Senate ticket snub of Lisa Singh draws attention of Prime Minister Scott Morrison

PM Scott Morrison has dismissed Labor’s concerns about the Liberal party’s treatment of women by questioning the ALP’s decision to place “very respected” Tasmanian MP Lisa Singh at the bottom of its senate ticket.

Tasmanian Labor Senator Lisa Singh is set for an uphill battle for Senate re-election at the next federal poll. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed Labor’s concerns about the Liberals’ treatment of women by questioning the ALP’s decision to place “very respected” Tasmanian MP Lisa Singh at the bottom of its senate ticket for a second time.

Senator Singh was relegated to the difficult-to-win fourth spot of Tasmanian Labor’s senate ticket after the party’s left and right factions struck a deal that ensured she trailed theleft’s Carol Brown, the right’s Catryna Bilyk and unionist John Short respectively.

MORE: SNUB FORCES SINGH TO REFLECT ON FUTURE

Despite proving popular among Labor’s rank-and-file members, Senator Singh fell short on the more heavily-weighted conference delegate votes at the state branch’s annual meeting at the weekend.

Day two at @TasmanianLabor state conf with @billshortenmp highlighting the crisis that is our healthcare system in #Tasmania #politas #TasLabor18 pic.twitter.com/mBlYJiJST5

— Lisa Singh (@Lisa_Singh) September 9, 2018

Mr Morrison today deflected questions from federal Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek on his rejection of gender quotas within his party by slamming the Opposition’s treatment of Senator Singh.

The Prime Minister zeroed in on an expectation from Labor’s factional heavyweights that members show their vote before casting it in the ballot box during the preselection process — a practice also decried by former Labor senator Margaret Reynolds.

“From memory [Senator Singh] was relegated to number four on the ticket because she wouldn’t join up with one of your mob’s factions … and I’ll tell you why,” Mr Morrison said.

“Because under the Labor Party show and tell on your vote isn’t an exception, it’s the rule.”

Ms Plibersek acknowledged Senator Singh as a “fantastic contributor” to Labor but would not be drawn on whether the so-called show-and-tell process was “intimidating”.

“We are a party of collective decision-making … The internal workings of the Tasmanian preselection processes are for Tasmania to decide,” Ms Plibersek told ABC’s RN Breakfast.

Senator Bilyk told the Mercury Tasmanian Labor had the most democratic preselection process of any branch in the country, with half the conference delegates elected by members.

“As a candidate, of course, Senator Bilyk made phone calls to ALP members seeking their support,” the senator’s office said in a statement.

“You can look at the bio on her website for examples of these achievements which I believe were key to her success in the ballot.

“I’m sure she would be very happy for you, or any of your colleagues, to report on them.”

Pushed on the show-and-tell vote, her office said: “In regards to show and tell, the majority of votes were submitted either by post or online from the privacy of people’s homes.

“What delegates did with their ballots at state conference was entirely up to them.”

Senator Brown was contacted for comment.

Senator Singh, who attracted almost 21,000 below the line votes in 2016, did not comment today on preselection but on Saturday acknowledged she had borne the brunt of “the negative part” of factions.

Senator Singh has not decided whether she will recontest her seat in the next federal election but has ruled out running as an independent.