Former Premier Paul Lennon’s chief of staff has written to Labor’s national secretary, requesting intervention into the state party’s decision to bump sitting senator Lisa Singh down the party ticket for the next federal election.
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Rank-and-file members, union members, and conference delegates over the past week voted on the line-up for the upcoming Senate elections.
A count on Saturday revealed the unaligned Senator Singh had been placed once again behind union leader John Short due to a factional powerplay, as she was in 2016.
Despite that, she managed to pull more than 20,000 below-the-line votes to retain her seat.
Rod Scott, also a former editor at The Examiner, wrote to Noah Carroll over the weekend and asked for the national executive to overturn the Senate endorsement and put the sitting senators in the top three positions.
He said the decision had damaged the party’s chances of winning three Senate seats in Tasmania.
“The objective of the endorsements should have been to ensure we win three Senate seats in Tasmania with a minimum of fuss,” Mr Scott said.
“Instead, the Tasmanian branch put factional interest ahead of the party’s electoral interests.
“It is the sort of machine politics that is alienating voters from the major parties.
“As the last election showed, Lisa is highly regarded and very popular in the electorate.”
He has encouraged others to voice to Mr Carroll their concerns.
Though a victim once again to factionalism in the Labor party, Ms Singh on the weekend said she believed they had their place in party organisation.
"I think it's no secret that there are factional arrangements that are put in place in these types of tickets," she said.
"I've got nothing against factions and they do have their place in political parties. They are a natural phenomenon.
"What I've shown is that you can be an unaligned member and you don't need to play factional politics. I'm now in my eighth year of being in the Senate.
“I don’t dwell on the internal party machinations, the internal party politics, I get on with policy, with ideas, with ensuring I’m doing the best that I can in representing them in Canberra.”
Ms Singh said she would reflect with friends, family and staff members over the coming weeks on what the party’s decision would mean for her campaign for re-election.
She said she would not run as an independent candidate.
Mr Carroll was contacted for comment.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
