ACT Greens senate candidate Simon Sheikh has conceded he was previously a member of the Labor Party before becoming a self-proclaimed independent lobbyist for activist group GetUp!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The admission comes after Mr Sheikh told The Canberra Times last year his political ambition only emerged on a road trip after his resignation as GetUp! national director.
But while a statement on Mr Sheikh’s website said he was a member of the Labor Party for a year in his teens, News Ltd claims Mr Sheikh’s ALP membership lasted four years, and only ended due to his “appointment to an ‘independent advocacy job’”.
However the statement on Mr Sheikh’s website disputes this, claiming he “quickly became disillusioned” and left the party within a year.
The statement on Mr Sheikh’s website also states he previously worked as a public servant in the NSW Treasury under former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa.
Mr Sheikh was endorsed as the ACT Greens senate candidate in December last year after a preselection stoush that included claims from within the party that he was a “celebrity candidate” who was parachuted in after living in Canberra for just over a month.
In November, Mr Sheikh told The Canberra Times his political ambition emerged during a six-week road trip through the outback.
''I never thought I'd be a politician … but the urgency of some of the challenges we are now facing demands public service,” he said.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said the revelations of Mr Sheikh’s earlier party affiliation throw doubt on GetUp’s claims to be independent of party politics.
“I have long maintained that GetUp! is a union front, which aims to dupe people concerned about particular issues into supporting Labor and the Greens at elections,” Senator Abetz said.
“Simon Sheikh should come clean and personally say exactly how long he was a member of Labor and, if he doesn't Greens Leader, Christine Milne, should make him.”
