Former Queensland premier and Labor candidate for Forde Peter Beattie says six years of leadership division is the primary reason Labor has failed.
Mr Beattie is refusing to concede he's lost the battle for Forde, south of Brisbane, but joked he'd be down on his knees praying if it wasn't for the TV cameras.
"The perception before we went into this campaign about instability for leadership, and I think during the campaign that was emphasised by the stability of Tony Abbott's campaign," he told the Seven Network.
"The Labor party have to be honest about this, and face the reality head on, that was the key issue."
He said it was too hard to judge if Kevin Rudd's return to the leadership exacerbated Labor's problem.
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"I don't know if it did. I think it's that's whole perception of disunity.
"We all know that disunity is the death in politics. What Tony Abbott did is put up a unified team."
He said Labor had unity once, but it was a while ago.
"We certainly had one (a unified team) under Kevin because Julia exited the scene in a constructive way.
"But it was the cumulative effect of the six years and that has played into the spirit of 'it's time for change'."
He wouldn't say if this was the end of his political life.
"When I know the result I'll answer that question."
He said Labor division was raised with him by voters time and time again.
"You can talk about all the other things but I have spoken to people on the ground and that's the key reason."
