Lisa Singh

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Lisa Singh

| image = Lisasingh.jpg

| caption =

| honorific-suffix =

| office = Senator for Tasmania

| term_start = 1 July 2011

| term_end = 30 June 2019

| office2 ={{ubl|Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection|of Tasmania}}

| term_start2 = 26 November 2008

| term_end2 = 13 April 2010

| office3 ={{ubl|Minister for Workplace Relations|of Tasmania}}

| term_start3 = 26 November 2008

| term_end3 = 13 April 2010

| constituency_AM4 = Denison

| assembly4 = Tasmanian House of

| term_start4 = 18 March 2006

| term_end4 = 13 April 2010

| birthname = Lisa Maria Singh

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1972|2|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Labor

| children = 2

| relations = Raman Pratap Singh (uncle), Ram Jati Singh (grandfather)

| alma_mater ={{ubl|University of Tasmania|Macquarie University}}

}}

Lisa Maria Singh (born 20 February 1972){{Cite Au Parliament|mpid=M0R|name=Former Senator the Hon Lisa Singh|access-date=2021-09-06}} is an Australian former politician. She was a Senator for Tasmania from 2011 to 2019. She had previously been a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, representing the division of Denison from 2006 to 2010. The granddaughter of an Indo-Fijian member of the Parliament of Fiji, Singh was Australia's first female federal parliamentarian of Indian descent.{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/roundtable-lifts-hopes-of-revival-in-relations-with-india-20121209-2b3cu.html|title=Roundtable lifts hopes of revival in relations with India|first=Matt|last=Wade|date=9 December 2012|website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}

After leaving politics she worked as Head of Government Advocacy for Walk Free, an international human rights organisation and initiative of the Minderoo Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.walkfree.org/news/2020/former-australian-senator-lisa-singh-joins-fight-to-eradicate-modern-slavery/|title=Former Australian Senator Lisa Singh joins fight to eradicate modern slavery|date=7 August 2020|website=The Walk Free Foundation}} She is currently the Director and CEO of the Australia India Institute,{{cite web|url=https://about.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2021/august/lisa-singh-to-lead-the-australia-india-institute-at-the-university-of-melbourne|title=Lisa Singh to lead the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne|date=30 August 2021|website=University of Melbourne}} the University of Melbourne's centre dedicated to promoting support for and understanding of the bilateral relationship. She is also the former Deputy Chair of the Australia India Council.{{cite web|url=https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes/australia-india-council/governance/Pages/board-members|title=Australia-India Council Board|website=Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade}} She is also a member of the University of Melbourne's Asialink advisory council.{{cite web|url=https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/about-us/the-asialink-council|title=University of Melbourne Asialink Advisory Council About-Us|date=8 February 2023 }}

In 2023 she joined the Board of Directors of Beyond Blue, Australia's well known and trusted mental health organisation.{{cite web|url=https://www.beyondblue.org.au/media/media-releases/media-releases/new-directors-join-beyond-blue|title=Beyond Blue, New directors join Beyond Blue}}

Early life and family

Singh was born in 1972, in Hobart, Tasmania, to a Fijian-Indian father and an English-Australian mother.{{cite web |title=Address to the Australian Republic Movement on 'Why the role of our Head of State is important' |url=http://www.lisasingh.com.au/newsroom/speeches/address-to-the-australian-republic-movement-on--wh/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130808200535/http://www.lisasingh.com.au/newsroom/speeches/address-to-the-australian-republic-movement-on--wh/ |archive-date=8 August 2013 |access-date=2 February 2022 |website=lisasingh.com.au}} Her father arrived in Australia as an international student in 1963.{{Cite web |title=Ambassadors: Senator Lisa Singh |url=http://www.welcometoaustralia.org.au/ambassadors/item/519-senator-lisa-singh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424164842/http://www.welcometoaustralia.org.au/ambassadors/item/519-senator-lisa-singh |archive-date=24 April 2013 |access-date=8 August 2013 |website=Welcome to Australia}} She attended St Mary's College, Elizabeth College, and the University of Tasmania, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Social Geography. She completed a Master of International Relations from Sydney's Macquarie University.[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/First_Speeches/First_Speeches/Lisa_Singh_Senator_for_Tasmania Senator Singh: First Speech] – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

Singh is the granddaughter of Ram Jati Singh OBE, who was a member of the Fijian Legislative Council (the precursor of the present day Fijian Parliament) in the 1960s. Her uncle, Raman Pratap Singh, was a Fijian politician and a past President of the National Federation Party and was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1999.The Fiji Times – Monday, 28 February 1994 He made an unsuccessful attempt to regain his seat in 2014.

Singh's great-grandparents migrated from India to Fiji under the British Indian indenture system around the turn of the century.[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/First_Speeches/First_Speeches/Lisa_Singh_Senator_for_Tasmania Senator Singh: First Speech] – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

In her maiden speech in the Senate, Singh described her ancestral connection to India through her great-grandfather's "Rajput warrior roots".[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/First_Speeches/First_Speeches/Lisa_Singh_Senator_for_Tasmania Senator Singh: First Speech] – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

Early career

Singh worked in public relations and for the Australian Education Union as an industrial organiser.[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/First_Speeches/First_Speeches/Lisa_Singh_Senator_for_Tasmania Senator Singh: First Speech] – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

From 1999 to 2001, Singh was an adviser to Senator Sue Mackay. Singh then became the Director of the Tasmanian Working Women's Centre, where she campaigned for paid parental leave and equal pay. She was a member of Emily's List, and served on its National Executive in Australia.[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/First_Speeches/First_Speeches/Lisa_Singh_Senator_for_Tasmania Senator Singh: First Speech] – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

Singh became Hobart Citizen of the Year in 2004 for her work in the peace movement at the time of the Iraq war, especially in highlighting the plight of women and children in war.{{Cite news |date=2004-01-26 |title=Migrants 'pledge allegiance' in Hobart|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-01-26/migrants-pledge-allegiance-in-hobart/125290 |access-date=2022-08-01}}

Singh has also served as the President of the YWCA Tasmania, the President of the United Nations Association Tasmania and as a member of the Tasmania Women's Council. She was convenor of the Australian Republican Movement from 2004 to 2007. She was manager of the Tasmanian Government arts unit, arts@work, before being pre-selected by the Australian Labor Party for a House of Assembly seat.

Election to Tasmanian Parliament

Singh was elected to the House of Assembly at the 2006 state election, as the member for Denison.{{cite Tas Parliament|id=singhl743|title=Lisa Maria Singh|access-date=2022-08-01}} In August 2007, she abstained from voting on a controversial bill supporting Gunns' Bell Bay Pulp Mill, after having failed in an appeal to then-Premier Paul Lennon for a free vote on the matter.{{Cite news |date=2007-08-20 |title=Backbencher not to vote on mill|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-08-20/backbencher-not-to-vote-on-mill/645368 |access-date=2022-08-01}}

Singh firstly became a parliamentary secretary in 2008. The she entered Cabinet as Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection, Minister for Workplace Relations, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Climate Change. She was sworn in at a ceremony at Government House on 26 November 2008.{{Cite news |date=2008-11-27 |title=Singh quiet on mill after swearing-in|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-11-27/singh-quiet-on-mill-after-swearing-in/221060 |access-date=2022-08-01}} As minister, Singh introduced legislative reforms in workers compensation, corrections, climate change and asbestos management.

Singh was defeated at the 2010 state election. Following that, she co-founded the Asbestos Free Tasmania Foundation, an advocacy group to highlight the dangers of asbestos and support sufferers of asbestos-related disease, and became its first CEO.{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/lisa-singh/4039510|title=About Lisa Singh|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=28 May 2012}}

Election to Australian Parliament

Singh was elected to the Australian Senate in the August 2010 federal election, making her the first person of South Asian descent to be elected to the Australian Parliament. On 18 October 2013, she was promoted to the position of shadow parliamentary secretary to the shadow Attorney-General. On 24 June 2014, the federal Labor leader, Bill Shorten, promoted her to the position of shadow parliamentary secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water.

In 2016, twelve senators were to be elected due to the double dissolution election, Singh's sixth position on the ticket was described in some media reports as "unwinnable".{{cite news|title=Labor unveils Senate candidates with Lisa Singh relegated to unwinnable spot|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-12/senator-at-risk-after-labor-unveils-senate-candidates/7410036|accessdate=8 July 2016|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=12 May 2016}} Following a campaign to vote for Singh "below the line" on the ballot paper, she received 20,741 votes, 80% of a quota, which was enough to overturn the party's ticket order and she was elected as the 10th senator elected for Tasmania.{{cite web |url=https://results.aec.gov.au/20499/Website/SenateSenatorsElected-20499.htm#tas |title=2016 Senate election: Tasmania | work=Australian Electoral Commission |date=28 November 2018}}{{Cite web|date=2016-07-27|title=Labor senator Lisa Singh re-elected after grassroots campaign overcomes low ticket spot|url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/27/tasmanian-labor-senator-re-elected-despite-being-relegated-to-sixth-on-ticket|access-date=2021-11-09|website=The Guardian}} She was the first Australian senator to win election over a high-ranked candidate on the same ticket since Bill Aylett in 1953, who was also a Tasmanian ALP senator.{{cite news|first=Damon|last=Muller|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Double-double-toil-trouble#_ftnref183|title=Double, double toil and trouble: the 2016 federal election|publisher=Australian Parliamentary Library|date=30 June 2017|access-date=29 August 2024}}

Singh was defeated at the 2019 federal election after being again placed in the "unwinnable" fourth position on Labor's Tasmanian Senate ticket.{{cite news |last1=Coulter |first1=Ellen |last2=Whitson |first2=Rhiana |title=Tasmanian Labor senator Lisa Singh given 'unwinnable' fourth spot on ticket |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-08/lisa-singh-given-fourth-spot-on-senate-ticket/10217256 |accessdate=2019-06-16 |publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |date=2018-09-08}} Once again there was a campaign for people to support her by voting below the line. She polled 5.9% of the vote, or 0.4 quotas, only slightly fewer than her vote in 2016, but that was not enough, given the higher quota required at a half-Senate election.{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Antony |title=Senate Results |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/results/senate |accessdate=2019-06-16 |publisher=ABC News|location=Australia}}

Policy positions and achievements

Singh's parliamentary career and advocacy focused on the promotion and protection of human rights, foreign affairs, trade and international development, multiculturalism and refugees, the environment and climate change, governance and access to justice. She has been a strong advocate for building the Australia-India relationship. In 2014, the President of India awarded her one of India's highest civilian awards, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, for her exceptional and meritorious public service as a person of Indian heritage in fostering friendly relations between India and Australia.{{cite news|url=https://www.theindiansun.com.au/2015/01/10/mala-mehta-lisa-singh-at-pbd-13|title=Mala Mehta, Lisa Singh honoured with Pravasi Samman}}

In 2016, Singh represented Australia at the United Nations General Assembly, New York, as a parliamentary delegate of the Australian mission to the United Nations.{{cite news|url=http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/singh-heads-to-united-nations-general-assembly/news-story/ee06107d132a0960016b8371d9a427a7|title=Singh heads to United Nations General Assembly |date=10 September 2016}}

Other achievements included initiating, coordinating and completing inquiries and policy into banning Australia's domestic trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn, recommending the trade be outlawed; and undertaking an inquiry into human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, and developing policy on modern slavery which contributed to the adoption of Australia's first Modern Slavery Act.

Some of Singh's parliamentary committee work included the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement as its deputy chair and Privileges Committee.

As co-chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for UNICEF, in 2018 Singh led a delegation to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. As Co-chair of the Parliamentary Group on HIV, Singh represented the Australian parliament at the 22nd International AIDS conference and paid tribute to the late Professor David Cooper AC.{{cite web|url=https://kirby.unsw.edu.au/news/aids-2018-global-research-community-pays-tribute-david-cooper|title=Aids 2018 Global Research Community Pays Tribute to David Cooper|date=27 July 2018}}

Singh has been a vocal opponent of Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers. She broke with the Labor Party's official position to call for an end to indefinite offshore detention on the ABC TV Q&A program.{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-13/labor-frontbencher-lisa-singh-calls-for-offshore-detention-chan/6848604|title=Q&A: Labor frontbencher Lisa Singh calls for end to 'inhumane' indefinite offshore detention|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=13 October 2015}} Singh has been invited to speak internationally on refugee policy including presenting at Harvard University's Kennedy School. She was subsequently invited by Harvard to contribute a chapter on the challenges of upholding children's rights in immigration policy in a Research Handbook on Child Migration.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781786433695/9781786433695.00032.xml|title=Research Handbook on Child Migration, Chapter 20: Challenges of upholding children's rights in immigration policy: lessons learnt from Australia|journal=Research Handbook on Child Migration |date=31 August 2018 |pages=304–318 |last1=Singh |first1=Lisa |chapter=Challenges of upholding children's rights in immigration policy: Lessons learnt from Australia |doi=10.4337/9781786433701.00032 |isbn=978-1-78643-370-1 }}

Singh served as a Commonwealth Secretariat Observer of the 2019 Solomon Islands General Elections.{{cite web|url=https://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/observing-vote-solomon-islands|title=The Commonwealth, Observing the vote in the Solomon Islands|date=13 March 2019}} She also served as a member of the Multinational Observer Group for the 2022 Fiji Elections and as a member of the Australian Government's New international development policy External Advisory Group.{{cite web|url=https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/new-international-development-policy/external-advisory-group-eag-members#:~:text=Lisa%20was%20a%20member%20of,2019%20Solomon%20Islands%20General%20Elections|title=DFAT, New international development policy External Advisory Group (EAG) members}}

References

External links

[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senator_Singh Senate web page]
[http://www.lisasingh.com.au/main/ Official website]
{{cite Tas Parliament |id=singhl743 |title=Singh, Lisa |access-date=24 July 2022}}

{{s-bef|before=David Bartlett
Michael Hodgman
Judy Jackson
Peg Putt
Graeme Sturges}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member for Denison | years=2006–2010 | alongside=David Bartlett, Graeme Sturges, Michael Hodgman, Peg Putt }}

{{s-aft|after=Cassy O'Connor
David Bartlett
Matthew Groom
Scott Bacon
Elise Archer}}

{{succession box | before=David Llewellyn | title=Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection (Tasmania) | years=2008–2010 | after=Nick McKim}}

{{succession box | before=Allison Ritchie | title=Minister for Workplace Relations (Tasmania) | years=2008–2010 | after=David O'Byrne}}

Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia

Category:Members of the Australian Senate

Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania

Category:Women members of the Australian Senate

Category:Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly