Federal opposition frontbencher Bill Shorten said the COVIDSafe app had not once helped with contact tracing.

"Labor gave support in principle if the app could make us safer, but I have to say it looks like an expensive dud, another IT bungle," he told Nine's Today Show on Tuesday.

Having spoken to people in his local electorate, Mr Shorten said it was generally middle class voters with smart phones who had downloaded the app.

"But a lot of people who don't have a lot of money, a lot of older people, a lot of people from culturally different communities, they haven't downloaded it," he said.

Mr Shorten pointed out most venues were relying on handwritten lists to record customer details.

"Congratulations government, we're now in a situation where we've rediscovered pen and paper as our best tracing app," he said.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan conceded the app had not been as successful as first hoped, but said it was a useful back-up tool.

"Not everything is going to work as expected in a pandemic, in a crisis like this, so you've got to just try lots of things," he told Sky News.

Australian Associated Press