Jacqui Lambie
Jacquiline Louise Lambie[1] (born 26 February 1971) is an Australian politician who is the leader and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). She is a Senator for Tasmania since 2019, and was previously a Senator from 2014 to 2017.[2]
Jacqui Lambie
Position established
Position established
Position abolished
- Australian (since 1971)
- British (1971–2019)
Jacqui Lambie Network (since 2015)
- Palmer United (2013–2014)
- Independent (2012–2013; 2014–2015)
- Liberal (2011–2012)
- Labor (2008)
2
Burnie, Tasmania
1989–2000
- Military Police (1996–2000)
- Transport Corps (1990–1995)
Lambie, an Aboriginal Tasmanian,[3] grew up in public housing in Devonport before serving as a corporal in the Australian Army. Attempting to seek Liberal preselection after joining the party in 2011, and previously working as a staff member of Labor senator Nick Sherry, Lambie joined the Palmer United Party (PUP), led by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer. She was elected to the Senate at the 2013 federal election.[4] Her term began in July 2014. Lambie received national prominence for her intense grassroots campaign and subsequently her display of aggressive and vociferous parliamentary behaviour, championing issues concerning foreign affairs, veterans' affairs, youth unemployment, and criticism of Islam. After persistent internal divisions, in November 2014, Lambie resigned from the Palmer United Party to sit in the Senate as an independent.[5]
In May 2015, she formed the Jacqui Lambie Network political party with herself as leader. She was elected to a six-year term in her own right at the 2016 federal election (a double dissolution). In November 2017, she was revealed to hold Australian-British dual citizenship, having inherited British citizenship from her Scottish-born father. As part of the parliamentary eligibility crisis, she announced her resignation on 14 November 2017. After a recount, she was replaced by Devonport Mayor Steve Martin, who had been second on the JLN ticket in the 2016 federal election. He survived a challenge to his own eligibility, on a different constitutional ground, but refused to step down so as to create a casual Senate vacancy to which Lambie could be appointed. She later expelled him from the party for disloyalty.[6]
Lambie was re-elected to the Senate at the 2019 election, and became a Senator for the second time on 1 July 2019.
Early life[edit]
Lambie, a Palawa woman, was born in the town of Ulverstone in north-western Tasmania. Her parents separated when she was 13, and she was raised in a public housing estate in Devonport, attending Devonport High School.[7]
Lambie was one of just four members of the 46th Parliament of Australia who did not graduate from high school, the others being Julie Collins, Llew O'Brien and Terry Young.[8]
Military career[edit]
Australian Army (1989–2000)[edit]
Lambie enlisted in the Australian Army in 1989.[9] She completed her recruit training while unknowingly pregnant with her first child. Her pregnancy was not recognised until four months later; army medical officers had attributed her menstruation stopping to the stress of training.[10]
After basic training, she was assigned to the Royal Australian Corps of Transport in 1990. She remained with the Transport Corps for five years before being transferred to the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police, where she worked for another five years, achieving the rank of Corporal.[11]
During a field exercise in July 1997, Lambie sustained a back injury resulting in long-term detriments to her spine. After physiotherapy and medical interventions, she was unable to regain operational fitness and was discharged on medical grounds (thoracic pain) in 2000.[12] This prompted her to pursue a claim for a military pension from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).
She has since been an advocate for veterans with the Returned and Services League of Australia and involved in fundraising with the Burnie Chamber of Commerce, the Country Women's Association and Rotary.[11]
Dispute with the Department of Veterans' Affairs (2000–2006)[edit]
The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) initially rejected her application for compensation, but subsequently approved it and put her on a military disability pension. She later applied for compensation for depression related to her back pain, which was also initially rejected. The DVA hired a private investigation firm to conduct five hours of surveillance on her activities within her home.[12] On the basis of this surveillance, the department concluded that she was a malingerer, cancelling her military pension and coverage of her medical care.[13]
Lambie fought the department's conclusion for five years, during which time she was accepted for a Centrelink disability pension. In 2006, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was about to rule on whether the video evidence was admissible in her case when DVA abandoned its use of the video and accepted that Lambie was entitled to compensation. The tribunal's Deputy President, Justice Christopher Wright, concluded that "it is likely that even greater improvement would have been achieved a long time ago if her medical treatments, which were initially funded by the respondent, had not been terminated in 2001".[12]
Political career[edit]
Early political career (2008–2012)[edit]
Lambie's political involvement began in 2008 when she began working for Tasmanian Labor senator Nick Sherry.[14]
In November 2011, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and later decided to run for preselection for the Division of Braddon. She subsequently left the Liberal Party, saying that the Liberals are a "boys' club", and she joined to "infiltrate" them to see what she could learn about politics.
In 2012, Lambie sold her house to help fund her run as an independent,[12] before turning to the newly formed Palmer United Party founded by billionaire Clive Palmer – as she said "I just didn't have the money like the big players did for advertising."[15]
Political views[edit]
Higher education[edit]
In 2020, Lambie opposed the Liberal Party's university reform bill due to her belief it would harm the mental health and economic opportunities of low-income students. She made her position clear in when addressing the Senate, saying she would "refuse to be the vote that tells poor kids out there … no matter how gifted, no matter how determined you are, you might as well dream a little cheaper, because you're never going to make it, because you can't afford it".[30][31][32]
Raising alleged abuse within the army[edit]
In February 2016, Lambie raised the matter of former soldiers who claim to have suffered abuse, calling for an inquiry into cover-ups and Lieutenant General David Morrison's involvement.[33]
Policies[edit]
Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide[edit]
In response to a Change.org petition organised by Julie-Ann Finney, whose son David Finney took his own life after a crippling battle with Post-Traumatic Stress injury,[49] Lambie called for a Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide.[50] As of 20 April 2021 the petition had over 400,000 signatures.
On 5 February 2020, the Morrison Government announced their intention to appoint a National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention to inquire into the deaths by suicide of serving and former ADF members.[51]
Lambie criticised the Government's plan in a Dissenting Report, noting that "The families of veterans who have taken their own lives support a Royal Commission. The institutions who are being blamed for those suicides support a National Commissioner."[52] Two bills related to the Commissioner were introduced into Parliament by the Attorney-General on 27 August 2020, the "National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill 2020", and the "National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2020".[51] Magistrate Bernadette Boss was appointed as the first (interim) National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention on 1 October 2020.[53]
On 22 March 2021 both chambers of Parliament passed motions in support of the royal commission.[54] On 8 July 2021 a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in Australia was established.[55]
Political donations[edit]
Lambie introduced a bill to the Australian Senate in February 2020 that proposes to tighten political donations laws.[56] The bill seeks to amend current laws that permit political donations under $14,300 to not be disclosed.[57] Lambie has proposed lowering this threshold to $2,500.
The bill also proposes to introduce electoral expenditure accounts for organisations that run political campaigns. This will compel parties and others to disclose the source of any money they spend on their electoral campaigns.[58]
Australian manufacturing[edit]
In early 2020, Lambie started a campaign[59] to support Australian manufacturing with concerns about Australia's reliance on foreign imported products, she believes these concerns are a threat to Australia's economic sovereignty; magnified with the advent of COVID-19.[60]
Foreign interference[edit]
Lambie has said on her website "It’s about time that the people in Parliament woke up to China’s attempts to infiltrate our economy and our democracy."[61] Her concerns are echoed by Duncan Lewis, formerly the Director-General of Security at ASIO.[62] There is ongoing debate over whether Liberal MP Gladys Liu's ties to the Chinese Communist Party are appropriate, with the Labor party arguing she may not be 'fit and proper' to sit as an MP.[63]