Paul Howes may have disqualified himself from any NSW Senate race before the starter's pistol fired, but Labor leadership hopeful Bill Shorten says the union boss would have been an asset to parliament.
There is much speculation former foreign minister Bob Carr will step down from the Senate, creating a vacancy in NSW.
Mr Howes, the Australian Workers Union national secretary, was being talked up as a candidate to fill that seat.
But he said on Thursday he wouldn't stand because he didn't want to divide the Labor party.
Mr Shorten, Mr Howes' immediate predecessor in the AWU job, pointed out that Senator Carr hadn't yet confirmed he was leaving parliament.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
But he said Mr Howes and the AWU did good work.
"I think Paul is a very good union leader and if he chose to come into parliament he'd make a very good contribution," he told Sky News on Friday.
"What he's done is demonstrated that he's interested in the interests of the many, not just the few.
"He's put the interests of the party ahead of perhaps his own particular interests at the moment."
