on Saturday, while Mr Bullock followed party lines and voted above the line.

"I think Joe has taken his medicine and that's been very clear in the past few days," she told ABC TV.

Ms Pratt said she was a very proud advocate for marriage equality, and while she and Mr Bullock differed philosophically on some important issues, they were "very united" when it came to core Labor values.

And if people wanted to vote under the line to reflect their view on marriage equality, that was perfectly reasonable, she said.

She said the controversy over Mr Bullock's comments had been "a bit of a distraction but by no means a dominant feature" of Labor's election campaign.

Mr Bullock used similar words.

While the Liberals have said the controversy reflected dysfunction and disunity within Labor, Mr Bullock said: "I think that diversity can be a strength."


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Source: AAP


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