The secretary of Victoria's Health Services Union has been asked by a West Australian court to pick up the tab for thousands of dollars her former campaign manager owes to a Perth sex worker.


Luke Walladge, once a staffer to Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews, helped former Darebin mayor Diana Asmar win control of the union in December.


In January, Mr Walladge appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court over a $15,000 debt he owes to Perth sex worker Joanna Soucek. Asked by Ms Soucek's lawyer how he could pay the debt, Mr Walladge told the court he was owed $12,800 by Ms Asmar for his work as her campaign manager - a role he claimed last year was unpaid.


He also told the court he had been employed by the union ''on a salary which was equal to $100,000 a year'' immediately after Ms Asmar won control of the union.



Mr Walladge said he had worked on a casual basis only to date, but was ''going through the process of applying for employment with the HSU Victoria No.1 branch''.


In ordering Mr Walladge to pay back the $15,000, the court ordered that any debt owed by Ms Asmar to him be ''appropriated'' to pay Ms Soucek.


Mr Walladge did not respond to questions on Friday about how much he was paid to work on Ms Asmar's campaign, or how it had been funded.


Instead, he threatened to sue over a ''defamatory article'' that implied his debt to Ms Soucek was for sexual services.


Both Mr Walladge and MsSoucek said the debt was not related to any sexual services provided, although Ms Soucek said the couple had been in an ''intimate relationship''.


Mr Walladge also said he was not owed money by Ms Asmar, contradicting evidence he gave in court.


The Health Services Union's No.1 branch acting general manager is Kimberley Kitching, who is firming as a Labor candidate to replace Nicola Roxon in the federal seat of Gellibrand.


She said on Friday, speaking on behalf of the union, that neither Ms Asmar nor the Health Services Union owed Mr Walladge any money.