City of Launceston councillor Janie Finlay is playing coy on whether she will stand-up for preselection as a Labor Bass candidate for the next state election.
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Ms Finlay, who ran as an independent candidate in last year's Rosevears upper house election, has recently been appointed to Labor leader Rebecca White's office on a six-month contract.
A Labor spokesperson said she has been appointed as an adviser to Ms White.
"Her principal responsibility will be to assist with the rollout of a series of keynote policy announcements over the next six months," they said.
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Ms Finlay would not say if she would seek pre-selection for the party once the term of her employment expired.
"Right now what I'm focussed on is delivering a really great outcome in the job that I've been given and ensure I can use my skills to contribute for Northern Tasmania particularly, but all of Tasmania," she said.
"I'm working with some great people and I'm looking to deliver where my strengths are."
A Labor Party source said there was a belief within the party that Ms Finlay had been given the job in exchange for seeking pre-selection for a seat in Bass.
They said the party was concerned that Peter Gutwein's popularity in Bass meant that the Liberals could win four seats.
"So it's an act of desperation to have somebody with a community profile from outside of the party put into a seat," the source said.
"There is nothing wrong with finding candidates who are outside of the party and having them come forward and be pre-selected.
"The issue is that the only way this has been able to be done is in exchange for a job."
Pre-selection of a candidate is not the leader's decision alone.
"But the reality is the leader had a persuasive and powerful ability to influence outcomes," the source said.
The party source said members of the right faction in the North were angered that a candidate who ran against their candidate in the Legislative Council election last year could be pre-selected ahead of anyone they put up.
"They won't have the advantage of being put into a paid role to really campaign on the taxpayer dime for a position in Parliament," they said.
The claim that Ms Finlay was offered a job in exchange for a bid for pre-selection was put to Ms White's office, but there was no response.
Ms Finlay responded to the claim by saying:
"The only thing that is going on for me right now is that I've got a job that I'm really excited about and I'm super keen to deliver it to the best of my ability."
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Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
