Senator Lisa Singh in $11,000 Labor Party dues blue

TASMANIAN senator Lisa Singh has been asked to pay the Labor Party $11,000 in party dues – but she says she does not owe anything.

Senator Lisa Singh says she struck a deal to pay half the usual party dues because she wasn’t expected to win a Senate spot at the July federal election.

TASMANIAN senator Lisa Singh has been asked to pay the Labor Party $11,000 in party dues that she says she does not owe.

Senator Singh defied the odds to snatch a Senate spot at the July Federal election despite being placed at the bottom of the ticket in what was seen by most as an unwinnable position.

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Now the administrative arm of the party wants Senator Singh to pay $11,000 in party contributions from the 2015-16 financial year.

But Senator Singh has told the Mercury she had a deal with the party to pay 6 per cent of her salary to the party for the 2015-16 year instead of the usual 12 per cent.

Levvies on elected MPs make up the core of the revenue for Labor House in Tasmania each year.

Senator Singh told the Mercury the deal was agreed to by former state secretary John Dowling and supported by then national secretary George Wright.

“It was in lieu of the fact I would be unemployed after the election because of the factional deal to push me to the bottom on the Senate ticket,” she said.

Yesterday a number of Labor sources told the Mercury no such deal was struck – but no one was willing to speak on the record.

There were suggestions the money will be pursued.

Senator Singh, who is spending three months in the United States as part of the Australian delegation for 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York, said she has been asked to pay the money within seven days.

Acting Tasmanian Labor Party State Secretary Karelle Logan was remaining tight-lipped about the issue yesterday.

“Financial matters between the party and individual ALP members, regardless of who they are, are private and confidential,” she said.

“I am therefore unable to provide any comment to your questions.”

Senator Singh’s re-election became one of the most talked-about political stories of the federal election after a grassroots campaign helped her accumulate more than 20,000 below the line votes – seeing her elected ahead of Senator Catryna Bilyk and unsucessful Labor candidate John Short.

Originally published as Senator Lisa Singh in $11,000 Labor Party dues blue