Lisa Singh was first elected to the Australian Senate in 2010, representing the state of Tasmania. She was re-elected for a second term at the 2016 Federal election. During her term in the Senate Lisa has served front bench positions as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney-General and the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water.
Prior to being elected to the Australian Senate, Lisa was elected to the Tasmanian parliament in 2006 representing the electorate of Denison. In 2008, she was appointed Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection and Minister for Workplace Relations, as well as Minister assisting on Climate Change.
Lisa is a longtime supporter of human rights and advocate for refugees. She has been outspoken as a Senator on the need for Australia to reform its immigration policy, particularly the practice of immigration detention, and the treatment of children in detention. Lisa has also been a strong advocate for women's rights, nuclear disarmament, international development, and asbestos disease sufferers.
Before her term in the Tasmanian Parliament, Senator Singh served the Tasmanian community in the union movement, women’s movement, the non-government sector and the public service. She has been President of the United Nations Australia Association (Tasmanian Division), President of YWCA Tasmania, Director of the Tasmanian Working Women’s Centre, Board Member of the Hobart Women’s Health Centre, and a Convenor of the Australian Republican Movement. In recognition of her peace activism against the war in Iraq she was Hobart City Council’s ‘Hobart Citizen of the Year’ in 2004.
As the first person of Indian origin in the Australian parliament, she has continued to build Australia’s relationship with India. In 2014, the President of India, conferred on Lisa the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award for her exceptional and meritorious public service as a person of Indian heritage in fostering friendly relations between India and Australia.
In 2016 Lisa was seconded to the United Nations General Assembly in New York as a delegate from the Australian parliament. While attending the UN Lisa engaged with the Refugee Summit, Sustainable Development Goals, and Women’s Empowerment.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Tasmania, and a Masters of International Relations from Macquarie University.
She is the mother of two sons and lives in Hobart.
More information on Lisa is available here.