Jacquiline Louise Lambie (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.
Lambie, an Aboriginal Tasmanian, 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. 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.
In May 2015, she formed the Jacqui Lambie Network political party with herself 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 expected to be 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 expelled him from the party for disloyalty.
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
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 until she left at Year 11.
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.
Military career
Australian Army (1989–2000) Lambie enlisted in the Australian Army in 1989. 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.
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.
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. 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.
Dispute with the Department of Veterans' Affairs (2000–2006) 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. On the basis of this surveillance, the department concluded that she was a malingerer, cancelling her military pension and coverage of her medical care.