Bill Shorten has blamed the Liberal Party for promoting the idea of Kristina Keneally seeking to enter the Senate.
Tuesday's resignation of Sam Dastyari from the Senate has opened up a casual vacancy which NSW Labor will need to fill.
Ms Keneally is contesting this weekend's by-election in the NSW seat of Bennelong, but has been mentioned since the announcement as a possible replacement for Senator Dastyari.
"The Liberal Party wants to put around that Kristina Keneally will go into the Senate because they want to discourage people from voting in Bennelong," Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney.
"That's because they're frightened of her ... we're focused on winning on Saturday."
Asked whether he could rule her out of taking the Senate seat, Mr Shorten said: "I'm ruling in we will do everything we can to win."
"One thing I'm certain about, people want Kristina Keneally in federal politics."
Ms Keneally said she had been offered NSW Senate seats in the past and had turned them down.
"I've only been offered one thing by Bill Shorten and that is to be Labor's candidate for Bennelong," she said.
Mr Shorten said the replacement would be sorted out by the ALP in the new year.
