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Liberal MP Gladys Liu contributed at least $100,000 to her own election campaign.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Several sources within the party's Victorian branch have confirmed the Hong Kong-born MP in recent months has asked for the six-figure sum to be paid back,claiming the payment was a loan.

Senior party officials have pushed back against the request,saying they were not told the donation was a loan when it was made at the start of the election campaign.

The issue is still being handled between party officials and Ms Liu.

The first-term Liberal MP is still facinglingering questions over her prior associations with groups linked to the Chinese government's United Front Work Department,the agency responsible for spreading Beijing's influence overseas.

The Age andThe Sydney Morning Heraldon Wednesday revealed that Ms Liusecured access to the federal government for a company and Liberal Party donor that was endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party and later implicated in a major organised crime probe.

Ms Liu,who has claimed she has raised more than $1 million for the Liberal Party,would not say on Wednesday whether she had requested the party pay back at least $100,000.

In a statement,her office said any financial support provided to the Chisholm campaign would be declared"in the usual way".

"Ms Liu and the Chisholm campaign are compliant with all donations laws,"the statement said.

"Any support provided by Ms Liu to the Chisholm campaign was done so in her own personal capacity."

Under Australian law,interest-free loans need to be disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission as"gifts in kind".

The donation will not be made public by the AEC until February next year.

The money,which was used for extra mailouts and social media campaigns,came a few months after former Chisholm MP Julia Banks quit the Liberal Party.

Ms Liu on Wednesday faced questions over her previous association with Brighsun New Energy,the Australian subsidiary of the Chinese-controlled green energy group Brighsun.

Court documents reveal the company's former Australian chief executive collected $1 million in cash from a heroin trafficker,including $500,000 handed to him in a backpack,which was later seized by Australian police.

Ms Liu started acting for the company in late 2015 to secure political backing for its plans to introduce electric buses in Australia. She says she acted"pro bono"for the company because she was passionate about renewable energy.

In the months before the police operation was launched,Brighsun donated $105,000 to the Liberal Party,according to donation records.

Opposition deputy leader Richard Marles on Wednesday asked in Parliament what steps Prime Minister Scott Morrison had taken to investigate the reports that Ms Liu had helped the Chinese-owned company secure access to federal politicians,but the question was ruled out of order.

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