Jacqui Lambie

Jacqui Lambie
Lambie in 2017.
President of the Jacqui Lambie Network
Assumed office
July 2024[1]
Leader of the Jacqui Lambie Network
Assumed office
14 May 2015
Preceded byPosition established
Deputy Leader of Palmer United in the Senate
In office
1 July – 19 November 2014
LeaderGlenn Lazarus
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Senator for Tasmania
Assumed office
1 July 2019
In office
1 July 2014 – 14 November 2017
Succeeded bySteve Martin
Personal details
Born
Jacquiline Louise Lambie

(1971-02-26) 26 February 1971 (age 53)
Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
Citizenship
Political partyJacqui Lambie Network (since 2015)
Other political
affiliations
Children2
Residence(s)Burnie, Tasmania
EducationDevonport High School
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Allegiance Australia
Branch/serviceAustralian Army
Years of service1989–2000
RankCorporal
Unit

Jacquiline Louise Lambie[2] (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.[3]

Lambie 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 promoting racism and islamophobia. 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.

  1. ^ Langenberg, Adam (1 August 2024). "Jacqui Lambie reveals party's board members as she eyes off national expansion for next federal election". ABC News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024. Senator Lambie revealed some members of the board on Thursday morning, telling ABC Radio Hobart that she was president of the board. She later added that she became president about two weeks ago.
  2. ^ "Registration of Political Party – Palmer United Party" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Senator Jacqui Lambie". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Palmer United Party candidate Jacqui Lambie claims last Tasmanian Senate spot". ABC News. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie quits PUP to become independent". ABC News. 24 November 2014. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  6. ^ Maloney, Matt (8 February 2018). "Jacqui Lambie expels senator Steve Martin from party for denying her return to Parliament". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.